A Field Guide to Happiness is an ongoing search for something we all agree exists but no one can prove – happiness. Meticulously collected, these color photographs are presented as evidence of intentional and unintentional everyday actions that, both singularly and as a sum of their parts, evokes something close to a smile. The abstract fascination with the ‘ordinary’, surrounds us and unfolds into an offbeat and ostensive questioning that repeatedly asks, ‘Is this an example of happiness?’

The overall project the ‘guide’ is from – ‘Happiness’ is a project that points and questions; the work begins with our very understanding of the word ‘happy’ and how we may use it in its varying contexts every day. The work walks a fine line of absurdity and dry humor, with a light mist of cynicism, and eventually plays the very nature of the word against itself.

Within a climate of shifting politics, environmental fragility, heightened consumerism, and now our inability to move freely. It is best reminded that an acute observation on our world, as well as our immediate surroundings, may impact us in positive ways.

All images ©Daniel Dale