June 20, 2015

My Happy Is Documentary

Happiness from a Stranger

This post originally appeared on LinkedIn In the words of Alice Walker, hard times require furious dancing, and I couldn’t agree more. Over the past year, the killing of unarmed black youth and the Charleston AME massacre that carelessly took nine lives truly makes me want to holler. A topic that restores my faith in humanity and the power of social connections is the exploration of happiness, and what it means to different people. #MyHappyIs Two weeks ago, Lawrence Green of Time Traveling Media and I began shooting a documentary exploring happiness, and over the summer, we will visit neighborhoods in the Washington, D.C. area, Baltimore, MD, Silver Spring, MD, and to hear a range of perspectives and experiences. Day one of our shoot took us to Anacostia, D.C., and there was a mix of pain, love, laughter, religion, family, friendship and recovery that peppered our conversations. In the picture featured above, the cutest moment occurred when I asked, “What do you do or who do your turn to when you need a ‘happy fix?’ Without skipping a beat, these siblings pointed to each other and laughed. It’s hard to not feel good when people share their happy moments with you! Here are a few more shots from Day 1 Stop by my Instagram feed, @JacqLara, to see what KK in the photo above said about happiness.

Here’s a sneak peek from Day 2 of our shoot in Dupont Circle:

 

Sneak peek at Day 3 in Silver Spring, MD:

See more pictures and behind-the-scenes stories via my Instagram feed, @JacqLara, and on Artfullness Project’s Facebook page.

We’ll be heading to our last city, Baltimore, MD, later this month.

What is the last thing that made you smile today? Please share below or tweet me @ArtFullnesspjct and tag #MyHappyIs.

Jacqueline Lara is president of Mpact PR, LLC, which develops messaging and conducts media relations for nonprofits, entrepreneurs and artists. As creative architect and events producer of The ArtFullness Project, Lara explores creative processes and blogs about the intersection of art and business.