Process
For project 2 I decided to do something a bit different instead of continuing from project 1. This project is more of my insecurities. I used to think why it is so unfair that I have a backbone like this. I was primary 5 when I found out about this through school health checkup. Went to see a doctor at NUH and this backbone caused me to wear a costly and heavy brace everywhere I go. It was so uncomfortable and warm inside, I just hate wearing it. Even so, this could not fix my backbone problem which is called Scoliosis and it got worst. My parents decided to bring me to a private doctor instead.
Scoliosis, a person with scoliosis has a sideways curve to their spine. The curve is often S-shaped or C-shaped.
I don’t have to wear the brace anymore after changing doctor and up till now I am still seeing doctor for this. He says it will be a slow process and I just have to bear with it.
I always avoid wearing skin tight clothes because people could see that the right upper back pops out more because of the curved. In secondary school, I used to hide the fact that I have a curved backbone because not everyone is like me. I am afraid of how people might look at me just because I am “different” from them. Slowly, I start to open up more about this and feel that it’s okay to be “different”.
The project will shows the records of my health checkup in school and the records of my doctor appointment. Not all the records are around because I threw some away. The purpose of putting this is because it shows how my backbone test is always positive and since primary 5, I am having this problem up till now.
The recording playing at the background are the sounds that I always hear when I was at the Chiropractic Clinic. There are mini conversations and sounds of the machine that they use. I recorded it when I visit the doctor recently.
This coming year is the 6th year visiting the clinic. It’s something very familiar to me because I used to visit there once every two weeks, then once a month and slowly once every 3 months. It is really time and money consuming but thankful for my parents supporting me throughout.
Final
Artist statement
Insecurities
Hiew Jin Yee
She is always afraid of how people look at her from the outside. Insecure about her own body, she decided to hide it. She avoids skin tight clothing and never wants to mention it to anyone. However, as she grows older she realized that there is nothing to be ashamed about. She embrace her own insecurities and able to openly share her own experience about it. In this video, she photograph her medical records and with the soundtrack of the clinic surrounding noise to portray something personal yet familiar to herself.