What inspired you to begin this trading project?

I started the project in early August, and I was inspired by a project that was done in 2006, called ‘One Red Paperclip.’ This guy, Kyle MacDonald, had a red paperclip and he traded it up to a house over the course of a year. The projects I had seen where people had successfully done something similar, both of them had the end goal of a house. Given my more nomadic lifestyle, I am not looking to settle into a house right now, and so I was thinking, “What can I do that’s a little more on-brand for myself?” A Sprinter van.

What drew you to van living?

I was traveling around the country for [political] campaigns. I started out in Iowa, working with Pete Buttigieg on the presidential primary. When he dropped out of the race, I did this whole crosscountry road trip on my own through 33 states over the course of 2020 in my little Acura TL. I ended with the campaign trail in November of 2020, and decided to go in a different direction. I still want to link social issues into everything that I do, but just not work directly in Washington. I think this van would, as a freelancer, give me the opportunity to move around and see the country as I continue to do my own work.

What role has social media played in your trade project?

I’ve created TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram reels and short-form video content. For every trade, I’m trying to market it online. After I released that first video, I got 24,000 views and that was before I even made a trade. I felt like I had a lot of eyes on me and I needed to pick the right thing

What are peoples’ motivations for trading with you?

The second trade, I met this couple moving to Belize, and they gave me a tent, because they didn’t need to take it, I guess. The third person I met with the saxophone, he was a horticulturist and had played the saxophone for his entire life. He said he spends a lot more time outdoors now, so he has more use for a tent than a saxophone. Then the fourth person worked for USAID, the government aid relief agency, in Pakistan for two and a half years, where he purchased the rugs he traded me. We had a two-hour-long lunch conversation about his work in Pakistan, and his experience of the culture and purchasing the rugs.

Beyond the camper van, what is your end goal with this project? What will you do with the stories and footage you’re collecting?

My dream is to be able to do some sort of cultural documentary interview series. I see [the project] as a first jump into working more with my camera in a home documentary style. Figuring out what storytelling looks like to me, and what kind of stories I want to share. That is definitely the direction I’d like to go—into documentary film production.

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