Erin Langner’s project for the 2022 Jack Straw Program is a collection of essays in which she uses works of art to reflect on her time growing up in the Chicago suburbs. In her conversation with curator Michael Schmeltzer, they discuss how the music from her adolescence inspired her project, why objects can be vessels for truths, and how her experience as an art critic helped shape her intentions as a writer. “Understanding yourself is a way of becoming a better citizen, becoming a better parent, becoming a better member of the community, and becoming the best person that you can be.”

Music by Ran Park, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.