Teresa Wang

"Rotted." explores an experience with death and the afterlife. I explore the action of decay and rotting by looking at mould and deterioration. I was inspired to do this project by the recent passing of someone close to me, which made me question the cycle of our lives.

My outcome comprises three pieces, which are all crucial to my subject. The neck piece, made using a princess pleater and beading, which is used to mask over the latex skin-like bodice, shows the deterioration growing over our flesh and body. The latex corset is to capture our skin, slowly getting eaten away after our death. For the skirt, I then used a specific dyed textile to show the decay of our clothes after death.

I didn't want to take a dramatic turn with this project, where everything is dark and gory, as I wanted to turn the topic of death into something that isn't so daunting but rather something elegant and beautiful to look at.