First World Problems? Here’s a BADAID - Sophia Nuske

Opening - 6:00 PM - Wednesday, 1st of October

Artist Talk - 5:30 PM

Running - 1 Oct 2014 - 18 Oct 2014

When questioning the function of the Bandaid, I considered whether it could be used to symbolically fix other problems. We are so often bombarded with personal issues on social media; issues that in the broader scheme of things are inconsequential. While making this work I began compiling a list of complaints that friends posted on Facebook, and it became apparent how often these issues were trivial. Collected and revisited out of context, these issues seemed absurd and comical. I then began to think about how we engage with this object. On the one hand people are comfortable with the Bandaid while being used on the body. However once used it becomes abject and repulsive, considered to be germy and of no value. These individually hand built ceramic Bandaids have had their original function stripped away, as the shift in materiality renders them incapable of healing a physical wound. They now have value in their new function as ceramic mementos; enduring tokens of our inconsequential worries and a reminder that sometimes, we all ought to suck it up and get over it.

In my practice I embrace moments of humour, often relying on wordplay to engage the viewer. These Bandaids are in fact BADAIDS; they are incapable of physically healing, which seems fitting. Fake problems? Fake Bandaids..... And lots of them. Problem solvered.