Mis(fortune) aims to help people rethink why they may allow superstitious beliefs change their behaviour, especially in occasions where following superstition becomes an inconvenience ︎
Mis(fortune) aims to help people rethink why they may allow superstitious beliefs change their behaviour, especially in occasions where following superstition becomes an inconvenience ︎
Answering the Dragon Rouge Firestarter brief “Find a rule or taboo you believe is outdated or needs to be rethought and choose or create an appropriate communication channel to talk about it”
Problem
I began question why we allow superstition to affect our actions after watching friends move out their paths or on to the road to avoid three drains. After further research, I found much of these taboos or mental rules can be considered outdated and benign.In most cases, superstitions are fun and harmless, and have deep rooted history and a way of preserving cultural traditions. However, for many people they can play into mental health conditions such as OCD, anxiety and often prominent in lives of people with gambling addictions.
Process
This lead me to document two days; one day where I test the luckiest superstitions and one where I do everything traditionally unlucky. At the end of each day I complete a series of activities which tests my fate, so I am able to compare the outcomes.Solution
Mis(fortune) is a tpyographic book that displays my exploration of luck and fate, encapsulated in a handmade, giant, leather fortune cookie to represent how before going into this experiment, I was unsure what to expect. The aim of mis(fortune) is for readers to rethink the reasons they are following mental rules and restrictions surrounding luck and superstition, especially when it is an inconvenience to their lives.My Itinerary
I followed superstitions that I was either familiar with or I follow daily out of habit. On my lucky day, I carried around a lucky penny given to me on New Years Eve 2022, I wore red and yellow clothes, but found myself mainly just avoiding things that “bring me bad luck”, such as three drains and walking under signs. On my unlucky day I did the opposite, walking over three drains, over cracks, opening an umbrella indoors and smashing a mirror.
In the evening of each day, I went to a casino to put money on the roulette, I put £1 on the Irish Daily lottery and bought a scratch card, where I did not win anything. I also opened a fortune cookie to compare my fortune after each day. I chose these activities due to relationship between gambling and superstition where a study showed that those with greater superstitious beliefs spent more time gambling and engaged in more gambling sessions each week compared to those with less superstitious beliefs.
In the evening of each day, I went to a casino to put money on the roulette, I put £1 on the Irish Daily lottery and bought a scratch card, where I did not win anything. I also opened a fortune cookie to compare my fortune after each day. I chose these activities due to relationship between gambling and superstition where a study showed that those with greater superstitious beliefs spent more time gambling and engaged in more gambling sessions each week compared to those with less superstitious beliefs.
This exploration made me realise how people can become fixated on the idea of relating things going wrong with doing a good luck superstition, rather than just because something went wrong. This just proved to me that if people are doing this on their daily life, it could be come quite overwhelming and inconvenient. However, it has made me not want to follow any superstition, as I was just doing them out of habit.
“Testing my fate” proved to me that these superstitions had no affect on my “fate”. In fact my unlucky day produced better results with a higher dice roll. This just proves to me that breaking or following superstition will not affect fate and therefore should not be a mental rule or restriction that contributes to someone’s mental health problems such as OCD or anxiety.
“Testing my fate” proved to me that these superstitions had no affect on my “fate”. In fact my unlucky day produced better results with a higher dice roll. This just proves to me that breaking or following superstition will not affect fate and therefore should not be a mental rule or restriction that contributes to someone’s mental health problems such as OCD or anxiety.