MERCY TIMELAPSE
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Every word you hold back to save someone else’s feelings is a thorn that you press deeper into your own skin which blurrs the boundries between the self and the other.
Silence blurs the boundary between self and other. What is meant to protect you begins to pierce you. The piece takes the form of a choker. Its structure is built from copper wire, tracing the vulnerability of the neck. At its center lies an open void, an exposed space inspired by the fragile anatomy of the throat, the delicate pathways that carry voice, breath, and survival. This empty space marks the gesture of swallowing: the moment a word rises, hesitates, and is forced back down. The contraction of the throat. The quiet act of self-erasure. It is the space where speech could emerge, but does not. The barbed wire becomes the physical manifestation of a breached boundary. Each time you suppress your truth, you press it closer to yourself. In failing to protect your boundary, you fail to protect yourself. On either side of this opening, circular wire forms hold barbed elements shaped from copper and alpaca. The barbs are hand-formed, their split ends intentionally extended to make contact with the skin. They are not designed to wound, but to create sensation; a subtle, controlled discomfort. Encasing the thorns in ice introduces another layer. The ice suggests relief, a temporary anesthesia, a misplaced sense of protection.
Self-suppression can feel like peace. It can feel calm, controlled, frozen. By freezing the barbs, the numbing effect of silence becomes visible.
Silence blurs the boundary between self and other. What is meant to protect you begins to pierce you. The piece takes the form of a choker. Its structure is built from copper wire, tracing the vulnerability of the neck. At its center lies an open void, an exposed space inspired by the fragile anatomy of the throat, the delicate pathways that carry voice, breath, and survival. This empty space marks the gesture of swallowing: the moment a word rises, hesitates, and is forced back down. The contraction of the throat. The quiet act of self-erasure. It is the space where speech could emerge, but does not. The barbed wire becomes the physical manifestation of a breached boundary. Each time you suppress your truth, you press it closer to yourself. In failing to protect your boundary, you fail to protect yourself. On either side of this opening, circular wire forms hold barbed elements shaped from copper and alpaca. The barbs are hand-formed, their split ends intentionally extended to make contact with the skin. They are not designed to wound, but to create sensation; a subtle, controlled discomfort. Encasing the thorns in ice introduces another layer. The ice suggests relief, a temporary anesthesia, a misplaced sense of protection.
Self-suppression can feel like peace. It can feel calm, controlled, frozen. By freezing the barbs, the numbing effect of silence becomes visible.
But ice melts.
As it dissolves, the illusion of safety dissolves with it. What remains is the sharp reality of self-inflicted harm, often unconscious or often justified in the name of keeping the peace.The thorns press against the neck, stimulating awareness. They do not aim to injure, but to awaken.Discomfort becomes a form of communication with the body.The body remembers its own boundaries.
The piece asks: At what point does comfort become self-betrayal? Can discomfort create awareness? And can a jewelery piece become a form of self-protection?
The sensation draws attention to the fragile threshold where silence begins to harm and where awareness begins to heal. The more we disconnect from bodily sensation, the easier it becomes to dissolve into accommodation. When we numb ourselves to avoid rupture, silence our truth to maintain temporary peace, we begin to dissovle just like the ice melting.Then we are shaped by avoidance rather than authenticity.
The piece confronts the wearer. It insists on presence. It does not allow complete comfort. It asks you to feel, even if feeling hurts.
Perhaps discomfort is not the enemy.
Perhaps it is the body guiding us back to ourselves.
As it dissolves, the illusion of safety dissolves with it. What remains is the sharp reality of self-inflicted harm, often unconscious or often justified in the name of keeping the peace.The thorns press against the neck, stimulating awareness. They do not aim to injure, but to awaken.Discomfort becomes a form of communication with the body.The body remembers its own boundaries.
The piece asks: At what point does comfort become self-betrayal? Can discomfort create awareness? And can a jewelery piece become a form of self-protection?
The sensation draws attention to the fragile threshold where silence begins to harm and where awareness begins to heal. The more we disconnect from bodily sensation, the easier it becomes to dissolve into accommodation. When we numb ourselves to avoid rupture, silence our truth to maintain temporary peace, we begin to dissovle just like the ice melting.Then we are shaped by avoidance rather than authenticity.
The piece confronts the wearer. It insists on presence. It does not allow complete comfort. It asks you to feel, even if feeling hurts.
Perhaps discomfort is not the enemy.
Perhaps it is the body guiding us back to ourselves.
