Making the Suits

 

I explored the relationship between parent and child through an interactive installation/performance called Dinner Time. I made these small suits in preparation for this work but time restrictions meant i had to improvise on the day, using protective shop bought suits as baby grows.

I gave the participants props and cards with their persona, whilst encouraging them to use their imagination to re-enact a feeding scene between parent and toddler. This role play aimed to physically and mentally take the participants back to a memory of feeding a child, whilst offering the participants a chance to adopt a new identity and remind them of the worrying possibility that help may be needed with such tasks as the body ages and deteriorates. 

The role playing adds an absurdity and comic value to the work, poking fun at the seriousness of the world that we live in as an adult, with an underlying darkness to the piece which brings about fears of aging and becoming as limited as the toddlers which they acted out.