(Images are placeholders for finished project)
Mediums: Wire, Air Dry Clay, Rigid Wrap, Plaster, Tulle, Gold Flakes, Red Tubing, Ribbon, Fake Gems, and Hot Glue.
This project, Armor, focused on creating a wearable piece, a head piece and a prop or held piece that tells the viewer both an issue and a solution. I went with a very personal subject, my own disability, and how badly disabled people need community support and abled bodied people to learn about the social model of disability. The wearable piece is meant to show my disability but in a regal and beautiful way, because the issue with my disability is not the impairment but how the world around me is set up. With a ruff and tubing attached to a spinal column, to act as a brace but also to show that I don’t view myself negatively. The tubing claps in the front with pendants of two hands holding each other, to remind of community support. A red tulle train pours out from the parts of my spine that are impaired, as well as showing my scoliosis.
The Helmet, is made of rigid wrap and is meant to invoke a Valkyrie style, with hands springing out to again talk about the need for community. Painted with gold lines, to imitate the folds in brains, the helmet focuses on Neurodivergency, as gold is a common color used in discussing it. A face shield is added to help myself with over stimulation from sensory issues
The held piece is a mobility aid, made from an plastic mop handle and covered in Rigid Wrap, it has red tubing climbing up side it to remind us we are all human even with aids like this and attaches to a hand that must be clasped to be used, the greatest reminder that disabled people will never be allowed true freedom without solidarity and community.
