Jewelry Box Theater (Final Concept Statement)

Concept has changed a bit. Here is my wall blurb for the big exhibit tomorrow! I love where this project has taken me.

Megan Rippey
Jewelry Box Theater
The jewelry puppets are fragile-- please play gently.

I have constructed my "hope chest" in the form of a Jewelry Box Theater. The exterior and interior of my box are not synonymous, but are in conversation. While the exterior of the box realistically resembles a traditional jewelry box (in which one might find a strand of pearls to be worn on a future wedding day), the interior of the box is designed with the style of Rauschenberg in mind (found objects, collage, installation). Certain materials used to design the interior should indicate a miniature theater (red curtain, stage, dressing rooms, etc.). The box appears to contain pieces of jewelry, as a traditional jewelry box would, but on closer inspection the viewer should notice the subversiveness of these objects. The wearable pieces deal with themes such as queerness, anti-marriage, pro-gay marriage, and queer culture. The three necklaces hanging from the ceiling of the theater are meant to be puppets one might play with. The two pairs of earrings are meant to represent the bride and groom in their respective chambers (dressing rooms) prior to the wedding ceremony. However, one might notice that I have exaggerated the conventions of traditional femininity and masculinity so much that they have become "queered." The bride, in effect, is a drag queen, and the groom is a boi (a term I use to refer to a butch lesbian). Because the genders of the bride and groom are queered, their marriage is queered (as they are not a heterosexual couple). I have done this in an effort to confront the controversy of gay marriage. Additionally, all of the theatrical elements I have represented in this piece (script, makeup, costume, roles, audience, etc.) are meant to reveal that things like gender, marriage, and ceremonies are performative and constructed.