I decided to see if random acts of kindness could be sparked through random gift drops in my neighborhood. I gifted a package of cookies and this GrannyZine (which included the cookie recipe). The package included a card to provide feedback, but unfortunately, nobody followed up after the gift was given.
This particular piece was meant to create community by sparking conversations about recipients’ own grandmothers. The zine included contact information and a call-to-action to send stories about your own grandma to the zine for future publications. I used the zine format not only for ease of production and distribution, but because the riot grrl movement and aesthetic seemed appropriate for grannies. I titled the publication “Grannys Rock”—purposefully using the plural of the proper noun “Granny” vs. “grannies” because people often call their grandmas by nicknames and as children we might not even know our grandmas have another name.
Tokens of Kindness Project Statement
I love connecting people through art and design. I have been investigating the idea that a single kind act can start ripple effect of kindness that radiates through a community. My research aims to trigger that initial kind act. I began experimenting with a community design piece aimed to solicit kind acts in exchange for goods and services. I began this work with this pop-up booth selling handmade goods in exchange for special tokens on which customers wrote kind acts that they did or promised to do.
This experiment was the main focus of my research at Iowa State University and is the basis for a method about which I’m currently writing and designing a workbook.
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