Inspired by plastic surgery and other beautification procedures, I developed a series of devices that alter and manipulate the human form. These devices are "correctional" as they pull, tighten, lift and reshape the figure. I call attention to the stereotypical image of our cultural standards of beauty and reinvent it in the parody of extremely uncomfortable, but wearable art.
These devices are made from fabricated metal, plastics, medical apparatus, found objects and miscellaneous hardware. Mimicking mechanistic or medical prosthesis, they serve a function or purpose when placed upon the body. I subvert the original purpose of these objects and design them a new function. Echoing the acts of beautification ( i.e. plastic surgery) these devices correct body and facial flaws and also inflict discomfort.
All of my devices comment on how we as a society abuse our advancements in technology, to improve the human error that occurs in our appearances. By altering individual characteristics or by improving these "flaws" with the technology of plastic surgery, people change their bodies to model an ideal, which results in them all looking the same. My devices are formed to recreate the body by changing it to fit into these ideals.
The devices are to be displayed on models that are all “medium" in size. They wear uniformly white bodysuits, hoods, gloves, and make-up to help them all appear to be the same. Their differences are only held by what device is being worn; which flaw is being corrected. The models are all pedestal-like, similar to mannequins used for display, blending into their environment with very little movement or personality.
Whether these devices be displayed on the models as part of a live performance, or in photographs, it is important for the devices to be displayed on the human form so that the viewers may feel the model's discomfort. These devices are related to what the viewer sees in everyday life, only an extreme parody of a damaging reality. With the use of modern day technology, fused with modern day media, both men and women are going to be able to buy their physical identity. They will be able to change how the world views them, and manipulate their physical traits to become one: the one ideal, the one standard of perfection. Technology was developed to make things easier, and to perfect human error. But when we fuse technology too much with our own human bodies, don't we in turn lose our individuality and what makes us unique as humans, our differences, our "flaws"?