In this collaborative project, we made the body augmentation based on the head. The piece has a disk that spins to align a mask with the user’s face, demonstrating both the carnival’s secretive past and how people put on different masks to hide their emotions. The masks are removable to reveal a crack that symbolizes the brokenness found inside all of us. The piece is meant to be interacted with by others to emphasize the effects this masking has on those around us. We chose to go with this concept because we think that mental health is incredibly important to acknowledge and take care of, and it is crucial that we as a society begin advocating for one another. Our concept plays on the way carnivals were advertised as fun and amazing places to be but were horrible and corrupt behind the scenes. We experimented a lot with colors with this project because this was really the first project where we could. The masks are made to resemble clown masks, using vibrant color combinations to bring attention to them. The rest of the piece is made mainly of red and white, reflecting the colors of a carnival tent that would cover up their horrible activities. This project brought a lot of challenges, but it was incredibly fruitful at the same time. The main challenge was that it was our first collaborative project of the year. It required me to really learn how to collaborate with someone else effectively. I really value this experience because most design careers require collaboration in some way and I believe it will be a good foundation to begin growing my collaboration skills.
View full process here.
Full partner body augmentation project
Removable masks - details
