Before anyone speaks to us, they’ve already formed an impression. We adjust how we dress, how we stand, what we reveal, and what we keep hidden, sometimes consciously, often without thinking. We learn to present different versions of ourselves to different people.
Volk looks at the corset through that lens. Not as a historical garment, but as a kind of mask: something that conceals as much as it reveals, a structure worn on the body that shapes how it is seen.
The masks we wear to navigate the world. Some are protective, some performative, and some become so familiar we stop noticing them altogether.
The construction of the corset, translated into leather accessories worn on the outside of the body. Eight concepts built on a recurring language of straps, buckles, and articulated leather, often referencing the spine as both a protective structure and a vulnerability.
Somewhere between accessory, armour, and costume: less about decoration than about what it feels like to carry a protective layer with you.
Two pieces were made by hand. A spine piece, built as a working prototype to test movement, structure, and wearability, and a layered belt corset, worn for the final presentation.
Making them was a way of understanding them. Weight, flexibility, and restriction all revealed themselves differently once they left the page.
The spine piece became the centre of the final installation. Set within a crumpled sculptural shell, it suggested a body hidden beneath its own protection: the object stays visible, while the person it belonged to disappears.