Spatial Experiences • 2025
The Flesh of a Moth (Part 1)
Skills
Installation Design
Sculpture
Photography
Tools
Photoshop
Timeline
Fall 2024
Role
Designer
Overview
The sculpture examines how nostalgia no longer has to be tied to one’s own experiences but rather can exist through aesthetics.
These aesthetics are commercialized to evoke the similar feelings for the sake of marketability.
Exploration
Nostalgia, as my generation experiences it, rarely comes from natural occurrences.
In our visuals-driven world, the emotion allows a product to perform, separate from its quality. What is nostalgic some individual(s) has its aesthetics lifted and applied to another product in attempts to echo the original emotion for the sake of marketability.
Goal:
Communicate commercialized nostalgia
Visual Iconography
Lo-fi aesthetics and tangible items are nostalgic, so I took 160+ Polaroid photos of my childhood locations for the base material to work with.
Conceptual Association
Nostalgia requires time to grow, much like insect pupa. Using Worbla thermoplastic, I molded a cocoon, scaled 1:50.
Interaction Design
Light and small imagery draw people in, so I settled on a lamp with collage backlit imagery as the structure for the installation.
Execution
After weeks of sculpting plastic…
I produced a lamp sculpture to be installed in Tisch School of the Arts lobby to be enjoyed by everyone for Spring 2025. (And a Polaroid to go with it too!)
Reflections
Key Learnings
Sometimes, overly conceptual work falls flat.
Not everyone loves deciphering work and what matters the most is whether the work is aesthetically pleasing or interesting enough. My work was suitable for my target audience, but some visitors simply appreciated the work for how interesting it looked.
Double the amount of time estimate for projects.
You can never be too familiar with the materials you work with. Any new material you work with can interact unpredictably with a medium you thought you knew well.
Thanks for reading!
Type of Project • Medium • Date
Project Title
Type of Project • Medium • Date