The Happy films began in 2022 and are based on memories of my daughter when she was two years old. During that time, her vocabulary was limited so communication was difficult and at times met with a lot of frustration and moaning. Then around her second birthday she began repeating the word happy.

I remember this hopeful and exciting feeling that language was coming to her more easily. It was a pleasure to hear her sweet voice I held out hope that she would start saying more words to join her happy. A short while after her birthday passed she stopped saying the word and it would be quite some time before I would hear her speak it again. The process of creating the word happy in a material that then disappears came accidentally. I continue this process in a variety of other materials to allow me to work through the feelings of that time which are still very fresh and alive today.

Stephanie Romano

Stephanie Romano