I have been striving to create a piece that audiences would connect with and learn from. However, the absence of an audience resulting from the pandemic has led me to question this preconceived notion of what art is "supposed to" achieve. Thus, I have decided to create art for my immediate audience, myself. This is both out of pragmatic necessity and the need for personal self-discovery. This collar uses its physical and conceptual materiality to convey my artistic and personal identity. The collar is constructed using fine silver chainmail interwoven with silver flowers that fully cover and distort parts of the chained surface. Attached around the neck using ivory ribbon, it sits tightly, its weight and temperature, cold upon placement on the body and warmer with time, creating a restricting collar.  

I have always been fascinated by the reproductive abilities of flowers and in this way see them as a powerful force and symbol in my work. I sought to transfer this power from a conceptual idea into a physical, tactile experience through the medium of silver. Fine silver, the purist of silver alloys, is precious, using it subverts the traditional meaning of chainmail from protection to vanity. I like it because it allows me to use processes such as fusing—joining the metal to itself without other materials.  The silver flowers have been interwoven into the chainmail to create a heavy, shielding layer. At the same time, I am drawn to fine silver for its softness, which subverts the notion of protection traditionally attached to chainmail. The repetitive and time-consuming processes of forming this piece could be considered excessive. However, is reflective of my personality as well as the value I have placed on both the process of creating, and the outcome of the collar. By using material processes I enjoys and my own context to inform the symbolism within the work, I strive to create an object that is self-reflective of my identity and values. Wearing this object would be so personal and visceral an experience to the uninvited, one may feel they were violating my private space. The viewer can attempt to unpack the layers of meaning within the work but may feel uncomfortable to delve too deep, as it would be like looking into my psyche. By inviting friends and family to place this object upon their shoulders I am reaching out to them in a way that the pandemic has made difficult. This work is a deeply personal reflection of myself over the last year and is represented through  processes that have become a coping mechanism during the pandemic and consequent self-discovery.