Voice for the Voiceless

 

I was looking for a certain sized mason jar, but I only found these mini ones. I stared at them and suddenly recalled some fantasy movies. I wished these minis could talk so that I could ask them if they had seen their big brothers, but they couldn’t speak.

 

A mailbox on the street caught my eyes. I know from the peeling paint that it has been there for a long time. People these days don’t write letters, so it looks poor in such a winter day. Because it’s not alive, it can’t express its loneliness, only the peeling paint tells its helplessness.

 

I saw these sculptures on Sixth Avenue. It is really interesting that the journalists all have dog heads. Dogs don’t speak. These journalists are witnesses of facts, but they can’t speak.

I was walking across the Central Park on my way to the Met. The wind was swirling and the leaves are shaking crazily that make a strange sound. Wind itself is silent, only the objects in the wind make sounds for wind to announce its existence.

It was so cold that I hurried up my pace, but I stopped by this plant, because I heard these birds tweeted rapidly. I guess it was because they are too cold. However, nobody cares about them. Human beings take away their habitat and ignore their voice.

 

In Met, I saw this couplet in Japanese collection. Chinese culture started to be delivered to Japan in Tang Dynasty. This line is from a great poet in Tang Dynasty. I wondered the artist of this couplet must have something he wanted to express but couldn’t directly say it so he displayed this foreign line during important events to speak for him.

 

This was Kangxi, the forth emperor of Qing Dynasty’s brush holder. It was something that placed in the palace and was impossible to taken out of the Forbidden City. However, now it is in a country across the earth. I think only the brush holder itself knows what has happened. This brush holder knows that history but there’s no way for it to share this history.

 

I saw this on the street across from University Center. The pattern must have been done by someone who was eager to say something but has nowhere to say, so he left this on the street and wish someone else could here his voice.

 

According to the ads, the dogs should be happy there. In fact, they were not happy because they didn’t choose to be in there. Their masters didn’t listen to their voice.

 

Plants don’t speak. People left trash under the tree, but the tree can only bare it.

Similar things happen to this tree, too. I remember that there was news saying that the illumination is not good to the trees. However, people don’t care about the trees. They only care about how to enjoy their festivals. There are even illumination on really small plants in the same garden. We need to pay more attention to the silent harm.

 

The litter was just one meter away from the trash bin, but the one who left it there obviously didn’t care about it. If the litter can speak, it would have shouted out and blamed that person.

 

There are a lot of pets in New York. Now the weather is really cold. A lot of pets are wearing clothes while going for a walk. Their fashion style depends on their masters’ fashion ideas. Some are really cute; some have handsome outfits. However, we really can’t tell if they care or like their garments since they don’t speak for themselves.

 

Last semester, I’ve read someone’s writing about this “clock.” It’s been at the Union Square for all the time, but I don’t know its purpose. Surely, it’s a silent voice telling about some stories that should be noticed by people.

 

Last week when I was rushed to one of my classes, I passed by an adult with a young girl sitting in a stroller. The girl was having a crying face but didn’t even able to make the sound. She looked extremely uncomfortable. And her hoodie was stuck at the back of her head. I guess she was cold because of the horrible wind. I didn’t get to take a picture of her, because it might be rude and I was in a hurry. On Thursday, I saw the similar thing happened to a boy. He was at the front, so his mom couldn’t see him. And I guess she didn’t even care about him. He was crying and yelling: “Mommy, I’m cold…Mommy… Mommy… I…I..waah…” Children are usually lack of words to express their feelings, so they don’t have their voice being heard.

 

I remember when I was young, I liked stuffed toys, but only certain ones. They are fluffy and soft. However, it seemed like a stereotype of girls. Adults who visited our home always gave me stuffed toys as gifts. Sometimes the toys were really ugly even hideous, but my parents told me that it was other people’s gift so I should be appreciate. I agreed, and  I was even more upset. I couldn’t love them, but I had to keep them. And I couldn’t make request to the visitors for the toys I like, because it was rude to the people who gave these to me. Now I grow up. When people ask me advice for giving gifts to young girls, I always tell them that let the girls pick for themselves. Even though they are kids, they have their tastes.

 

When I first enter the second room of Scraps, I was attracted by this bag.

It’s interesting that I think the design of directly pressing the selvedge using its original condition (shape) to a surface is contrived. It sounds like the designer wanted to get rid of the selvedge as soon as possible but in a environmentally friendly way, because otherwise she would be blamed by the public. However, it turned up perfectly. Especially when the material is made to build this bag, all the scattered ends are heading down that looks like tassels. Even thought it imitates tassels, this pattern functions more conveniently than tassels. Sometimes tassels are too tangled that affect its aesthetics. The designer Luisa Cevese saved the abandoned and made their value be heard by others. People usually ignore the subtle things they see every day and let them be wasted. Luisa Cevese’s reusing speaks for those materials.

 

This is a park that is located under a overpass in Toronto. I think it is a really clever design that interweaves the fast-pace traffic with tranquil neighborhood activities. Also, the green plants make this urban area more lively and help absorbing some toxic gas from the overpass above to balance the air pollution. It is like a jade that was forgotten in the corner, but once an artist found it and made it into an art piece, everyone recalls its beauty. The landscape architects raised people’s attention and let the leftover area’s voice be heard.

 

I saw this pink little girl on the subway. The one that was standing in front of her is her dad. I noticed her because she was wearing all pink and smiling happily in this lifeless subway. Everyone was indifferent and looks so rushed, but that girl was so catchy. I remembered that when I was young, I liked to take public transportation if I went out with my mom. For adults, it is just a boring daily routine, but for a child, it is interesting experience. Child has fresh senses that are different with adults. When she grows up, she probably won’t be happy with taking the subway. She may refuse to wear all pink as well. The all-pink figure contrasts with the all-dull people around her that imply the gap between children and adults. I wonder if she would remember that she used to wear such fashion when she grows up.

 

I went the department store not for the children’s clothes but for some other reason. When I passed by this level, I saw all those brands’ name. These clothes are all for children but under those authoritative names. Most of these brands started from adult clothes when they first originated. Later as a brand gained more fame and power, it started to discover more method to expand the scale to make more money.

The purpose of some of these brands is not actually making clothes that are customized for children. They are just borrowing the brands’ fame to sell clothes to those parents. For example, a parent is a big fan of Polo Ralph Lauren. When he buys clothes for his son, he would definitely choose Polo Ralph Lauren Children for his son. His intention can be good because he trust this brand from his experience. Yet he doesn’t know if the good thing for an adult is also a good thing for a child. I don’t want to say that all these brands are just taking advantage of customers’ trust, but this fact certainly exists.

On the other hand, there are some brands that only focus on children’s clothes. Their design only based on children’s physical characteristics and taste, but they are lack of advertisement and fame. The market has already been filled with those big companies. Children are still minority in the customer groups, so it’s relatively hard for a children’s brand to be really strong. Then, these kinds of good children’s clothes brands may be less competitive, even though they may be better for children.

So I’m wondering that who actually get the control of children’s clothes?

 

One of the topics I was discovered at the beginning of my research is about how children are not given voice to design their own clothes. It is pretty ironic that the other day I saw Gap’s new display on the street inviting children to create their own wearing. I guess the purpose is not really focusing on the final pieces the children will make. It’s about the process that children are actually involved.

I think Gap’s activity is a little bit contrived, because for most of the times, children can’t control what they are doing. Their output may not match with their input. And this problem isn’t only happen on children. I remember myself at the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016 preparing my portfolio. I am so bad at using colors to my drawings that the outputs couldn’t reach my original expectation.

Therefor, I’m thinking about the expectation and result of works that has done for children, especially on children’s education. Not only the knowledge from schools, but also from families and other entertainment media like cartoons and TV series, they all try to deliver positive social value and moral to children. However, there must be certain moments when a child grows up and notices that the values and the reality he confronts are contradictions. I’ve heard this from somewhere else: Fairy tales are the most toxic thing for children. The idealism would only hurt children.

 

“Return before midnight!”

The Fairy said.

Cinderella left her slipper when the needle point to twelve.

I was with my friend during the spring break. When she saw this building, she laughed and asked me: “Don’t you think that building looks like the castle in Cinderella, the one with the clock on it? How childish it is!” I turned to it, and found it really interesting. This building is near Union Square, where there is another huge modern clock. (I still don’t know what the numbers on the clock mean.) This one is definitely different style with and older than the Union Square one. The yellow structure behind makes it more like a fairy tale castle.

I recalled my topics immediately. The story Cinderella has always inspired me. I remember that when I was young, I was fascinated by the surprise that her animal friends made a ball dress for her. The process of building the dress is really cool, but it  is kind of ridiculous even based on a child’s common sense. At the same time, I found Cinderella pitiful because only those animal friends helped her. Although later the fairy gave her a big prize, she is not her friend. The fairy is more like an elder who secretly watches Cinderella. If Cinderella has a neighbor or some other peers who live in the same valley with them, she wouldn’t have been so miserable.

It was last Tuesday. I passed by this displace on Broadway and I was caught by this furniture store. The weather was freezing, but I exposed my hands from my gloves and took this photo. I think that I always have an obsession with Disney.

I saw this “conversation” on a restroom wall. I think it is really interesting that people always try to think seriously while using the bathroom. And they write down their thought on the wall without signing their name at the bottom. They are timidly bold that the sentences are usually very straightforward but belong to unknown authors.

Thinking about the idea of being special. The ideal education is to let children know that everyone is born equal, so don’t despise anyone, even yourself. At the same time, in order to courage the children to live their lives well, we are teaching them that each of them is special. These two ideas are not contradictory, even though they sound like that by literal.

When I saw these lines, I have already finished a whole mystery story in my mind. There is a girl who feels lost. She doesn’t understand what’s the purpose of her life. She was betrayed by everyone and wants to suicide herself. Before she goes to the rooftop, she uses the restroom. Surrounded by the tall walls, she feels extremely dizzy and imprisoned. She reaches to her pen and write to herself, “You’re not special.” On her way to the roof, a girl bumps into her and asks her the location of library. She thinks this can be the very last helpful thing she does, so she walks with the girl to the library. It was only ten minutes’ walk, but they become friends. She becomes happier every day. Several days later, when she uses the same bathroom, she notices that somebody comments on her sentence, “You are fucking awesome and special!!! Never forget.” Yes, she will never forget.

Sometimes, a small thing can change a lot. Some hidden message may affect a lot.

 

Since last week my friends pointed to me the big clock on the building, I started to notice more clocks in the city. I haven’t been to a lot of cities in the world, so I don’t know if other cities have as many clocks on the streets as New York City does. The clocks are driving me crazy. Because I can’t stand the tension: when you do something, you know that you have a time limit so you can’t focus on it. When I notice that every thing I’m doing have to fit in the time system, I feel like the sexagesimal measurement divides my life into grids. I feel panic because I think I will be late for the next grid in my schedule. I could not focus on the present but always thinking about the following things.

I discovered more the week before last week when I watched Cinderella again. When I was young, I only paid attention to the part that she tried so hard to attend the ball. However, Cinderella had a time limit and she knew the time limit. Cinderella knew that the fairy, her friends and her effort would all be in vain as the clock pointed to twelve, but she still went to the ball. This fact is too cruel to children. Children should be encouraged to explore the world. Many children are afraid to try new things because they are afraid of the result. Children are being shaped silently.

 

When I first saw those sketches done by a designer King Muriel, I was amazed by the drawing quality. Then the professor introduced the reason for her to draw two angles of the same outfit was because she didn’t know how to make patterns. I recalled the moment my middle school friend talked to me about fashion design. I was sketching random things on my sketchbook. She kept watching me doing that, and held my hands suddenly. “I’m so happy for you because you can pull your ideas from your head onto paper.” She told me how she imagined flourish designs but could only stay in her mind. When she wanted to draw them out, they disappeared, because she didn’t know how to draw.

As I’ve known the backstage stories about King Muriel’s sketches, I see the effort and design she added to display her ideas. Her career as a designer hadn’t been restricted by her skills. She altered her fashion figures to show as much details as she could, and these “tricks” became her style.

The sketch above is my favorite one, because the figures look alive. The lady is wearing her hoody looks like she is trying to hide her emotion, but at the same time half of her upper body is exposed. This delicate pose enables us to see that the inside and outside of the cape have different patterns. I’m so touched because she made up for her disadvantage in such a lovely way, and it is not contrived at all.

I think about the products, ads, or even some artworks today. One problem makes me feel overwhelming is that their intentions are too obvious. There is no deeper thought beneath their fancy and alluring appearance, and they destroy my feelings as audience.