To My Beloved Body,
What might happen if you accepted reality as it is and stopped resisting?
In this project, I treat my body, with all its physical and psychological systems and complexities, as a material that can be redesigned. My body is characterized by its flexibility and rigidity, movable joints, changes in length, and variations in the sizes and connections of its parts.
Iron, with its hardness, stubbornness, and violence, embodies the repressive and oppressive forces I've faced in my life. This material carries a voice that reflects the harsh colonial reality of the present. What I am doing is integrating my body with iron to become a single entity, like a useful chair. I explore thirteen ways in which iron merges with a specific part of my body to form a chair.
How long can a person remain in this state? Who will use you and under what conditions? Will humanity endure in this context? How will you feel when used? Can your transformation into an object lead to a reevaluation of personal identity? Does transforming the body into an object create new concepts of human relationships? What are the power dynamics in this situation? What are the psychological effects of turning the body into an object on you and society?
When I transform into a chair, every surrounding factor is affected. This transformation into an inanimate object amplifies the emotional experience; all senses become heightened. I feel the warmth of solitude and the weight of the iron, the user's scent, their voice, and its effect on my body's temperature. The user's decisions about how to sit and the amount of weight they apply represent a statement about intimacy and exploitation.
The level of intimacy is measured based on the shared areas between the body (as material) and the user, their proximity, the sitting style, and the user's comfort. Exploitation is assessed based on the weight the user places on the chair and the duration of use.
The eyes remain the human element in this transformation. The more the user avoids eye contact, the greater the degree of exploitation, weight, duration, and movement. This kind of experience creates a clear human interaction and consideration. Intimacy with strangers is higher, and exploitation is lower. Cultural norms are broken, and new ethics and manners are created.
The project consists of: my body, 13 iron pieces, a 31-page catalog, and a 25-minute video.
