In honor of Martin Luther King’s quote, “We may have come here in different ships but we are all in the same boat,” Lake of Dreams is a celebration of what it means to be an American.

The Milligan Studio’s non-profit Poetics of Forgiveness Project worked with urban students in St. Paul to build an Irish currach (boat) which is now in the process of being “skinned” with hundreds of instant photos as a joyful reminder of who we are as a country.

Paper boats moored to pencils invite viewers to write about their own journey to America.

Families, couples, friends––when asked if they’d like to be on the boat, people gathered their loved ones near and smiled.

One man was so happy to be asked to be photographed, he gave us a hug.

The joy these photos illustrate is profound. A young Muslim woman laughed when her photo was taken, which horrified her. for a moment “Woman are supposed to be serious in photos,” she said but let the photo be sewn on the boat anyway.

“We are in America. There can be happiness.”

We agree.

Children watching as their photos are sewn into the boat.