TRANSIENT STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS explores the socialisation of beauty ideals, particularly in the context of girlhood, and how those values affect one’s perception of oneself and the world around them. There is a stage where a girl comes to realise the existence of an external world outside of her own small being. She watches the world watching her. My work this year deals with that transition from one life stage to another, the psychological shift from childhood indifference to a growing self-consciousness.
I found that the medium of soft sculpture perfectly encapsulates these themes; the softness and organic shapes I am able to create with wire armatures, sewn fabric, air dry clay and wool reference the body and express the metamorphosis humans go through as they mature. The young and impressionable mind of a growing child is also reflected in the malleable and ephemeral nature of soft sculpture.
Rini Siahay, ‘Baby Mobile’, 2023, wire, wool, ribbon, lace, faux pearls, air dry clay
instagram: @riinii_art