Tess Wing: Hive Mind

Desirable objects with a dash of horror

From: Ōtepoti | Dunedin

Hive Mind (2023) is an installation comprising new and old works that explore the complexities of human and animal behaviours using the transitional object as a medium. The intent of the objects I create are to provide a social commentary on relationships, whether that be human or animal relations, domestic family relationships or a combination of the two. I try to make sense of domestic experiences through the observation of other species and use them to help make sense of my own.

Hive Mind brings together two different ends of my exploration into these ideas as the work continues to develop over time. The work I create takes the soft toy - a highly curated impersonation of an animal distorted through the cute aesthetic - and transforms the object into one that does not seek to comfort and sooth. Deploying the transitional object as medium, I unpick and restitch the stuffed animals to create new creatures that produce affect and provoke feelings of parental desires and repulsion.

(Photo Credit: Emily Crooks)

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