Artist Statement
In an era where practicality has preceded creativity in the world of design, I have been searching for the intricate balance between the two through maximalism and minimalism. My personal experiences have encouraged me to interpret maximalism as the creation of organized chaos and minimalism involving the act of shedding the unnecessary to maintain focus on the essence of concepts. These ideals are nourished by observing my parents as well as the people and objects around me. The work I create is a reflection of these various observations
Starting with my mother, she is a nostalgic person who often likes to relate physical items to memories. She lives a rather maximalist lifestyle with a house full of unattended objects along with rows of untouched garments and jewelry in the closet. I admire how, even though she has a lot of material things, she still takes time out of her busy work schedule to tidy and reassemble her items in an effort to preserve her memories. That way every time she is having a hard time she can look back and remember how she solved her issues and made it to today. My father demonstrates the complete opposite ideal, in which he likes to focus on his future. He is a major risk-taker when it comes to his business and life decisions. He likes to keep his itinerary and living space clean by throwing things away, to prevent any possible distractions or clutter that may keep him from his obligations. But the one thing I admire about his mentality is that he only spend energy on stuff that is useful to him, which takes a lot of unnecessary conflicts out of his life.
They taught me different ways of thinking, which, oftentimes, ended up in arguments, but allowed me to appreciate their care and nourishment towards me. They took me places that I never imagined before as well as gave me the freedom and support to create. A culmination of all my experiences under both of them throughout my upbringing brings out the essence of my vision and my passion for my vision.
I think of creating garments as a process balancing maximalism and minimalism. By combining the silhouette, color, and materials, I get to explore by breaking the material from its original meaning, twisting and shaping them until I feel It’s visually captivating underwhelming.
In the future, I want my work to encourage people to become more open-minded about harmony among different identities. Our generation is constantly being influenced by trends and social media but we should always remember to stay genuine to their individual characters while being open to other’s identities because I’ve always believed that you can’t change what other people think but you can change yourself.
