Glass Armour
The two most well-known warriors during the Three Kingdom Period were Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, two sworn brothers who serves under their eldest brother Liu Bei. Although they were feared during their life times and honoured as gods even after death, their died because of their innate flaws. Although Guan Yu was a warrior without peer he eventually fell due to his arrogance when he walked himself into a trap that he was warned against. Once Zhang Fei learned of his brother's death he became all the more ferocious, which he was known to be and served him well on the battlefield, but this time he turned his ferocity onto his own men and abused them so badly they mutinied against him. By putting these characters onto the chest plate of the Glass Armour, it re-examines the fallacies of what we consider strengths, what is pride and wrath? Who do they serve?
The Glass Armour is still a work in progress as of 2021, eventually it will be part of a performance whereby I, the artist, will be wearing the full suit of glass armour (estimated 80 - 100kgs) until collapse from fatigue.
Glass Armour is a durational performance of glass in concert with the artist’s body. The artist’s embodiment and interaction with the glass sculpture is inspired by a personal anecdote of heartbreak and depression as a catalyst for a period of isolation and inability to reach out for help due to her sense of self-dignity; not wanting to be seen as weak. Reflecting on the experience, she came to explore pride as not the inverse of shame but the source of it. The Glass Armour is representative of the metaphysical burden of pride that may be culturally inherited, seeing the armour on the artist and her blanching stoic façade as she labours under its 80kg weight, the performance reveals the heaviness of this invisible force and inner struggle.