Faculty of Design

Material Art & Design

Yining Fu

Verbal Humiliation Ear Cuff

My research subject explores and creates metaphors and visualizations of the helicopter parenting in childhood and its impact in children’s life. A realistic, organic shaped bird body part acts as a metaphor for the results of helicopter parenting. A non-realistic, or geometric bird body part is a metaphor for my effort to adapt into new life. A doll body part is a metaphor for the pressure and manipulation/control from parents. (Photo: Yochen Liu)

“The open doll mouths are constantly spitting foul words at the victim, weakening their sanity. The bird inherits these awful judgements and starts repeating them to itself. The loop goes on continually unless an external force intervenes. I purposefully only made one ear cuff because I want the audience to feel the weight of the verbal humiliations. When wearing it, the head will tilt towards the left side, and wearer will feel the pain when these pointy spikes poke into their skin.”