In this piece I contemplated the role of the traditional American couple. Traditionally, it is the man’s duty to support the woman financially and the woman’s duty to uphold the house. The yarn symbolizes the work done by the female figure to build this bondage. The masculine figure is seen supporting her weight under her rear and on the small of her back. The clothing materials were chosen to mock the stereotypes associated with these roles. The man’s costume is made of denim, army print, and black leather. These materials represent masculinity, aggression and toughness. The woman’s costume is composed of lace, soft floral, and a pink dress. These articles represent femininity, fragility and frivolity. These articles of clothing, like the stereotypes associated with them, are outdated. The piece is structured so that when worn the couple is in a loving embrace. However their hands are bound, so the position becomes uncomfortable over time. Thus the support that holds the costume together also restricts them from easily escaping it. Because their hands are bound within the structure, they are also unable to lift the masks that cover their faces. Their duties in marriage, along with the pressure to conform to masculine and feminine stereotypes, have diluted their identities and forced them into an awkward embrace that should only occur out of natural love.
My goal for this project was to take myself outside of my comfort zone. In order to do this, I needed to create a structure out of rope that would support my weight when suspended, and to confront the vertigo that would ensue. I constructed a ladder to measure how far I could push myself, the more rungs I descended the more successful I was. In my final attempt I could only force myself to go down four out of the eight rungs. Despite this, the process of constructing something that I would have to trust with my life with pushed me to take extra care in the construction of this piece.
For this piece I played with the idea of destruction as the opposite of progress. One could argue that I have destroyed a blank piece of paper by crumpling it into a ball. From the opposite of perspective, the blank piece of paper has progressed from a two dimensional surface to a three dimensional form. The folds in the crumpled paper are unintentional, influenced only by the form of my hands and the pressure exerted. This makes this crumpled ball unique to the mold of my palms and fingers.
