I Wanna Be Degraded

Narrative

My final product is a Lycra catsuit/zentai face mask with the lyric "Because I Wanna Be Degraded." embroidered on the face. Lycra suits are commonly associated with BDSM / fringe fetishes, which is why I selected it as my medium of presentation for my sound. The mask impairs vision, and leaves you a sense down while wearing, adding to the sentiment it proclaims as well as visually implying the literal meaning of the sentiment in a forward and almost inviting manner. The process involved taking measurements of my head, creating a pattern, cutting and free embroidering Lycra, and then seam stitching and fitting.

Reflection

As a finished piece, I'm satisfied with my work as it stands. Since it was my first time doing embroidery specifically, I chose to incorporate the physical text of the sound I chose instead of the waveform. In context, It would have been both more vague on interpretation as well as much more time consuming (this actually took a bit over 2 hours... sorry...) but perhaps would have also been passable as a sentiment. That being said, in choosing text instead, I was able to use a chicken-scratch handwriting effect that makes the message more crude-looking, which feeds back into its own sentiment. I'm not convinced that either approach is the most effective, and I was fundamentally limited in a way by my choice of wearable medium and thread.