Through Flatland to Thoughtland

2021

72”x150”x24”

wood, foam, clay, acrylic panels

Titled after the Square’s treatise in “Flatland”, this piece explores the limitations of our perception. In mathematics, there exists a field of study of hyperbolic/ Non-Euclidean geometry, which includes geometry of higher dimensions. Unlike Euclidean geometry, which takes place on a 2D plane, it is impossible for us to truly grasp and visualize these shapes in dimensions higher than the one we inhabit. A square living in Flatland, cannot comprehend the existence of a 3D sphere, and to the square, the sphere appears as a circle of changing diameter as it passes through the plane of Flatland. This notion serves as an analogy for our inability to truly comprehend other people. Our perspective is limited by our cultural, social, political, and physical frameworks that we inhabit. We also cage others in the same way, defining each other by their nationality, color of their skin, cultural heritage, and religious beliefs. I borrowed the structure of the folding screen, traditionally used in Korea and other Asian cultures. They are typically decorated with images that were specifically selected to communicate the owner’s status, wealth, and values, as they wished to be seen. I am placing dissected slices of a figure within it, as each frame serves as different boxes we are put in. The frames are in varying heights, some solid, some, hollow, as we are never the perfect image that we wish to display, nor can we control others’ perception of us. The colored acrylic panels show the different lenses via which we see the world.