Make a Wish

"Make a Wish" emerges as a tactile meditation on the fleeting moments of celebration and the deeply ingrained traditions of wishful thinking that accompany our yearly commemorations of existence. Through the medium of embroidery on fabric, this artwork captures a singular slice of birthday cake, not merely as a subject of transient joy but as a vessel for the profound ritual of wishing.

The intricacy of the stitches and the choice of fabric as canvas lend an intimacy and delicacy to the piece, juxtaposing the permanence of art against the evanescence of life's moments. The painted plate beneath the embroidered cake grounds the work in the realm of the familiar, while the addition of a real birthday candle, lit and allowed to melt wax down the side of the fabric cake, introduces an element of time captured in physical form. This melting wax, alongside the deliberate singe mark where flame has touched fabric, serves not only as a reminder of the candle's temporary blaze but also as a symbol of the marks left by years passed.

The installation of this artwork within an ornate frame further elevates the everyday act of making a birthday wish to a moment worthy of reflection and reverence. This framing suggests that the piece, and the moment it encapsulates, is to be viewed with the solemnity and appreciation often reserved for significant life events.

"Make a Wish" invites the viewer into a participatory experience, evoking the shared ritual of extinguishing a candle with a breath and a hope for something more. It questions the nature of our wishes — those yearnings for the often unattainable — and reflects on the ritual itself as a poignant, collective human experience. It asks: What do we wish for, and why? In this way, the work transcends its immediate subject to explore broader themes of desire, temporality, and the human condition, capturing a universal aspect of our existence in the delicate interplay of fabric, wax, and flame.