D
eveloped from the interviews we collected in our research, we
designed two conceptual installations to share one case. On
one side of the case, we have an installation comprised of clothing
donated to the curatorial team by UBC students; on the other side
of the case, the installation features two components: a small,
three-dimensional light box that showcases one of the students we
interviewed and the environment in which we interviewed them
in tandem with a compilation of audio recordings regarding UBC
students’ reflections on their clothing in relation to their identities.
We posed two different, but interrelated, questions:
What do your clothes say about you?
What do you say about your clothes?
Our first installation - the pile of clothing – is a visually
expansive, mosaic-like mountain, made of squished together cloth
in odd shapes and sizes. Since each article has unique colors,
cuts, and textures, they stand out on their own. Yet interlocking
within the case, they condense into a larger, unified image meant
to express the heterogeneity of UBC student clothing choices.
We made the clothing pile slope and trail off near the base of the
light box to visually convey the relationship between these two
installations and the two questions we posed.
Our second installation - the light box illuminating
photographs of a UBC student and their clothing choices, enhanced
by a digital audio environment containing the conversations
between the many students we interviewed - is designed to visually
and audibly juxtapose to our first installation. The theme of unity
through diversity continues by displaying different voices, which
express varied opinions that have all been connected to one another
through the audio-looping process. Neither component on this side
of the case takes up much space in contrast to the other installation
that is festooned with cloth.
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