Cora Steffenson

“I have a pet snail named cowboy :)”

- Fun Fact about Cora

Artist statement

Children now are so quick to grow up. There is much emphasis on following a specific path, forcing them to make accomplishments on a made up timeline. I come from a home of high achievers. Individuals who had dedicated their lives to being professional in a responsible field they decided to pursue, and although I respect my family, this idea of success has never sparked joy in me. 

Through my body of work, Holding on to What is Left, I try to focus on how adults experience play in their life. There is also exploration on experiencing what wonder and joy look like at this time in your life, and what means to be creative. Through this process, I am embracing the fact that even if adults are grown, they still have the ability to see the world through the same lens as they did in their childhood. 

I not only practice this idea in my work conceptually, I am doing it physically as well. I study early childhood education and work regularly with preschoolers; this has made me realize how much of my creativity I have lost. Children do not have fear when they are creating. While I am making these photographs I am playing. My camera is my playmate, and when I take my self portraits it is like a game of tag as I run back and forth to be the photographer and the subject. I am building forts in the woods, by myself, with all supplies that I myself own. I am channeling how my students would see the world, captivated by small sections of woods that can be turned into a make believe town, or a tree whose roots create a small fort that becomes a home. My work is created for the individuals who identify with wanting to climb down into this world of make believe. It is my way of inviting those who feel as if they have grown too big to fit, and show them that they still belong. 

Biography

Born in Andover, Massachusetts (2002)

I have been at MassArt for the past four years, and my love for photography has only deepened. Alongside my degree in photo, I now have completed all of my credits for a minor in sculpture, as well as getting into the BFA/MAT program here, to continue my masters in education. Having so much support in school from other creative individuals has been such an amazing experience in my life, and I am looking forward to continuing to foster these same aspects of education with my current and future students. 

Interview

Chloe: Hi Cora! I’m really excited to sit down and talk with you about your project because I feel like I haven’t gotten the chance to hear you speak about it in depth. Your project explores the ideas of “adult life” and what that really means. The idea that childlike wonder shouldn't leave us after a certain age and that adults should hold onto their playful nature. What does this project do for you? 

Cora: Thank you so much for meeting with me! This project means a lot to me, I grew up around my aunt who always advocated for living life the way that makes you happy, even if it's not what other people are expecting from you. She always finds a way to turn anything into a game, and does not care if people find her ridiculous. Being around her has taught me that I can still play and have fun, and also be seen as professional and reliable to people. My mother is also the same way, she can make anyone laugh and is always making jokes, but people are gravitated towards her because of that. When adults incorporate play into their life, it opens you up to a happier life. I know that I eventually have to “grow up” and be a professional person, but I am also going into education. Students love when they can learn through having fun, and it keeps them more engaged. Going into a career that is gauged towards relating with individuals who are younger than me allows me to continue to be a playful person.  

Chloe:That’s really amazing, having supportive role models is so important when finding who you are. I can see how she has influenced and instilled this idea of wonder and play into your lifestyle. How do you portray this wonder you have visually within photography and how do you juxtapose that with “traditional” adult life? 

Cora:  I feel as though me being an adult and channeling how I would see the world as a child is one of the more subtle ways I am doing that. I feel as though I am living a version of the life I had envisioned for myself when I was younger. I get to go to a school where I can have access to any kind of art making that I want. I am going into a career that allows me to be playful and connect to my younger self, and it makes me better at being an educator and an artist when I embrace that. Thriving in adulthood for me can look very childish to someone else, but to me, I think it is a very acceptable way for me to live my life. Even if I wasn't going into a career where living this way would benefit me, why can't I have fun? That's where the less subtle comparisons I make come in, where I directly challenge what is seen as “right and wrong” in adulthood. 

Chloe: Are there any way that you incorporate play into your process, does using a camera play into your curiosity and exploration? 

Cora: I definitely do. I work by a lot of trial and error. One of the reasons digital works so well for me is because It's so easy for me to experiment with new ideas and gestures very quickly. Because I take a lot of self portraits, it's like a game I play with my camera. I click the shutter and the timer starts, I run over to where I want to be positioned, and by then I have 5 seconds to pose. Unfortunately for me, I get easily distracted under pressure, so often I have to run back and forth from being the subject to the photographer a few times before I'm satisfied. I always feel so ridiculous while doing it, but I have the most fun when I am doing that kind of work. 

Chloe: I feel the same with my own processes, the color you are able to pull out of digital I think also bodes well within your project. When looking at your work it feels like it could be open to a lot of different audiences. Who do you think your audience is for your work? Why is the work important for you to make and for others to see? Do you see a larger scope for this project in the future?

Cora: I think my work is geared towards people who are trying to find play in their life. Children who feel as though they are growing up too fast, and they can feel themselves losing their childlike joy in things. It's for people who are older, who like me still want to connect to their childhood, feel less ashamed about yearning for things to feel the way they did when they were growing up. Even at work, I know it makes me good at my job if I play pretend with my students, but if other adults see me act as a swamp monster or mermaid, I feel so embarrassed to seem like I'm having fun. Slowly I am trying to teach myself to not only love and embrace this, I want others to find this joy, and be empowered by it. I absolutely think that there is big potential for this project to be able to continue, because the culture around how we see play changes and evolves over time. 

Chloe: Absolutely, and I think with ideals like ones you are pushing within your project will help the culture of adulthood change for a more open and accepting future. You mentioned your work and I know you have a passion for teaching, have your students influenced any ideas for you? Do they nurture the kind of ideas your work surrounds differently than any adults in your life?

Cora: Absolutely. They are some of my biggest inspirations. Even though they are 4-6 year olds, they are so creative, and have the biggest personalities. This past summer, I worked with a group of students who had lost their friend in a tragic accident, and watching them still find ways to play and find joy in their life, even after experiencing immense amounts of grief, was so incredible. I feel so lucky to have been there with them to provide support for them, and teach them that even if we experience hardships as we grow, we can still find a way to nurture joy in them. I had experienced a lot of grief early on in my life. Losing someone when I hadn't fully grasped the concept of permanence yet, changed something in me, and I felt that I couldn't miss out on anything. I felt like at any moment my life would end so I forced myself to grow up, act more like my sister and my cousins, just in case I didn't make it. I lost my childhood because of the fact that I was always chasing after adulthood. I regret that now, and I want people to know that they should enjoy being playful as long as they are able to. 

Chloe: That must have been really hard, I am glad your students had you for guidance. When going through something we don't understand, coping can be difficult. It seems like children try and find ways to escape a lot of the time. In your work you seem to create a world you can escape to, using lights and color, having spaces void of others. How do you create these spaces and what is the process behind viewing these worlds through a lens?

Cora: That is also something my students inspire me in. I always try to incorporate things in my images that I think my students would find interesting. I try to build a world that they would want to enter. On rainy days, because the school I work at focuses a lot on outdoor activities, we would bring in light projectors, flashlights, light brights, materials to build forts, and the classroom would transform into a completely new space. These were always some of my favorite days, because it allowed me to see how creative the kids could be with limited resources. I use this same logic and try to apply it to my images. And like I said, I do a lot of trial and error with my work, so there is a lot of building and rebuilding, and re-rebuilding again and again, much like my kids will do. 

Chloe: Being hands on seems like a common process for you at work, when thinking of our thesis exhibition you volunteered to show your work in a confined space, I know you had some plans to create a space outside of your photographs that people can enter. What ideas do you have about bringing these worlds to life beyond the photographic landscape? Do you have any ideas set out that you're excited to explore? 

Cora: I want to bring in that same atmosphere that I had talked about before with the rainy classroom days. I want it to feel like a space people can enter in, and be invited to explore and feel like a kid again. I want a lot of tulle curtains put up and string lights to make it feel very cozy. I also want to add some things for people to actually be able to pick up and play with, like sensory toys you would find for the children to use during our quiet times. 

Chloe: Im super excited to see, I can already imagine all the different colors and textures you could bring into the space. Contrasting your more light hearted and colorful images, some of my favorite images of yours are ones where you can sense this inner turmoil within you. You talk a lot about grief and how it had a large impact on you growing up and took a lot of childhood away from you. Images where you can really sense the complexities of the way you feel; like the up close self portrait you have in a blanket, and some newer images of your back tattoo and self portraits with flowers. What do these images mean to you? How do they add to the complexity of the project and do you plan on having more images like this in the future?

Cora: I want to pay homage to the grief I myself have experienced and that my students have experienced, without it feeling absolutely soul crushing. No one should have to experience loss or grief, but unfortunately it happens. There is nothing we can do to change what has happened to us, but we have control over how we persevere through. I cry to this day thinking about my great grandparents, the mention of their name alone brings me to tears. I think about how they do not get to see the person who I have become, but how lucky I am to have known them at all. How unbelievably lucky am I to have loved anyone as much as I love them, and how lucky I am to have been loved by them. 

Chloe: Grief is nothing but the love we weren't able to give, and I think your project is a beautiful tribute to that idea and I am excited for how you will tie everything together this semester. Thank you for speaking with me. It was really nice hearing you go in depth on the ideas surrounding your project and practice. I'm excited to see where it leads and to see what you create for our exhibit in May!