Is Happiness Temporary?
Mixed-media installation
2021
Is Happiness Temporary? is the concluding installation in Yadanar’s Sunflowers Smell series, following the performance I Brew Love Potions for Sad Maidens. While the performance enacts a ritual intended to comfort and heal, the installation considers what remains once that ritual has ended.
The work asks whether the relief produced by ritual represents a lasting emotional change or only a temporary interruption of sadness. Rather than attempting to prove whether rituals work, Yadanar examines why people continue to rely on them. Even when a ritual cannot guarantee healing or happiness, performing it can create a brief sense of reassurance, agency and control.
The work asks whether the relief produced by ritual represents a lasting emotional change or only a temporary interruption of sadness. Rather than attempting to prove whether rituals work, Yadanar examines why people continue to rely on them. Even when a ritual cannot guarantee healing or happiness, performing it can create a brief sense of reassurance, agency and control.