Locust Swarm
Category: Design*
Competitions: Taiwan Region
In contemporary society, individuals are constantly eroded by information, pressure, and emotion. Life moves at a rapid, fragmented pace, gradually depleting one’s inner self in ways that often go unnoticed. This work adopts the metaphor of a “locust swarm” to symbolize the psychological state of being repeatedly consumed and plundered when confronted with anxiety, comparison, and external expectations. Leather is chosen as the primary material, shaped through hand-weaving techniques to construct swarms of locusts. These forms embody both a sense of life and a mechanical rhythm of repetition and oppression. The interwoven structure itself signifies how sources of modern stress are never singular, but rather entangled and inseparable—much like layers of emotion and anxiety accumulating within everyday life. The clustering of locusts is not merely a natural phenomenon, but a representation of internalized anxiety. Pressures that appear to originate from the outside have, in fact, already become part of the individual’s inner world, continuously consuming and eroding the self. The base is composed of suede leather, resembling land that has been eroded—soft, yet marked by traces of damage. This creates a strong contrast with the aggressive presence of the locusts above. Additionally, as leather naturally evolves over time, it reflects the lasting imprints left by emotional experiences and pressure, allowing the work to extend beyond a single moment into a temporal process. In terms of craftsmanship, batik dyeing techniques are incorporated to enhance the narrative, simulating the processes of erosion and permeation. This represents how emotions and pressures gradually spread, eventually enveloping the entire state of being. The unevenness and layered variations in dye further reveal different degrees of “consumption marks” across the surface, deepening the emotional resonance of the piece.
