McLuhan warned; ”We become what we behold.”
Do we become what we behold?
And how does that look like?
Is it good or bad?
I tried to find examples of this statement. It looks like we all have an idol we look up to. A person (or thing) we would like to identify ourselves with.
But how far can you go?
We accept a child who wants to be a football player, but Orlan transforming into Mona Lisa is still a point of discussion.
Awareness in different levels.

I like these examples of extremes, and the idea that we change our opinions about it all the time. Tattoos were once a taboo. Now it is quite normal to have a tattoo. The same is happening with plastic surgery.
The reason of who we are and what we all accept is an evolution. The reason we do certain things can also be seen in other places in this world.
We decorate our body’s to give information about social status, gender, age, to mark a certain moment in life that is important to us or just for aesthetical reasons.

This all is about things that fascinate me. And to reflect it back on me, I thought about how I see me in all of this in the future. (Keeping in mind that we accept more and more, and what seems strange to us is normal in other cultures.)
I chose scaring because it is not only communicating certain information to others, but it also marks an important moment in life.
A scar can tell if I’m married or how many children I have. But to scar yourself, the pain you go through, stands for that important event in your life you got through. You entered another level of your life. You got stronger.

I want this to be part of life.
Something you carry with you. A tool you would use to scar with, like a knife or a piece of glass, which becomes an applicable jewel.
Jewels are personal and keep their value all of your life (and even longer). Often there is a memory attached to the jewel. It stands for beauty, but can also tell more than that.

The jewels I make consist of parts of material that you could scar with. Every time there is an important moment in life, you take away a part of the necklace.
Not only the scar tells something, also every missing link in the jewel stands for a point in your life.

“Show me your jewellery and I’ll tell you who you are.”


Monique Borsboom
2003