James Bracken

Nowstalgia is a project based on the idea of being nostalgic for the present, catered towards an audience of upcoming graduates and people born in the 2000s. For me, my ‘nowstalgia’ is my college days, which are coming to an end.

My research began with the psychology of nostalgia, anemoia, and why Gen Z are nostalgic for the 2000s– a decade we barely remember. This led to combining the aesthetics of 2000s cartoons with my present: going to art school and drinking at the pub. I wanted to recreate things I find nostalgic through a modern lens, but not necessarily a more “adult” one.

Each outcome represents something from the 2000s-2010s, mixing sculpture, textiles, UI design, writing, and character illustration. It highlights a version of my university life filtered through a Y2K aesthetic, where the characters exist in a limbo between time periods, not quite ready to let go or grow up.