Eye, Ear & Fist

Eye, Ear & Fist is also a political piece but more whimsical with introduction of vibrant colors. This piece is a set of three enameled pins. This project’s theme was “Boundary” and I was inspired by the Japanese parable, "See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil."

The three monkeys are Mizaru, covering his eyes, who sees no evil; Kikazaru, covering his ears, who hears no evil; and Iwazaru, covering his mouth, who speaks no evil. There are various meanings credited to the monkeys and the proverb including associations with being of good mind, speech and action. In the western world the phrase is often used to refer to those who deal with indecency by looking the other way, refusing to acknowledge it, or pretend ignorance[1].

I have put a little twist on this Japanese parable for this piece; I wanted to present an idea about our political actions in our daily lives. In decision making, every day we have our individual powers to perceive in what we see, what we hear, and execute actions to make difference. Personally, I think minorities cannot think non-politically because of the way we have be faced the history to fight for justice. I believe actions are powerful just as seeing and hearing, which can produce opinions in speech and actions. Metal technique wise, enameling technique began to be used more often from this point.

Eye, Ear & Fist 2009