The endless posts in the Missed Connections section of Craigslist’s classifieds website range from the absurd to the sentimental to the resentful, providing a dynamic depiction of how strangers interact, or are afraid to interact, in New York City. Though the experience of “love at last sight,” Walter Benjamin’s term for these missed connections, is an inevitable part of urban life, Craigslist posts are an attempt to reverse the inevitability. Because the site is anonymous, the pleas, rants, and confessions of the individuals who post are remarkably honest, often revealing an interruption of their daily routines and expectations or a departure from societal norms. From the hundreds of fleeting moments described on the website each day, I chose to depict an image when I related to in some way or if it instantly produced an interesting or funny mental image. Then I used photographs, paint, drawings, and found images to spontaneously bring the original text to life, often creating a setting and characters and imagining what would happen if these people had actually made the connection.
