90 DEGREE
In this project, I am trying to address a specific microaggression toward a body part–shoulder by using found objects. Over the decades, people have created a universal idea that only flat, straight edge shoulders are pretty because they create an image of our body shape similar to the idea of cloth hanger. From my stand of point, I am a victim of this microaggression since I was a little kid. Therefore, I choose to use shoulder pads to cover up a cube to hint the singularly, narrow beauty standard we have nowadays, and to point out people’s obsession toward 90 degrees today.
In order to create this work, I first made a cube out of cardboard. Then, I glued muslin to cover the surface of the cube so that I can sew all the shoulder pads on it. By hand sewing shoulder pads to the cube one by one, I finally completed the final work.
In a word, this work is not only addressing the narrow beauty standard we have now, the object–shoulder pad itself is also pointing out the stereotype and microaggression toward female nowadays. It points out that female still has to have a broad shoulder to look masculine, to show we have credibility and we are reliable in nowadays society.
