Jordan Fleming

The concept of treasure has long been intertwined with the idea of value, symbolizing something personally significant, desirable, and highly sort after. Historically treasure hunts and discoveries, suggest an expedition of adventure to discover the coveted riches, which will provide a promising future. When pondering on my understanding of “treasure,” my thoughts turned to childhood activities like digging, hunting, and searching.. Why did these actions emerge as my primary associations with treasure? Perhaps it is because I find the process and physical journey of exploring the unknown and our own imaginations more captivating than a physical valuable reward. In my talk, I will explore the idea that treasure is not solely a grand discovery achieved at the end of our endeavors. Rather, it consists of small, valuable moments we encounter along the way. These unintentional and intangible treasures can be found in the people we meet, the unexpected paths we traverse, and our own imaginative pursuits. No map is necessary. We possess the ability to gather and carry these small treasures along us within our chests, sharing them with others as we travel and continually adding a few more to our collection.