LCF POST GRADUATE CLASS 2023

Went to see lcf's graduation exhibition and there were many interesting pieces. There were a lot of interesting looks for jewellery and costumes. I have chosen two that I find interesting.

SILENT LANGUAGE WITHIN THE ORCHID

As the "national treasure" of China, Beijing Opera is one of the most important expressions of traditional Chinese culture. At a very young age this author was fascinated by the gestures of the characters in Beijing Opera, which are elegant and vivid, practically integrated with the plot of the play. In the gestures of opera master Mei Lanfang, the meaning is closely linked to Chinese aesthetics, and his gestures are characterised by a condensed and intriguing subtlety. This type of beauty is very much in keeping with traditional Chinese aesthetics. The gloves are like a second skin, expressing their imagery of aesthetic beauty in the form of a limb, as well as emphasising the connection between communication and the body.

As a form of non-verbal communication, gestures

play an important role in contemporary social interaction.

Gestures allow people to communicate their thoughts and emphasise their feelings in a silent way. My masters collection has been designed around the iconic orchid finger in Beijing Opera, and presents a collection of handmade gloved gestures. The glove serves as a medium of gestural language merging traditional opera and observations of contemporary social interaction.

My fashion artefacts provide a medium of cross-cultural communication to showcase two different gestural cultures, emphasising the physicality and expressiveness of language. Although gesture is a silent form of communication between people, this artefact is at the same time a powerful and intriguing statement.

MISERY

My collection brings elements from Industrial animal farming to jewellery design with the aim to 1 eveal the ani cruelty in this industry and ask audiences to reflect on their relationship with animals.

Animal farming has undergone dramatic chang-es. In modern society we see how animals have become manufacturing parts of factory assembly line, rather than treated as 'real life." This is condition I want to challenge and bring to the public's attention. Pigs are one of the most commonly consumed animals worldwide and the demand has caused pig farming to shift from family farms to modern industrial factories, where pigs often suffer from long-term confinement, overcrowded living environment and serious mental and physical injuries.

This collection combines metal and silicone rubber to represent a vivid image of animal cruelty in the pig farming industry, and to ask the question: Do all non-human lives only exist for human needs and desires?

Sharp hooks and narrow cages are the most common tools in factory farms and i use these in my collection with cast silicone pig body parts to offer a t brutal interpretation of those tools.

Pigs ears hand from hooks as a necklace, a plas anout is squashed into a cage as a brooch. This cot-lection presents fashion artefacts as agency for protesting animals cruelty and questions human ethics in an industrial world.