2020
Object
Materials: Stainless steel and nylon coating (underwires), Nickel silver
Dimensions: 23″ x 16″ x 15″
Photo credit: Michael Arrigo
Performance
single channel HD video
3:46 minutes
Statement
An underwire was invented in the 19th century and was described as modification of the corset. An underwired bra represents a revolutionary stage of female garment while in the meantime, still carries the traditional attitude trickled down from the historical definition of beauty of a female body. Despite the invisibility, underwires are designed to police control, restrain, and subjugate women’s body. I use this material and build a wearable object whose form references a set of double bandoliers. This is my way to challenge the power of structure and subvert this patriotic control into a new kind of unconventional beauty. By taking something that has covert control and making it overt, by exposing the invisible cause of pain, these bandoliers are not only to protect, but more so, to announce.