"quality of life report" continues my examination of small experiences that resonate with larger meanings. The idea began as I read an instruction booklet for a new appliance and was surprised to feel connected to the illustrations. I saw them as "helpful-hand images" and started collecting these illustrations of what should be done and how to do it. I saw irony and humor in these very direct solutions to various complicated problems and longed for this same unattainable simplicity in other arenas of life. The instructions contain a sort of magical innocence; that putting one’s hands in the correct positions will solve any potential problem. No technical training will be necessary.

As my collection grew, I expanded it to include other kinds of illustrations that resonated for me as inspirational or poignant. The illustrations guide the viewer through tasks and activities with clarity and thoroughness. Some give advice or suggest a correct approach. When I found an image that was particularly satisfying, I copied it and adjusted the sizes and placement on the copy machine to make prints of this "life report".

As the collection of prints was growing, I had a particularly vivid dream which was in contrast and yet connected to the instructions illustrated in the prints. The dream presented a cage with bones and slices of bread. An alarm sounded as a large roulette wheel rotated in the background. The dream spoke to me of sustenance, mortality and the role of chance in life. I collected objects that related to the dream and used them to build a three-dimensional rendering of the dream’s message. I see the arrangement of these objects as the complementary opposite of the practical solutions in the prints. This assembled object presents the unconscious, dream-like, side of the "life report".

—Odile Dix