Steffi Stoffel

This image is comprised of two paper airplanes. The larger one is made of lined paper, with the word “message” in red on the top. When it opens, the word splits to reveal a message that says, “imagine a paper airplane hits your head out of nowhere, and it holds a message that is exactly what you needed to hear?” The smaller airplane is made out of newspaper material and says the words “In an airplane” on the top.

This art was created as a reminder of what it felt like to pass notes in school. It is reminiscent of the excitement of what it would feel like to ever find a message in a bottle. These forms of messaging are types of communication that don’t require speaking to the person face to face or having any of their contact information. When I created this, I imagined someone living during the pandemic who felt isolated but wanted to reach people, despite the roadblocks that came with socialization at the time. Perhaps they created a multitude of paper airplanes every week, written with inspirational messages, and threw them out of their 8th floor apartment window in hopes of it finding someone who needed to hear their message.