A study in personal symbology.
WE encourage you to sign the guestbook with your own personal symbology.

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Curated by China Rain.

Featuring: (last updated 12/14/2022)

@j.projecting

@uglyjawn

@frillysox

@prettystandard

@lindsaygravy

@Aaron_pond_scum

@onetittyout

@whiskeydad

@hueythecosmonaut

@emotbotanist

@y0vv4

@elladadem

@e.w.www
@todaysmathematics

@unclebreezybriz

@cklayre

@shandistefano

@hannahbroccoli

@t.ey.a

@pretty_sure_im_zora

@aqua_teen_hunger_strike

@Soil_screep

@aykilaa

@bennettgrahhhhh

@asheincc

@ilovebose

@aron4evaa

@fithmonthcrafts

@2tweasy

@whatsflowingon

@jonathan.bracho

@mossloverdotcom

@neva.marie

@j.projecting

@boobmagazine

@china_rainnn

and you/
Throughout the day, you peruse through your pocket dictionary. You take it out and have a look from time to time, as you wait in line, as you listen to people talking to one another in the elevator. You listen and check your dictionary, draw lines and take notes in the margins. You have had your personal pocket dictionary since you were a child, you add things to it quite often. Under “creak” you have “grandma’s door”. And under “butter” you have “left out to get soft”. Or do you have “always in the fridge”?

Under “evil” what does it say?
What movies are used as a reference for “comfort”? What song plays when you flip to define “long drive”.
What defines an “insult”? What were you called?

What does it say under “death”? What does it say under“never”? What does a doorknob mean? What does “velcro” mean?
When you picture something “delicious”, what does it look like? When you picture something “tragic” what does it entail?
What does it say under your name?
And then what does it say under “pit of you”?

Part of my ongoing project has been to catalog the personal pocket dictionary and how it manifests itself. No one does not have a personal dictionary. They are the special key decoders that come in our individual cereal boxes.

Instagram is a digital symbology archive system where people represent “themselves”. The self they choose to curate does not have to be the self their friends know them to be, or the self their family knows them to be, or the self their boss knows them to be, or the self they know themselves to be. Instagram is primarily for sharing/consuming videos and photos, along with captions. On this platform, one could share images of the greatest and worst moments of their life, or photos of a fancy dinner, a frayed shoelace, or a household pet. Instagram is not just about the photos one takes, it’s about the ones they post. Many people do not care about a specific curated look for their instagram page, many other people do. Some people do not know what that even means.

Using Instagram, I posted and asked 10+ people to tell me about their personal symbology. More accurately, I posted a questions write in box, over a photo of my face, that said “write it here” and above that I said,

“Need 10+ ppl to give me a list of personal symbology. This can be a literal list of items/words/things or whatever u think personal symbology means no right answer”

And then below the box I said,

“Plz um write ur answer here, fit it into this box. i might contact u in future for more/expanded whatever”

What do these people have in common?

They are alive
They are between the ages of 17-45
They are owners of a personal pocket dictionary for symbols of the personal
They all have Instagram accounts
They have all been born and will die
They all were willing to send a response of what they think is their personal symbology

Enter this site to see the responses,
I will continue to update as needed.
Please leave your own personal symbology in the chat, or guest book.

PLEASE ENTER

This is an ongoing project and this space will change over time, please come back again.