2015 Creative Cups

Patricia Arroyo

Time…A Journey, A Burden, A Gift

This bra was created as three distinct parts: youth, maturity and inside us all. The outside is a representation of women at opposite ends of time. The third and most vital part of this piece is the feelings and names hidden inside the bra.

Youth
Represented on this side is innocent imperviousness, a feeling of inviolate armor that is youth. A brash, brassy awkwardness expressing a young girl’s desire to be both seen, yet invisible. This duality of emotion is expressed by demure total coverage of a breast that is, in contrast, dressed in a manner meant to draw the eye.

Maturity
The skin underneath is marred and marked. Heavy, worn, sagging, yet dressed with utter conviction and confidence of self. The confidence of a woman who has travelled, weathered and borne a lifetime of experiences. A quiet, but worn elegance. Pride in both her attire and in the aged beauty of what lies beneath it.

Inside Us All
The inside of the bra is representative of the internal struggle. The thoughts and sometimes contradictory self-images of our breasts that we carry within us. It is a collage of words and names. The names are those of women who have battled breast cancer and both won or sadly, lost. The words are inner feelings gifted to me by friends, family and complete strangers. They are a very personal, emotional expression about our one physical attribute that throughout time has represented in myriad ways what it means to be a woman.