Hope is embedded into our systems from a young age as something easy, light and airy. However, to me, hope is something that is impossible to maintain steadily. It weighs heavily upon one's consciousness from dusk to dawn. Hope should be calculated and thus predictable. Hope should not be naively strung along with a fraying string. If you want something, try everything in your power to achieve it instead of wishing upon a star, or an eyelash or at 11:11.

To convey the sense of sturdiness hope emulates, I used cut-up burlap sacks and paper mache to form a tight-knit bond and texture that physically and compositionally stabilizes the structure. The horizontal rectangular shapes evoke feelings of comfort, order and control while the cycling pattern is reminiscent of a boat’s steering wheel or gears turning. The diagonal and vertical elements disrupt the flow, creating movement and surprise like a key unlocking a safe.