During my travels around the world, I have experienced a common feeling—my heart starts to beat fast, my breath seems to quicken, and I feel a warm sensation as a golden glow surrounds me. Spirits in need of help invade my body and cause havoc. I experience physical pain, unrest, sickness and distress. Then when they have gathered all the energy they need in order to heal themselves, they leave. When they finally exit my body, I feel a sense of liberation and exhaustion. They float away as they go, creatures shaped like elongated bubbles.
Visual Sound:
Some are round with soft edges, some pointed and sharp, others were oval or have unusual shapes. Various tree shapes can be associated with a visual of sound just as we have in our audible tone. I use collaboration between trees and human beings to portray this visual sound.
Elderly to Infant:
As the elderly grow and lose much of their physical ability and mental awareness, they resemble infants in many ways. Is it because they were destined to grow that old or “young?” Or perhaps it is modern medicine and technical advances that are turning our mothers, fathers, grandmothers, aunts, and uncles into infants. Maybe we aren’t supposed to live to the age where we become infantile, or maybe we are. Could it possibly be the earliest indications that a second life is soon to come?
Ball Joints
With every human body having four ball joints, like the shoulder and hip joints, I decided to use my recently developed ball and joint glass connections as a way to express the human body and the aging process. Each set of four ball joints represents a different age group: infant, young adult, middle aged, and elderly. The size, texture and quality of glass mirrors the changes associated with each of these age spans. The small, clear and smooth glass represents youth, while the milky and foggy, broken and rough glass represents the older age group. As humans age, they begin with nothing and accumulate more possessions, memories and experiences. My ball joints depict this concept by encasing items that trigger memories of each age group, such as babies having laces, young adults having work items, older adults having worldly possessions, and elderly having a few highly prized possessions.
