Being Soft is Hard

Softness as a material and a character; non-physical and physical being.

‘Being Soft Is Hard’ is a material and form- exploration into the multiple associations to the word soft.
I interpret softness in two different contexts; softness in relation to material, its behaviour, texture and form-language. Secondly, I find softness in human characters; the act of being vulnerable, having a sense of openness to emotion, and care. Softness is a personality character stereotypically seen as a feminine trait, a cliche of the binary system.

My practice revolves around using material and form-language to express abstract narratives, which originate from intuition and curiosity to explore un-conventional production techniques and material applications. I use the aesthetic qualities of my chosen materials as references to their cultural contexts and histories, acting as narrators of the word soft.

Metal and concrete, both historically male-dominated crafts, receive the soft character, as their forms and aesthetics are translated into the softness of a cloth through textile-lined casting moulds, and the process of metal bending.

Softness is present within its opposite, hardness, because softness is not always obviously physical and can also be found within the hard form of metal and its soft behaviour, as it undergoes bending. Similarly, liquid concrete turns into solid state, whilst adjusting itself to the form and texture of its casting surface. Softness in hardness means that softness can be everything.

Siiri Oksanen

siirioksanen.com

@siirikatarina