We all carry emotional baggage—it looks different for each of us, but it shapes how we move through the world. We can let it define us, or choose to release it as an act of resistance and renewal.
Artist Theda Sandiford invites you to pause, reflect on the weight you may be carrying, and take part in the liberating act of letting go.
The Emotional Baggage Cart Parade is a public art project that transforms shopping carts into mobile, interactive sculptures—each one a visual metaphor for the invisible burdens we carry. Adorned with fabric, yarn, ribbons, and found materials, these carts become vessels for emotional release and communal healing.
Performed in public spaces, the parade invites direct audience participation. Performers wearing brightly colored pageant sashes push the carts slowly and deliberately, encouraging passersby to engage—physically, emotionally, and conversationally. Participants are invited to touch, push, and interact with the carts, symbolically releasing personal stresses and shared struggles.
By creating space for dialogue, reflection, and creative expression, this project fosters empathy and connection. Participants may also be photographed or recorded as they share what emotional baggage means to them, deepening the collective impact of the work.
