VISIT IN COMFORT
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Visit
in
comfort
in
comfort
When we cherish objects, their age and deteriorate often show how they evolve into indispensable companions in our lives. As they wear out, they provide us with a sense of comfort and attachment.
These companions will be presented to the audience in an intimate and interactive way: As teddy bears that can be worn; pillows that we can cuddle; wooden spoon-boxes that store precious spoons can be opened.
Some people might be fascinated by these objects that seem mundane to others. For me, owning or holding them is comforting, and soothes my anxiety. By working with used objects as working material, makes me feel like giving them a new life.
The winter fleece coat feels like teddy bear’s fur to me. I habitually grab the fur balls that rub off the cuffs of the fleece, because of the cold and nervousness, to ease my emotions by digging my hands into the pockets.
Once loved, but abandoned teddy bears had been washed and dried so many times that the fur was like a trampled carpet. Kneaded and cuddled by hands, they were deformed and the two eyes and ears were not symmetrical, but still exude a sense of the adorkable*. Their familiar touch and cuteness evokes memories of childhood.
The pillow that I cuddled every night before bed, even though a few feathers were poking out at the corners, feels like it has no face, but a loved one, it can quietly embrace me in my dreams.
I broke my 15-year old wooden spoon by stirring too hard because I was hungry and in a hurry to cook. However, I could not bear to throw it away, and wondered if I could make a spoon box to keep it as something to treasure.
I recreated these comforts by transforming these pre-love objects that have been defined as dead by their owners. The marks of the deterioration, coupled with the new forms, come to interact with us again and give us melancholy feelings of comfort and bliss.
And you, what objects bring you comfort?
*adorkable: a portmanteau of “adorable” and “dork”; (of a person or a thing) socially awkward or not fashionable, but in a way that makes you love or like it or them. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/adorkable