The Age of Uncertainty presents a series of short vignettes from Millennial and Gen Z voices spanning from 67 cities across the country and around the world. These written pieces may be viewed as confessions; all stemming from a mental headspace of worry, fear and uncertainty–calling them “ugly feelings,” inspired by Sianne Ngai’s book of the same name. You are invited a glimpse into the brief lives of our generation.

Collected over a span of approximately 5 months (from October to early March) right before the NYC stay-at-home order and official worldwide pandemic, these responses are anonymous for the sole sake of maintaining a safe space free from judgement. All the participants have adhered to the survey submission guidelines and have given consent to their responses published in this book.

→ View the full length book HERE.

This project emphasizes language; the language and jargon used in this particular generation gives the audience insight to Millennial/Gen Z culture from mainly a Western perspective.

Some running prompts include asking the participant how they feel and what currently plagues their mind. What worries do they have? Reminiscing on any memorable stories –whether happy, sad, morbid, depressing or funny, even. Overall, upon curating these responses, some major themes arise, creating manifestations of the same concern. There is no particular order and all the responses have been minimally edited for spelling/punctuation.

Conceptual Explorations
In Greek mythology, The Fates, were often depicted as weavers. With the tapestries weaved, dictated the destinies of humans. Therefore, Karen's proposed installation and thesis ties in some sort of thread component, as The Fates controlled the metaphorical thread of life–the good and bad moments of every mortal from birth to death.

This initial prototype remains relevant for this project as it creates an engaging foundational starting point for future iterations. Initially, The Age of Uncertainty was due to become an installation piece with the web exploration (pictured adjacent) designed as a supplemental add-on to the installation. The tangibility and focus of utilizing a printed book elicits more of an action from the user. For future iterations, The Age of Uncertainty will have an accompanying website where users can post their thoughts in real-time.