Faceless Mask, 11/2016, Graphite on mounted paper, frame, BigMac box, book, doll, micro-controller and speaker, Drawing (H:20” x W:16” x D:0.5”/without frame); whole installation (H: 40”x W: 30” x D:8” /approx)
This installation consists of a portrait of a girl wearing a Muslim Hijab and three objects with buttons on each; the objects are MacDonald’s Big Mac box, an old book and a doll. Each objects represent each different characteristics of the Muslim girl, and when viewers press the button, voice of the girl with the different personalities comes out from the speaker as if the girl is speaking. The BigMac represents phoniness. The book speaks of politics, and the doll implies sweetness.
A person-hood is developed within his/her nurturing surroundings and experiences, which means that one individual has a potential to have many kinds of personality regardless of how he/she physically looks. The internal-side as personality and the external-side as physical looks are not always parallel.
Considering about the image of the Muslim girl, Muslims are thought as a symbol of terrorism in this modern society, however, this notion is a stereo-type due to people’s lack of knowledge and mass-media. The Muslim as a misunderstood symbol – especially females as a restricted figure in a hood that hides own characteristics – this work implies how one person can be, and at the same time, how one person can be imagined in a hiding hood. The whole set of the portrait and objects also represent this world as a whole universe as an individual holding many kinds of characteristics, consciousness, ego and id which can be developed and expressed depending on his/her nurture.
Installation View:
tomieseo.net 