Petite Gift
2024, 18" x 22" x 2 1/2"
Used t-shirts, red threads, wires, woodblock, beads, marking pins, and a shadow box
My previous installation "Gift" expressed the mysteries of meeting people at a certain time and a certain place, which do not look like coincidences to me. Based on the same idea, I made a smaller and an assemblage version of “Gift”. I collected some disused clothes from my friends and family to represent something belonging to someone influential to me. I started braiding them with wire and red thread, visualizing the ways people cross their paths for a reason. I assembled them in a shadow box, which represents a treasure box to me.
The inclusion of beads represents a notion of "treasuring the moment of the encounters" here. The marking pins are used to hold the beads in place. Typically, marking pins are used as a part of the sewing process. In the Japanese language, they’re called ‘waiting pins’—literally, they’re waiting for the final threads to come. This idea of "waiting" makes me think about the future. The fabric of used t-shirts is a material from the past, while the marking pin suggests the future. Layering these materials leads me to reflect on the concept of “time.”
The horizontal line in the background was inspired by the horizon line in Kansas, and my reflection of the ideas of places.