As a politically-involved individual and as a first generation immigrant, this project, influenced by my triptych “Fresh Off The Boat and American Lies” diptych, aims to investigate, highlight, and address the deceitfulness, false hope, corruption, and propaganda within American society.

Perhaps, the American Dream is not exclusively the only falsehood propagated by the United States, but also issues surrounding climate change and social justice reform are equally as misconstrued. When conceptualizing this project, I envisioned a 3D portrayal of American lies and propaganda which could be physically interacted with. I decided to use Louis Vuitton as the foundation of my project due to its rich history, luxury reputation, and timeless nature. The iconic, traditional nature of the Louis monogram is symbolic of the vintage values and generational propaganda built into society. I manipulated the authenticity of the iconic fashion brand to draw an analogy to present day American society, propaganda, and the deceitful narratives surrounding a plethora of social issues. To accomplish this, I made custom-designed Louis Vuitton stamps depicting social issues and made illegitimate, hand-crafted paper purses. For instance, I redesigned the iconic Louis monogram on Autodesk Sketchbook by adding effects and color enhancements to accurately portray the texture and nature of authentic Louis bags. I printed this digital monogram onto quilted linen paper which mimics a similar texture to real Louis Vuitton canvas material. I also designed a fake leather trimming out of pink clay and attached gold chains to the purses. My recreation of these bags and the fake nature of my Louis Vuitton are emblematic of the inauthenticity and facades of our government. Both the fashion brand and the government possess the power to manipulate the collective mindsets of their clienteles due to their large reputations- but it’s only upon closer inspection and independent research should an individual realize the fakeness and deceitfulness of the bags, or in this case, the government. People blindly trust their “leaders” and “peers'' without questioning their authenticity or competency, and with that, as depicted on the fake Louis Vuitton stamps, an array of social issues are sacrificed to disillusioned, illogical ideals.
The stamp designs on my illegitimate luxury goods address the lies from the animal agriculture industry, as well as from right-wing, pro-gun governmental officials and from conservative corporate powers who are responsible for destroying the planet and for ruining millions of livelihoods. The politicization of basic human rights, the coverup of a broken American system which leaves people in generational poverty, the facades surrounding the racism and belligerence of right-wing parties, and the manipulation of money within the US is displayed in colorful, almost innocent-looking stamp designs-- an exact representation of the evil facades erected by America’s most trusted politicians and powers.

The garment aspect of the project symbolizes independent thought and reason through the use of unconventional colors. Everybody possesses the power to think for themselves and to make reasonable conclusions, but as depicted in my installation, people mistakenly tend to surround themselves with vintage values and propagated lies.

I purposefully designed two twisted purses to read “DONT BE SHEEP” and “SILENCE OF THE LAMBS,” to symbolize individual, free thought. I intentionally made the two purses in unique, ambiguous shapes to symbolize the act of twisting and remodeling misleading conspiracies theories and propaganda which ravage society.