Jewellery in Horizon-Zero Dawn

In the video-game,  Horizon Zero Dawn you play as Aloy, a hunter in a world overrun by machines, large robotic creatures that our human hunt for parts. It takes place many generations after a forgotten apocalypse where civilizations were reduced back to a kind of primitive state.

Her jewellery evolves throughout the game as she rises in rank and unlocks more resilient outfits.

Aloy at the start of the game as an outcast before she initiated into the tribe.

Her jewellery is made from found objects like machine parts, plastics, cords, wires and wood. It is also symbolically important as it represents a place in the tribe as hunter as well as reflecting their nomadic values and beliefs

 Aloy after she is initiated into the tribe and takes on her role as a Seeker.

The Nora( her tribe) worship nature as the 'All Mother' they are  very spiritual hunter-gatherers. in their tribe the higher your status or importance the more accessories they seem to have and they just get bigger and bolder.

The nature of excessive and bold jewellery is a common trait in nomadic tribes as it was a means of high status and portable wealth.

Khampa Woman, Tibet.

Rich nomadic Khampas favor precious metal and jewels as a store of wealth because they are easily transported.

Their culture is very conservative about the type of ornaments favored: for thousands of years jewelry made from amber, turquoise and coral have been worn because the stones are believed to hold spiritual power.

Gold and Silver are naturally found in Tibet and carry great social status, with the gold pieces commonly featuring Buddhist designs.

To the Khampa people these pieces have the utmost sentimental value and significance, because they are the physical remnants of generations of their ancestors hard work or success.

Why Art Thrives at Burning Man

One can always be a Unicorn.

In her TED talk, Nora Atkinson explains Why art thrives at Burning Man.

There has been 30 years of Burning Man, with it's  origins in early anarchist years. Atkinson describes it today as an experiment in collective dreaming.  Every year around August thousands of people for a single week power down their tech and pilgrimage out into the Black Rock, Nevada Desert.

Participants at Burning Man, i guess the theme is simply, expression.

Their purpose?

To build and anti-consumerist society outside the bounds of their everyday lives.

The entire encampment of Burning Man can be thought of as one giant interactive art installation driven by the participation of everyone in it.

What set it aside from commercial art work is that anyone who makes work can show it.

None are sold there. At the end of the week if the works aren't burned, artists have to cart them back out and store them. It's a labour of love.

Created by Alexander Milov 2015, signifying external conflict and internal need

Burning Man 2018

It's about redefining arts value by the emotional connection it creates between the artist and the audience, or the benefits it gives our society, or the fulfillment it gives the artist themselves.

These are also the questions that contemporary jewellery asks, The VGCJ explains contemporary jewellery as that," which can be described as contemporary not merely because of its recent date, but because of its engagement with a diverse range of contemporary social, environmental, technical or artistic trends."

Any piece of jewellery we create is contemporary because it is made today and it can fall within one or more of these terms, it's not something that is exact, like everything in the universe it can flow together.

Nothing is true, everything is permitted.