Yearring, 2024
Acrylic
10 x 10 x 5 cm
For nearly two decades, I have worn hearing aids—not just as devices, but as silent companions shaping how I move through the world. They offer a quiet security: gentle, intimate, and powerful, like amniotic fluid. Yet the history of their design is also a history of erasure: one where invisibility is treated as the only path to acceptance.
Yearring challenges this narrative of disappearance. Through sculptural forms and translucent materials, I shift hearing technology from something to conceal into something to claim—an accessory that invites attention without apology. If glasses can be styled, collected, and celebrated, why not hearing aids—moving them from deficiency to desire, from concealment to celebration?
By making hearing aids visible—beautiful, deliberate, and present—I aim to interrupt the “shame–hide–smaller” cycle embedded in mainstream design. Situated at the intersection of fashion, product design, and disability culture, my practice imagines a future where difference is not corrected or minimized, but seen.
Yearring—a name that holds my identity (Ye), my work (earring), and the years that have shaped me. Visibility is power, and everyone deserves to be seen.