For my thesis work, I’ve used acrylic nails as an access point to explore performative roles of labor and gender within the imperialist, white-supremacist, capitalist, hetero patriarchy, as defined my bell hooks, through an integration of cyborgian tactics of survival. 

Tools of the Trade is a combination of performance, design, and sculpture that explores the intersection of exploitation and resilience.

In Tools of the Trade and Tools of the Trade V.2, I’ve designed sculpting tools out of acrylic nails to be used to sculpt with. Each sculpture has a specifically designed nail set. I’ve used acrylic nails as an access point to view roles of performance in gender and labor expected of me, a femme Korean-American aka cyborg, living in an imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist, hetero patriarchy* aka Portland, Oregon, USA. I explore contemporary cyborgism, (re)production, citizenship, material histories, and herstorical origins. I integrate and negotiate operations of exploitation and resilience to reclaim authorship and ultimately vibe.