Consistent Inconsistency

Self-portraits
Birch plywood

photograph - Pierre Castignola

Contemporary society and self-experience tends to sustain the illusion of people having one stable, consistent identity. But, against the backdrop of the increasing ambiguity and absurdity of a diverse modern society, we have identities as existing within a multiplicity to deal with the society or even with ourselves.

Struggling with the spatial and temporal dislocation caused by the COVID-19 lockdown, Seunghwan Ji undergoes many encounters with their own identities. The experience led to a deep consideration of the multiple identities through self-reflection.

For this reason, the designer has demonstrated their different personas through deviations of the Jasper Morrison ‘Plywood Chair’, archetype selected specifically for its perceived neutrality and ordinary. Each self-portrait object was designed to be inspired by defense mechanisms with ambivalent traits such as narcissism and self-hatred, dependence and independence, flexibility and denial, escapism and regression.

The project provides space and time for audiences to observe the subtle or evident changes they too might have experienced during their own life. And it also celebrates our naturality of having multiple identities.