Since I can remember, I’ve always been shy and felt like an outsider, so navigating social situations was always painfully challenging.

During my undergrad studies at the University of the Arts in 1992, I decided to conduct a social experiment. For one year, I decorated my daily black-on-black ensemble with one black & white button stating “hug me.”

I kept a log as to the responses that I would receive, either verbal/nonverbal or physical/nonphysical. This tiny button and its year-long therapy dramatically changed my life in so many ways and on so many levels.

The sheer act of wearing this button opened the doors to conducting many other social experiments and inquiries that have lead to the site-specific installation work I create and teach today.