DESIGN
AGATATED
A SCULPTURE MADE WITH RESIN AND BLUE LACE AGATE, DESIGNED TO REPLACE AN IPHONE
Smartphones are extremely convenient, but also extremely addictive and distracting. They have caused increased levels of anxiety, have changed the way we interact with people, and have caused us to experience life differently. While of course smartphones can be used as great tools, they also need to be managed.
The purpose of this object is to break smartphone addiction by replacing the absentminded need to check your phone with deliberate reflection. It is made out of stone and resin, and was cast using a silicone mold.
This object is made with Blue Lace Agate, a healing stone used for anxiety and worry. It is made in the shape of an iPhone in order to try to substitute it as easily as possible, as a quitting smoker might do with a wooden stick. It should be used whenever you might catch yourself thinking of the computer in your pocket.
ALLOW IT
A PROJECT DISCUSSING SELF-DEFINITION AS PROTECTION, ABUSE AND DEFIANCE, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE IN GENDER
“There are so many ways in which I’m vulnerable and cannot help but be vulnerable, I’m not going to be more vulnerable by putting weapons of silence in my enemies’ hands.”-Audre Lorde
I created this project because I spend a lot of time on the street, and a lot of time dealing with verbal harrassment. I wanted to use the idea of my self-definition and my own narrative as not only emotional, but also physical protection - in the form of brass knuckles.
They read BITCH / WHORE / PUSSY, gendered insults commonly used against women. They serve as a visual representation of vulnerability, but also of strength.
CONCEPTUAL WORK
UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS
A PERFORMANCE QUESTIONING GENDER IN THE PUBLIC SPACE AND BOUNDARIES
In French culture it is very common to give bisous (kisses on the cheek) - in fact many people say it is less intimate than a hug. In order to go beyond that level, I decided to ask men on the street for a real kiss to see how they would react.
In doing this project I was exploring people’s boundaries. Women are constantly being sexualised, and have to put up with harassment on the street daily. While I don’t think I was harassing anyone in doing this project, I think it was interesting to turn the tables slightly and make men on the street feel uncomfortable about themselves and their bodies.
Everyone who I asked was embarrassed and laughing, suddenly becoming red faced and shy. I think a lot of men express an outward confidence with their sexuality which doesn’t necessarily reflect how they feel, but is more about a power complex.
UNLADYLIKE
A PROJECT DISCUSSING GENDER IN THE PUBLIC SPACE
adj. Not appropriate for or typical of a well-bred, decorous woman.
This project is about the experience of women in the streets every day, and in turn is a project about the question of ownership and expectation. I went into the streets in Paris and asked men to hold posters saying phrases that would reflect how ironic women’s situations are today.
Women are made to feel shame for existing and yet are the givers of life, are told to be “ladylike” and feminine, despite not being the ones to define what that means. Women are fetishised for their sexuality, their race, their age, their nationality. I wanted to use the sort of language that would reflect the reality of what women deal with, and how they are subject to unrealistic standards.
I am very interested in the Virgin-Whore Dichotomy, otherwise referred to as the Madonna-Whore Complex, which essentially separates women into two categories: the pure and nurturing, respected Madonna or the sex-driven, desired “whore”. Men have a desire for the sex-driven “whore,” and have difficulty when the “whore” takes ownership of her sexuality. A woman can’t be sexual without being considered a whore.
Women deserve to have complete ownership of their bodies and their image, and it is time to redefine our narratives.
CMD + SHIFT + 4
AN INSTALLATION DISCUSSING THE WAY THE INTERNET HAS CHANGED OUR EXPERIENCE OF REALITY, PRIVACY, SURVEILLANCE, AND CENSORSHIP
Our day to day lives are becoming increasingly documented with advances in technology. We can access people’s personal information – including their location – with the click of a button. Our privacy is being reduced in exchange for convenience. I chose to recreate this image taken from Google Maps in the park next to my house. The software has been careful to blur out the face of a dog sitting with two women - for the sake of privacy.
Many of the tools that we often use for convenience can also be manipulated for surveillance. By searching on Google Maps, we can travel around the world, “experiencing” different locations while seeing the people who were momentarily there. My project is based around this concept of location, experience, and privacy, in terms of a more classical form
of expression: oil painting.
As the impressionist painters would take their paints to the park to work ‘en plein air,’ my work mimics their efforts of capturing the everyday reality of public spaces, using Google Maps.
This emphasis on everyday reality is important, as the impressionist painters were condemned for rebelling against classical ideals of representing historical, biblical, and mythical figures. Manet was famously criticised for painting common people, saying “I paint what I see, and not what others
like to see.” The people seen on Google Maps are everyday individuals who are not posing for their picture but are caught mid moment, unaware that their photo is being used for an online archive.
PHOTOGRAPHY
