Designed by Seniman Ruang, A Beautiful Mess installation aimed to embrace the motherhood journey as a harmony of the beauty and the mess, and resonate mother’s silent struggles. Motherhood could be the hardest job, where exhaustion, baby blues, insecurities, guilt, and depression are often experienced by many mothers.
Project Name -A Beautiful Mess
Studio Name -Seniman Ruang
Project size– 9 m2
Site size – 9 m2
Completion date– 2021
Building Level – 1
Location– Kecamatan Cisauk, Banten, Indonesia
Photography– Helen Agustine
Nonetheless, it is also the most rewarding job as their life becomes more meaningful with the presence of their children. As part of the award-winning Wonders of Weaving program, A Beautiful Mess comes as a collaboration project between architecture, craftsmanship, building materials, photography, and a digital website to manifest a powerful message of self-love, self-acceptance, and women empowerment to many mothers by seeing and listening to their journey without judgment.
The installation carries a message beyond motherhood, but also sustainability resulting from processing discarded building materials into a valuable work of art. Numerous keywords representing motherhood’s physical and emotional journey were collected from many mothers, written on the translucent blinds in a form of cubical shelter. Sandei blinds fabric’s leftovers were gathered and woven by ByoLiving in a hyperbolic shape representing the mother’s womb, illuminated with the breathing light representing a life inside the womb by ErreLuce. Colorful acrylic wastes were cast into a terrazzo floor to demonstrate the new way of processing ordinary materials into something extraordinary.
The sunk inner space with surrounding seating pedestal was designed to remind the feeling of a mother’s cradle and utilized as sustainable product retail, bringing a chance to shop and experience the art installation at the same time. The architecture was constructed in 7 days, designed to be moveable with a knockdown system and operable glass partition to flow cross ventilation inside the building.
A companion website made by Antikode performed as digital access in an exploration of the motherhood journey, featuring the motherhood moments captured by photographers Carol Kuntjoro & Janji, as well as words by Typerfect. This collaborative spirit amplified the message to be heard, demonstrated, and instilled in the current society both in physical and digital form.