How to Participate:
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When was the last time you used the f-word? We want to know! The ICA is teaming up with Bay Area artist Carmina Eliason to bring you Jar of F***s Project,  an artist led participatory project and newsletter that encourages you to track what makes you say F*** and what you give a F*** about.

Eliason shares: “I want to make space for all those moments when we say oh f***! When our emotions are too big and they don’t have any place to go. When there are things we wish we could say, but can’t or shouldn’t. When we need to put our spinning thoughts on a shelf for the night so we can get some f-ing sleep. That’s what the jar is for.”

To participate, sign up here, find a jar in your house, fill the jar with your f***s, and share with us.  When you sign up you will receive an email with detailed instructions and friendly reminders for submitting your jar. Eliason will be anonymously collecting Jars of F***s by December 7th and December 18th for an ongoing community-sourced art project.

Carmina Eliason is an interdisciplinary artist who uses everyday objects to tell and relate stories of human experience. Kitchen tables, coffee with milk, empty pickle jars, stained tablecloths, and handkerchiefs become the material to reflect on intimate experiences of identity, inner wounds, and personal history. They also provide spark for conversation and participation in her community-inspired and community-sourced artworks. Carmina’s work reflects on the complex and interweaving stories of and our relationship with immigration, domestic violence, skin color, mental health, and the labor of care-giving. In addition to using reclaimed household objects and textiles, Carmina also uses written and spoken word, performance, as well as contemporary and historical photography practices. Carmina is currently an artist in residence for The Space Bar, an experimental gallery run remotely out of Portland, OR. She is also an instructor of photography at Cabrillo College teaching Visual Storytelling, History of Photography, and Digital Photography.

You can find out more about the project by visiting the artist’s website. Check out the project on Instagram.

Jar of F***s Project is part of the ICA’s PSA (Practice Safe Art) series dedicated to celebrating the ICA’s 40th Anniversary through must see conversations and experiences around the museum’s past, present, and future. Carmina previously presented a memorable First Friday at the ICA back in 2017, learn more here.

This project is made possible in part by a grant from the County of Santa Clara’s Historic Grant Program.