2021

blanket 65”x54” printed silk, hand-stitched
two pillows 6”x6“x17” printed silk, hand-stitched

I created bedding in a traditional Korean style of patchwork known as “Jogakbo”, which were created using left-over fabrics, and often patched together in irregular improvisatory fashion. I wanted to explore how the concept of time as described by quantum mechanics challenges our experienced perception of traditional linear timeline, and consequently our sense of self and identity. Contrary to our experience, time, or rather spacetime, fluctuates between past, present, and future, and does not flow continuously. How we perceive time has a lot to do with our memories, which also plays a large role in the formation of our identity. We often think of who we are as a product of the historical chain of events that is our life in our memory. But we only truly experience the world in moment to moment snapshots and often, our memory is fragmented, and incomplete, but our brain creates the illusion of a continuous narrative. Today, we take copious amounts of pictures to document our lives, yet not all are memorable. In true Jogakbo fashion, I used left-over images from my personal photo library, of which I have no recollection of taking. These would be discarded images, if I were ever to sort through them and delete unnecessary pictures. While I may not remember them at a conscious level, I believe it is the aggregate of these lost memories that form the core of our identities. I chose to create a blanket and pillows, as these memories have a habit of resurfacing in our dreams, their origins unbeknownst to us.