Evidences of Existence 存在的证明
Artist Statement
Evidences of Existence 存在的证明
Bar codes and price tags immediately reminds me of consumerism. I thought of the reason why receipts and other hard-copied proof of payment were needed. They were there to prove that an object was purchased. I also always wondered the reason why there were so many brands, and why do people go into malls and buy stuff out of them.
As for me, I believe people buy those objects that would give a certain kind of identity to them. For example, people go to Muji to buy reduced-concept objects, because they enjoy and agree with that idea; people buy Louis Vuitton to prove they enjoy the high quality items and also they can afford them. People would purchase objects that they think matches their self-identity.
I have kept all of the receipts and hard-copied proof of payment in my Passport. I wanted this passport to prove that I was alive and active during the days between Jan.23-27th of 2019. And from the receipts and proof of payments, the viewers would be able to know what I have bought and did during the week, and from those, would get a sense of who I am and who I consider myself is.
And thinking of identity, resumes came into my mind. It is something that the society identify you as. So I decided to leave a wall of resumes covering the passport, of who I really am. I wanted to create a view that represents me, the society sees me as the resumes, and what I am seeing is just my daily actions. I also left space for the viewers to be able to see the passport, and spaces on both sides to walk inside to the passport. During the making process, I decided to make the resume wall not as a solid wall, but leaving spaces for the viewers to engage within the work, which I thought would look more interesting. And I decided to staple the receipts onto my valid passport just like what some countries do to tax-free purchases, which might cause some problems because I stapled all blank pages… But this project will be also remembered by me because my mom was mad at me because of this decision.
JAN 28, 2019
yuminghee
The Death of an artwork 作品之死
