Part One: A Worker’s Daydream (Photography)
We always like to show their good side on the developed social network; over time, survivorship bias leads many people to treat everything with similarly high standards. Therefore, it causes people to be afraid of falling behind and eager to succeed. Through black humor, this series of photography unfolds the story of an office lady under high working pressure for a long time. She is unable to concentrate at work and always fantasizes that she may treat her boss violently. The work uses black and white tones to show a surreal and depressing working atmosphere. Through the working performance of an ordinary office lady, it is mapped to every worker who has mental health problems without knowing it. The work will arouse workers’ empathy and let them consider whether there is a problem with their mental state.
Part Two: Last Rest (Sculpture)
The pajamas remake sculpture represents anxious patients’ riddled, vulnerable, and dangerous mental state. Individuals are obsessed with famous universities, Fortune 500 companies, luxury houses, limousines, etc.. 80% of us use the standards of 20% to benchmark all aspects of their lives, but it is difficult for them to do so. The gap between commitment and reality threatens people’s mental health, which leads them to consume their physical health and make one wrong decision after another, thus creating a vicious cycle that leads to tragedy.
The texture of the dried clay creates a sense of sadness, depression, and death-like suffocation. It satirizes the tragedy of people with severe anxiety disorders overrunning their health for their unrealistic desires. The bedroom and bed serve as the stage, where the dry clay is the actor. The dramatic contrast with the environment creates a robust comedic effect that reminds people to reflect on their mental health.
Part Three: Reboot (Installation)
The wire shoe represents leaving anxious thoughts and moving towards an active lifestyle again. Metal wires sculpt unique dynamic and playful characteristics to shorten the healing process for patients with anxiety disorders. The design helps audiences form optimistic psychological hints softly and interestingly. The wire shoe is lightweight and easy to move and hang for display, so it’s easy for viewers to interact with the work. When audiences touch the wire shoe, its high elasticity will temporarily deform the whole. This change echoes the dynamic feeling that the work wants to emphasize. It also conveys a flexible attitude while aligning goals.
The video production gears the viewer through the tunnel of leaving negative thoughts behind and moving towards an active lifestyle. The final stage of rebooting echoes the dynamic feeling one would be able to receive after self-healing and conveys the necessary attitude of flexibility while goals are realigned. The whole collection of Reboot features a self-healing process from self empathy (comedic workspace conflicts through photography) through self awareness (lack of energy through a sculpture piece), and embarks on rebooting one’s own system with a wired shoe installation.