Yixuan Zhang

I was inspired by the internship I did during the year after my sophomore year. The experience during my internship gave me a lot of different feelings from school. I was suddenly taken out of an environment where I could imagine infinitely and placed in the real world where everything is profit oriented. The feeling of not being free was infinitely magnified. At work, many of your ideas are dismissed, you must create something you dislike, and ‘mediocrity and boringness’ are overshadowed by profit. I felt a strong sense of being manipulated and dominated. In the midst of this bondage, I began to question my ability and the rightness of my choices. However, I quickly realized that it wasn't me, but that we are all trapped in the invisible rules of the world.

I visualized this emotion in the development of the design. I went to research puppets, tendons, straps, and other things that can represent bondage and developed it further by extracting structures and doing experiments