<div>Friends, family and community ❤️
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<div>Many of you have watched me walk through one of the hardest seasons of my life after losing my brother to suicide six months ago. I haven’t hidden my grief, because honestly… grief changes you. It strips you down, tests you, breaks parts of you open, and forces you to decide what you want to do with the pain.
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<div>And I keep choosing to create.
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<div>I keep choosing connection.
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<div>I keep choosing community.
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<div>I keep choosing to turn loss into something that may help others feel less alone.
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<div>This art piece was born from that place.
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<div>The name of the piece is **Dreams Never Get Old**.
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<div>I am building a massive reflective camera sculpture for the playa — a piece centered around self-reflection, mental health, vulnerability, and human connection. The lens is a mirror, so when people walk up to it, they don’t see a photograph… they see themselves.
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<div>The message is simple:
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<div>*You are enough.*
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<div>I want this piece to become a space where people stop for a moment in the middle of all the stimulation and remember who they are. A place to gather, reflect, connect, cry, dance, hug strangers, or simply breathe.
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<div>I applied for a Burning Man Honoraria Grant and made it through part of the process, which honestly felt incredibly validating and emotional for me. Unfortunately, I was not selected for funding in the final round, which means now I truly need to fundraise the full amount needed to bring this piece to life.
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<div>The reality is that creating large-scale art is expensive, and I cannot do this alone.
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<div>If this project touches you and you feel called to support it — through donations, sharing, materials, fabrication help, connections, fundraising ideas, or simply encouragement — it would mean more than I can explain.
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<div>Life has tested me deeply these last six months. But this project is proof that even through grief, something beautiful can still be created.
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<div>Thank you for believing in art.
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<div>Thank you for believing in people.
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<div>Thank you for believing in me. ❤️
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<div>__________
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<div>Hi, I’m Marina — an interior designer, artist, mother, immigrant, and first-time large-scale art creator based in Lake Tahoe.
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<div>A few months ago, I lost my brother to suicide. Grief has a strange way of changing how you see the world, and somewhere inside that pain, this artwork was born.
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<div><strong>“Dreams Never Get Old” is a monumental reflective camera sculpture being created for Burning Man 2026.</strong> The mirrored lens turns the viewer into the subject, exploring self-image, memory, vulnerability, and the human desire to feel seen. The piece is about reflection in every sense of the word — emotional, physical, and collective.
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<div>This project is deeply personal to me, but it is also much bigger than my own story. My hope is to create a space where people pause, connect, gather, and maybe see themselves a little differently for a moment.
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<div>I am currently raising funds to help fabricate, transport, and safely install the sculpture on the playa. <strong>Every contribution — large or small — directly helps bring this vision to life.</strong>
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<div>Thank you for believing in art, in human connection, and in creating beauty from grief.
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Laurie Schmid

David Rodriguez

Aleksandr Bezobchuk

Christina Kurth

Heather Henry

Ameet Shah

Sandy Russell

Anonymous

Joshua Hutchens

Rachid Dahnoun

Terry Lilienfield

Stefani Morones

Julia Marianelli

Kristine Mostofizadeh

edin carpenter

Noah Silverman

Sherri Schmidt

Justin Orris

ANN H OPEL

Erika Belis

Bringing 'Dreams Never Get Old' to Burning Man

Bringing 'Dreams Never Get Old' to Burning Man

Still $11,430 to go. Help us build momentum.