“Safety Belt”
Specified for the Luo Tuo Xiang Zi Project and as part of the my “Strike” series, “Safety Belt” is a strap installed on the front passenger seat of a taxi. The primary materials used are human hair braids and metal chains. This work continues the rethinking of cultural symbols and materiality surrounding these two objects, as explored in the “Strike” series.
I am terrified by the numbness people feel toward the transfer of labor from one body to another in consumerist events. In this work, I replace part of the metal chain with similarly structured human hair braids but retain the slightly messy natural texture of human hair. In a specific exhibition venue (a taxi), I aim to evoke a subtle sense of visual confusion and some tactile discomfort in the audience or users.
Initiated by taxi driver Laochen and run by artist Smug Huker, 骆驼祥子Luo Tuo Xiang Zi (directly translated as “Rickshaw Boy”) is a project that invites artists to place their works inside, outside, on, or under the car Laochen drives. He said: he wants to find unfamiliar experiences in the repetition of familiar scenes.
