“My name is Lauren Klarfeld. And this is my collection of messages from strangers in the world.” This is how Lauren, writer, and artist born in Belgium and currently living in Madrid, presents herself. Her collaborative and social art project called “Last Words for The Road” brings together a collection of handwritten quotes from travelers.
When two people in transit meet, that episode generates a series of connections, sometimes superficial, but many times deep and intense. That exchange is the engine that Lauren works with. She extracts from each person an idea, a hope, a message to be shared with the rest of the world.
As a traveler herself, she is interested in capturing the freedom to say hello and goodbye without any expectation. “It was about living the moment with strangers who became soul-mates for a night and not expect anything in return other than to wish them success and happiness for the future. “
Each appointment represents a part of the personality and mantra of the life of the individual, which allows to build a portrait of the modern traveler.
Her project was selected in the Social Art Award 2017 in Berlin and is in the process of becoming a book.
The phrases are all different from each other. Some short, some long, some more original, others sound more like a common phrase. In some of them, we find drawings, scribbles, crossings. But most have something in common and that is that they carry a positive, hopeful message.
They spread like waves through streets, lampposts, interiors, and exteriors.
In transit they too, find another place and another person, anywhere in the world, to be received and continue on their way.
© Images: Lauren Klarfeld
