Cheong Kah Yi, Fern

Theme: Everyday Things

First Place, Open Category, 2022

Artist statement:

Organs make our bodies. Gears make the machine. In my design, I wanted to reflect on the idea of life and how we were made to last. Just not forever. I like the idea that a machine as simple and as ubiquitous as a wristwatch fully encapsulates and parallels the dichotomy of our surface level simplicity yet extremely complex systems beneath our shells. However this also shows how, though every machine / body will eventually fail at some point, the parts of us that are still good can be used to save another machine / body that hasn’t had the opportunity to reach its full potential yet. The idea of using an item that represents time also reminds us that although time is always moving forward, that isn’t a reason why some people shouldn’t be able to.

About the Artist

Cheong Kah Yi, Fern, 24