The Shield, 2020
Description :
The Shield has been installed as a single bar of soap, which is scaled up by 9 times and made out of 624 of soap bars. Soap and the concept of cleanliness are directly related to each other. According to the current scenario, it has become one of the most valuable objects that people want to have in their possession. It is viewed as a symbolic object in the time of COVID-19. Governments across the globe are pleading with the population to stay within their homes. The exhibit has been created by arranging small bars of soap resembling ‘Brick walls’, and the semi-liquid form of the soap to fill the in-between gaps of the soap bars to resemble ‘Mortar’ for the brick walls. This is symbolic of the basic texture of the walls that make up a home.
Times began to change at the beginning of the first wave of COVID-19, when people started stacking up their homes with sanitary products including soaps, which led to a brief shortage of the product at the local stores and supermarkets. Owning even a single piece of this soap gave people a sense of security against the virus, within their houses. The color of the exhibit suggests a “Green Zone”, a safe zone. Indian villages historically have been using 'Natural handmade soap’ from clay to protect their bodies against viruses and infections. The tradition in the villages continues even today. In the 1970’s, soap as a commodity, was traded instead of money, in Hungary. The intention of the exhibit is to highlight the importance of a product, that we never imagined would turn out to be this exceedingly imperative in people’s lives. With this piece the exhibit want to comment on this current existential situation in an unexpected way.
