ARTIST STATEMENT
An underwire was invented in the 19th century and was described as modification of the corset. An underwired bra represents a revolutionary stage of female garment while in the meantime, still carries the traditional attitude trickled down from the historical definition of beauty of a female body. Despite the invisibility, underwires are designed to police control, restrain, and subjugate women’s body.
I use this material and build a wearable object whose form references a set of double bandoliers. This is my way to challenge the power of structure and subvert this patriotic control into a new kind of unconventional beauty. By taking something that has covert control and making it overt, by exposing the invisible cause of pain, these bandoliers are not only to protect, but more so, to announce.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Isabel Zeng graduated with her MFA in 3D Studio Art from Bowling Green State University. Her practice is invested in contemporary craft, performance, video, and photography. Her work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally, including at Society of North American Goldsmiths Annual Conference, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Ohio Craft Museum, Contemporary Art Toledo, and Jewelry and Metals Survey (JAMS). She has received various awards and scholarships, including the Ohio Designer Craftsmen Scholarship Award and the Ed Honton Memorial Award for Excellence.
Prior to joining the MFA program, Zeng had been the studio assistant of the Woodruff Studio at the Toledo Museum of Art and an independent jewelry artist since 2012. Besides her experience and education in art, Zeng is also an economist.
She earned her MA in Economics in 2005 and Ph.D. in Economics in 2009 from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Currently she is a Professor in Economics at Bowling Green State University. Her multinational and multidisciplinary background has affected both the content and form of her artwork in a significant way.
© Isabel Zeng