Emilyn Chang

How to change the way our eyes see? I am inspired by James Turrell and his work, Skyspace, or a room with an opening in the ceiling to frame the sky. It is surprising how our eyes can see images differently with a frame around. I decided to create a wearable design that forms three frames in front of the subject’s eyes. The frames line up vertically, but each has a different angle that allows a variety of views. The first frame on the top is slightly tilted upward; the second frame is parallel with the eyesight, and the third frame is slightly tilted downwards to focus on the ground view. I made the work into a form of a helmet to create a private interior space for the subject. It is made with foam board for its comfortable lightweight while wearing on the head. Both the exterior and interior faces are painted black with acrylic to reduce the reflected light. The joints are stitches tightly with wires. In addition, a container is attached to the helmet on the side of an ear. In the container is dry leaves and flowers that create sound during friction caused by wind or movement. For the decorative purpose, I added some tree branches onto the helmet to resonate with the park.