Sustained Investigation
Portfolio #8
L.S. 2018-2019
artist statement:
Psychologists contend that plush toys are integral to proper human development as they provide context for the individual internal self and the differential other that is our public external source of identification. This led me to question how toys designed to create comfort actually contribute to the epidemic of anxiety and socially driven emotional disorders. Perfectly proportioned dolls suggest unattainable ideals. What if they were more representative of how people really feel yet are ashamed to reveal?
My work exposes emotions, challenges perceptions, and mocks social norms. I enjoy making people uncomfortable so they are forced to examine their own reactions and ultimately realize they can actually relate and connect with the concepts they initially deemed revolting, inferior, or unacceptable. I seek to instigate a confrontation between our external projections and our internal interpretations that leads to conversations about what makes us weird, normal, or beautiful—and who’s really in charge of handing out those labels.
Psychologists contend that plush toys are integral to proper human development as they provide context for the individual internal self and the differential other that is our public external source of identification. This led me to question how toys designed to create comfort actually contribute to the epidemic of anxiety and socially driven emotional disorders. Perfectly proportioned dolls suggest unattainable ideals. What if they were more representative of how people really feel yet are ashamed to reveal?
My work exposes emotions, challenges perceptions, and mocks social norms. I enjoy making people uncomfortable so they are forced to examine their own reactions and ultimately realize they can actually relate and connect with the concepts they initially deemed revolting, inferior, or unacceptable. I seek to instigate a confrontation between our external projections and our internal interpretations that leads to conversations about what makes us weird, normal, or beautiful—and who’s really in charge of handing out those labels.