Xin LiFollow

Abstract

My paper revolves these wonderful things from our lives, fading away from our world until even ourselves vanish from this world. I am often hijacked by groundless panic, even when I possess something, I dare not think about losing it, just the thought makes me anxious. I would even rather not have had beautiful things to avoid losing them. In my perception, all beautiful things are fragile, brittle. When I realized I was trapped by this fear, unable to move forward towards a new life, I decided to rescue myself. In the society and culture that I grew up in, death is a topic that is very taboo and rarely discussed. It wasn't until I learned from psychology that the fear of death is an unavoidable primal fear for all humans, and that it always appears in our lives in a disguised form, that I began to carefully observe the true face of fear, tear off its disguise, and contemplate how to live peacefully with it. In my paper, I documented my observations and reflections through artworks. I combined discarded, broken, and inherently fragile materials with traditional jewelry materials, creating a series of sculptural works and making them wearable. In the public's impression, jewelry is often synonymous with "eternity," and diamond rings have been indispensable tokens in weddings for centuries. But I believe that people's perception of jewelry should not be limited by commercial advertising strategies, we should have a richer experience and understanding. For fragile discarded items, we usually just observe from a distance or touch them cautiously. I hope that through my research, these items can have the opportunity to be intimately touched and appreciated by everyone as wearable accessories.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Art metal-work--Themes, motives; Artist-designed jewelry--Themes, motives; Mourning jewelry; Bereavement in art; Fear of death

Publication Date

4-25-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Metals and Jewelry Design (MFA)

Department, Program, or Center

American Crafts, School for

College

College of Art and Design

Advisor

Leonard Urso

Advisor/Committee Member

Juan Carlos Caballero-Perez

Advisor/Committee Member

Eileen Feeney Bushnell

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

Plan Codes

METAL-MFA

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