CHLOE
WING
'Paper Cage'
Conclusions...
Jun 2014
The Dressing screen enclosure 'Paper Cage' is my final Degree piece. The symbolism of the structure is important. The inside is finished and elegant, and the outside is raw to denote a process and construction, for it is not a literal screen.
I want the viewer to have an emotional response from the enclosed space and I have incorporated shadows to create an ambiance. I have used brass hinges and a walnut colour to give a sense of history.
To live as a society we have to create systems. We define with words and we are taught with boundaries and definitions who we are as a social creature. This is the complexity facing the individual when interacting with the other. Society is not necessarily something that serves human welfare, and I want to make the viewer aware of society as a manmade decision and construct; along with the attempt to transcend these barriers and the impossibility of doing so.
I hope that my work will ask the viewer "what do you see?". I seek to engage the viewers thought. What do the words say? There are hidden meanings everywhere in the cuttings and in the structures. Nothing is straight forward. There is suffering as well as sanctuary in this 'Paper Cage'.
The audience is given an omniscient perspective. They are invited to venture inside the 'cage', which represents an individual's point of view, and also around the structure to have a wider overview.
I realised it is not necessarily one thing I am trying to portray, and that artworks can work on many levels. It is always the freedom of the audience to interpret the works, but ideally art could also retain some of its original intentions; because ultimately it is a communication between the artist and the viewer.
My work encourages the value of knowing a person's experience rather than having only superficial judgments and little information, that say very little about the person within.
The public and private interaction is what the audience contributes to my work. Although my work contains a lot of melancholy, at the same time, it is a retrospective of the past experiences and actually contains a lot of hope. In fact, the underlying intentions are peaceful and healing. Perhaps this is the only way I feel I can bridge a gap between the majority and minority, encouraging empathy from the viewer rather than division.
This is all about the viewer and their journey and experience of emotion. How do they feel within the work and how do they feel about themselves? For in terms of relations and daily 'wars', how the person feels within will affect how they feel about others without... This is certainly what I have learned myself. I feel so strongly about understanding oneself when it comes to mental health and relations with others.