“If you want a house, stop buying avocado toast.” “You should cook and eat at home to save money to buy a house in the future.” These statements from the news and parents are stuck in everyone’s mind. After every meal out, they cause upset and worry. Their persuasive power is getting stronger with the current unstable economy, where inflation is more than 7% and housing price is skyrocketing. The news has not stopped covering this topic and people cannot stop worrying about the future. Every meal is getting heavier, considering and calculating between cravings and savings to reach self-sufficiency that is everyone’s life goal. This work was created by arranging plastic housing pieces in the middle of a bagel and using toothpaste, which substitutes cream cheese that often pairs with bagels, to glue the houses to the bagel.
Infants and children are raised in a nurturing and protective environment to ensure the best
possible outcome for development and growth. Infants are given stimulating toys like baby crib mobiles
to help them engage and interact with the external environment to develop hand-eye coordination,
spatial awareness, and muscle control. Children are protected because they are the most vulnerable
group in society or family unit. In a disrupted environment like conflict or war, children are no longer
safe to grow and interact with the external environment but are exposed and threatened by it. In a
thriving environment, the mobiles are often decorated with images like stars, planets, astronauts,
rainbow, cars, or animals. Therefore, when babies look up, they can see those images to develop their
awareness about the world. For babies in conflicts and uncertain environments, what will they see when
they look up at the mobile? There will be little hope to a promising future, only violence and uncertainty
are guaranteed.
The work presented here simulate a baby crib mobile composing of floating clouds and casted
cement bullets. Colorful and puffy clouds juxtapose against grey cement bullets. The clouds are cut from
felt sheet, stuffed with cotton or left-over cuttings, and sewn together. The bullets are casted in cement
using silicon molds. During the casting process, a thin, transparent fishing line is embedded in the mold
so that the bullet will encase the line. Finally, the lines are attached to the frame to create a mobile.
We live in a world where many stereotypes and expectations are placed upon us. Even in the land of the free like the United States, there are still debates about who has the right to make decisions on women’s body or whether women have the capability to lead because of the stereotypes of being emotional, indecisive, or weak. And, through the centuries, the ideal and expected physical shape of a woman is still the hourglass. These stereotypes and expectations last for so long because many of us still embrace them intentionally and unconsciously. With so many expectations and stereotypes squeezed and molded into one body, will the body ever pop and burst?
The sculpture includes a brazed corset-shaped frame and balloons. The corset was created by brazing wires. Then the balloons were placed into the corset frame and blown up to fit the corset shape. Some of the balloons have two layers, which makes the color of the balloon darker and not deflate quickly. Some of the balloons contain water to help stabilize the sculpture.