The Collection of Objects features an assemblage of handmade wooden objects and the original forms they were originally derived from.
It is an assertion that humans inherently classify things in a way they understand them, and this influences what we do.
However, would a tree think of parts of its felled self as waste?
Or does a tree consent to being transformed into these ‘things’ we consider commodities?
Would the concepts of ‘things’ even exist in a world without us?
This project details a pragmatic and sustainable solution to Singapore’s death service industry by objectifying people. It acknowledges economic, environmental and ethical issues within the industry caused by land scarcity. Therefore, it challenges the ethical and environmental issues created by how Singapore handles remains. The research shows data from the National Environmental Agency (NEA) on how remains are handled in Singapore and literature about the Anthropocene, extreme utilitarian concepts and sustainability. This is to understand how the past has influenced current problems and methodologies. My development contains drafts of ideation sketches, material explorations and prototyping before the object is manufactured for curation. I strived to encapsulate the objective translate the concept into the object and curation.
Children learn what they live. Then they grow up to live what they learn.” — Dorothy Law Nolte (Marilyn Price-Mitchell, 2020)
What Children grow up with, which can include the influences they encounter, encompassing their choice of toys, interactions with those around them, and even their familial relationships, ultimately contributes to the individuals they become in adulthood. This literature review explores the area of designing for children to enhance their play experiences. Various things have contributed to children being disconnected from play time. This paper aims to delve deeper into these factors and how designing for children helps ease these factors. It also highlights how through design it can enhance and shape the way children play. By looking at why kids aren’t playing as much and suggesting new design ideas, it argues that we should focus more on making play a big part of growing up. The paper also examines how playtime can boost children’s creativity by looking into various approaches to designing for children, encouraging and even motivating them to develop their imaginative and creative skills.
The project title is called ‘Out of the Box’. Out of the Box is a play kit designed to enhance children’s play experiences. The kit fosters opportunities for children to interact and play with one another, in fun, creative and imaginative ways while promoting a harmonious blend of indoor and outdoor play. To encourage kids to freely run, shout, tumble, play with friends, and fully immerse themselves in the joys of childhood. A modular play kit.
This FYP thesis explores the traits of traditional Chinese paper cuts, specifically the Guangdong paper cuts, to find out how to merge these cultural values and techniques into a kinetic paper cutting installation, as if bringing them back to life in modern settings. By casting moving shadows of symbolic motifs, they carry well wishes for this art form. This work reminds viewers that cultural heritage should not be constrained to its original form. External engagement with this art form is crucial in bringing it into a brighter future. We should look beyond what is already present to see this art form’s future potential. Humans are important vessels in bringing these heritages forward into the future with us as we progress to strike a balance between efficiency and craftsmanship by merging traditional with modern aesthetics.
Chinese paper cutting is not only a form of art expression, but a medium for the people to tell their stories and lifestyles. With rich history behind its content and symbolisms taken from real life, this art form captures the way of life, our values and who we were that led us to where we are now.
However, many traditional heritage handicrafts, including the Chinese paper cutting, are slowly fading out from public’s view. Fewer people appreciate this form of craft as it is time-consuming and requires high-level of skill to create.
I studied the traits of the Foshan paper cutting and consolidated them into three main factors: alternating between reality and fiction, use of interconnected lines and cultural-centred topics and themes of the illustrations. This project focuses on these three traits to create symbolic narratives that are hung to create moving shadows. They symbolise the rediscovery and revival of this art form and offer alternate possibilities for it. Participants would be reminded of the beauty of their roots, cultural identity, and their roles in preserving this form of art.
swallow me (Again) is a time-based, multi-media installation that seeks to present an abstraction and exploration of the Mother Wound (the inter-generational pain passed between women in a line of inheritance) through the ritualization of physical motions in sculptural interaction.
The artwork presents a speculative emancipation ritual questioning the ideology of healing and its possibility in the context of something so innately present.
Perhaps the only way to end a cycle of trauma is to remove its latest vessel from the world.
