Visual nostalgia and the art of reinvention

Show of hands: who watched something weird at a young age that left you feeling confused, maybe even a little disturbed?

For me, it was a stop-motion short that aired during Sesame Street. It featured an anthropomorphic orange singing the opera Carmen under a spotlight. She had daisy-petal eyelashes, a walnut nose, and a rubber band mouth. 

80’s children’s television programing was wild.

It was strange. It was jarring. It upset me. I mean, see for yourself.

Decades later, that orange resurfaced—uninvited but insistent. So I did what artists do: I turned discomfort into inspiration.

I deconstructed the original, stripped it to its essentials, and rebuilt it with my own visual language. I gave this fruit diva an editorial makeover.

What I kept:
– Daisy flower petals
– Walnut
– Rubber band

What I changed:
I swapped the orange for a neutral-colored balloon. I took her off the kitchen counter and placed her on a deep green backdrop. 

I gave her the drama she always deserved—but I wasn’t done. I reconstructed her face using the same elements—petals, walnut, rubber band—but this time, with intention and creative control.

Childhood memory, two ways: first deconstructed, then reconstructed.

This was part memory, part makeover, part reclamation—taking something that once confused me and reshaping it into something beautiful on my own terms.

The result? An unsettling yet elegant homage to a formative (and weird) childhood memory.

Check out the original clip here