Size: 13.5 × 14.5 × 11 in.

Media: Oil clay, wood, and pencil

Year: 2021

My work “Bitter-Sweet Memories” is inspired by Rothermund’s & Brandtstädter’s 2003 study, which reveals an increase in depressive tendencies after the age of seventy. In my sculpture on the left, the man looking into the mirror recognizes his balding head and wrinkling face, alluding to the unavoidable fate of aging. For this elderly man, a barber shop is a place filled with memories and familiarity. However, as time passes, even the local shop changes (in reference to my drawing on the right), leaving him feeling lost. Thus, the three-dimensional portrayal on the left captures the grandpa’s feeling of abandonment as he sits in the chair of a now unrecognizable barbershop. This contrasts with the two-dimensional depiction on the right representing his warm recollection of decades past. 

Change is a natural phenomenon that we should embrace. The man’s sadness symbolizes the older generation’s desperate need for connection to an evolving world in order to feel as if they are not being left behind.