LIFE IS ART
op-ed: human beings are natural curators STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY CALLIE AHLGRIM | DESIGN BY JAMI RUBIN
12 | culture
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week into my freshman year, I visited the Museum of Fine Arts for the first time. I was alone and overwhelmed and stumbled my way to the Contemporary Art wing, where I saw written in bright white script, buzzing and humming on the wall: With You I Breathe. Tracey Emin has often used neon writing to communicate short, punchy phrases in her artwork. But these words in particular struck me. At the time, I read it as a love note—but as I was drawn back to these words again and again, I felt a slight shift in my interpretation. It was so gradual I hardly even noticed it, but I began to see the sentiment as universal, not personal. The “you” is left intentionally vague. Emin could be referring to a romantic partner, or she could be thinking of a friend. She could even be reaching out to a stranger. Emin allows us to adopt this sentiment with a certain person in mind, but there’s always the implied nudge: everyone breathes. Every single person alive right now is breathing the same planet’s air. And while every single person lives their own rich, colorful and individual life, our existences constantly overlap. Since arriving at Boston University, art has played a major role in my understanding of the human experience. As a junior, returning to my
