For this project, the prompt was to create a wearable construction that allowed for communicating a client’s strong beliefs in New York City at night. Before thinking about the actual piece, I conducted an interview with my client, Miriam. Together we discussed what it was like growing up and what we feel about our world today. She talked a lot about what she would change about the world including awareness of what we put inside our bodies. Another idea that was emphasized concerned our current pollution status and Miriam’s take on solving the problem was the idea that everyone can do something small to make a larger difference. She wanted people to know that there isn’t a need to rearrange a person’s life in order to try and help the planet, it’s those small steps that we can take now that’ll make a difference in the long run.
From there, I decided that the piece I wanted to make should emphasize that idea of “everyone can do something small” and I wanted the piece to facilitate the action of people doing so. Initially I wanted to create a panel that could be worn like a cape or attached to the back of a jacket. On the panel would be the words “be kind” and the letters would be make out a plastic material and by seeing around the letter and leaving the top open, each letter could be used like a pocket. The individual wearing the piece would then be able to put small pieces of trash that they found into the letter pockets instead of throwing it on the ground. By making the piece a panel, others who were passing by would be able to read the words and then they might be inspired to take action and be a little bit more kind to others and the planet.
But I realized that this panel would be a little hard to be versatile and the words “be kind” would be too long and not as impactful to the viewer. Instead I came up with the idea to make a cuff that could either be worn on the leg or the arm. Then each letter would be a pocket on it’s own and by attaching another piece of plastic to the back, I would be able to slide the letters onto the cuff. Instead of making the letters for “be kind” I decided to make just the word “kind” so that others could have their own interpretation of how the word relates to them. Each of the letters are made with a plastic material that was folded and sewed together. The reason for the folding was that as the individual wearing the piece continued to gather trash, the letters would expand to allow more trash to fit in. This way pieces of trash that aren’t necessarily flat would also be able to fit into the letter pockets. As for the cuff it self, I made the outside structure out of four pieces of wire but I found it to be too flimsy so I added wire diagonally to the corners so that the cuff would be more stiff. And because the cuff is made out of wire, it is able to bend to different sizes so that it can fit on either the arm or leg but it can also fit on different people. When I was exploring NYC at night, I was fascinated by all the neon lights because of their intensity and their color. For the piece, I decided to use different colored threads, that reflected those neon lights, to sew the plastic letters together. Also because the plastic is folded, when the light catches on the plastic, it created a unique pattern.
I decided to make each letter a separate bead because my idea was that if this piece were to develop even more, there would be more letters and other images made. Then the individual wearing the piece would be able to switch out the letters and spell what ever they wanted. Also if it were to go further, I would even make necklaces or bracelets similar to the design of the cuff and small letters so that even larger words or phrases can be spelled out.
But the overall goal of this piece is to tell others that it doesn’t take a lot of effort to make a difference and if everyone was a little kinder, our world would be a better place.
