Aimee Smith

COMRADES, I NEED YOUR HELP
I’ve been thinking a lot about hope and fear and how they exist in our world over the past year and, having recently landed in India on a three month Asialink residency, these ideas are flaring up like never before. Coming here, and being here, has allowed me to see and experience both hope and fear at a magnitude I have never felt before. And so I’ve decided to dive into this idea during my residency, perhaps eventually moulding all my research into a performance work.

My first step is to open up a discussion and forum about hope and fear to as many people from as many walks of life as possible. (Yes, that includes you!) I have put together some initial questions just to get the juices flowing (see below). I hope that you might find some time to be able to answer some of them or, even better, respond with a more open dialogue about these issues. Feel free to take the idea on any tangents you desire and to respond in which ever format suits you best; from text, to recorded sound files, or even video recordings.

Many many thanks,
Aimee

QUESTIONS OF FEAR
1. What does fear mean for you? How would you define it?
2. What do you fear?
3. Can you recall and describe a situation or event where you experienced fear?
4. Can you recall and describe a situation or event where you experienced fearlessness?
5. How old are you? And has your relationship to fear changed over your lifetime?
6. What symbols, actions, or images in everyday life represent or depict fear for you?

QUESTIONS OF HOPE
7. What does hope mean for you? How would you define it?
8. Do you feel hopeful?
9. What do you hope for – today?
- this year?
- the future?
10. Can you recall and describe a situation or event where you experienced hope?
11. Can you recall and describe a situation or event where you experienced hopelessness?
12. How old are you? And has your relationship to hope changed over your lifetime?
13. What symbols, actions, or images in everyday life represent or show hope to you?

FINAL QUESTION
14. Which feeling is stronger for you today, fear or hope?