Modern Wild (2013)

Cassie Koh, Singapore

Description

This piece is a conceptual piece reflecting the tribe culture of the modern. It illustrates how a contemporary modern society still carries the same rules of the wilderness. This piece displays a parallel between us and the past where civilization is less urbanized, less manufactured. Here we still see elements that give a sense of the wild and nature, yet at the same time everything is artificial. It shows our cheap imitation of nature. The material used is all man-made. Tattoo and pattern crafted from light, a fake and intangible substance. The prominent front piece also embodies the same duality. It demonstrates how form is crafted from positive and negative spaces, organic shapes sharply cut on a sterile and unnatural looking material. This piece is all about expressing the pure sterility of our being and our isolation from our nature, enslaved by extravagant materialism that emphasized our poverty in spirit, yet somewhere in between we are still wild in a different way. From the gaudy embellishments decorated with flashy metals juxtaposed against the white “armor” that many people wear in this cold, treacherous and practical society. Survival of the fittest, we are both natural and unnatural. The contradictions that run through our very society are reproduced in this outfit.

Medium

Textiles, PVC coated tarpaulin, EL wire

Image credits

Cassie Koh