Zhaoling Luo

My Charlene’s room, escape from adulthood, project is trying to use different materials to build up a collection of objects with playfulness. Those objects are regarded as transitional objects. 

They are created by children to defend against their anxiety. The objects could be anything. They are commonly blankets or dolls; many adults still keep their transitional objects from their childhood and feel comfort from them. 'I’m secure in my stupidity', says Linus Van Pert – the boy who was always holding his safety blanket in Peanuts comics. 

Through building up those playful objects, I want to convey a feeling of naivety and childhood innocence to the audience. This is to remind them of their childhood dreams and imagination, suggesting it could be a way to escape when they feel stressed in their adulthood. We could secure ourselves in our joyful silliness and naivety. It is not necessary to get rid of your innocence while being an adult.  

I am interested in the idea of children playing, and children’s art, that is random and imaginative – they just draw what comes up in their minds. The materials are assembled in an intuitive way while building up those objects. Most of the materials selected are common, or are textures that appear in children’s everyday objects, such as wood, soft fabrics and silicone.