In my freshman year of college, I was given a week to complete a project to create a garment that represented the extension of the body and provoked emotion. This new experience expanded my drawing skills and creative vision.
Ideation/Premilinary Sketches
First, I made pre-concept sketches (Photo 1). Sketching your ideas is the beginning phase of any creative project. It creates room for further experimentation as well as helps you remove any emotional attachment. This gave me a sense of groundedness since I was making a project that I had never done before and wanted to execute successfully. I came up with the idea of creating a headpiece using headphones surrounded by cloth to invoke the emotion of vulnerability and trust.
Chaotic In-Betweens
I did things I did not expect to do. I gathered random items from my room, bought cloth and tie-dye ink, and watched tie-dye videos to create something that I believe can invoke emotion. This project taught me how to reach out for help when I am stuck at an obstacle. I asked for help from one of my professors who is in charge of the wood shop for any suggestions or ideas to craft this project. Not only did she help me put the idea together, she built the skeleton of the structure I needed to put the garment together.
Final Execution
After completing the project, the whole class had to wear the garment in my chosen location, outside the field in front of the Center of the Arts buildings. The headphones are the foundation of the headpiece, so I connected it to my phone and played soundtracks from Nintendo games such as Super Mario 64 and Animal Crossing. While the participants wore the garment (Photo2-4) and walked, I picked up any loose fabrics that fell off. I initially thought my project needed to be improved due to the material flying off. Unexpectedly, my professor gave positive feedback due to my actions being performative and assistant in the emotion of vulnerability.
