Our name is the way we present ourselves to the people around us and the main method used for identification around the world. Without our name, we would not be considered a person, but a human being. Our name is just a set of letters that cannot describe who we are, what we have been through and how we exist in the world, but it is still the main medium of identification.
Is my name me?
What makes me me? who am I if not my name? could I be a person without a consistent label for people to make my head zip in their direction like an obedient pet? Could I still be Luka, me, the person who I am today, if I was treated differently for even a second less or a second more, and would I still turn out the same way? Would you be able to recognize me?
Would you know It’s me if my name wasn’t attached to my shirt pocket?
What do you think I look like? are you imagining my face as a mixture of people who have said similar things throughout your life? And if you do know what I look like, then has my face morphed into a different face now that you've read this text I poured myself into? Are my cheeks hollow, are my teeth straight, do you remember to imagine my one eye droops lower than the other? do I resemble this page?
I want to be inscribed into my work. Like an old tree trunk with aged initials carved into it.
I want someone to see something in their daily commute and think of me, from ripped stickers stuck on freshly painted walls to patterned shoe laces, if I can’t claim my own name as being entirely mine, as being me without having to prove that I deserve to be called Luka, that I am worthy of the name my mother chose for me at birth, can I take from the association of borrowed time, of glossy portraits and licked fingers to explain my worth? To prove who I am through actions instead of certificates?
will you remember me by my name or by your imagination?
Will my name mean me or will my name mean nothing when compared to me?