The Graduate. polychromed, 3d printed fdm model, Urethane Cast from 3d printed fdm model. 2018
The Graduate examines the dualities embedded within academic achievement, revealing how structures intended to elevate can simultaneously constrain. A cast bust stands at the center, its head capped with the familiar form of the mortarboard—a symbol of accomplishment, ceremony, and intellectual attainment. Yet, in this composition, the cap extends outward to define a rigid vertical cage that encloses the figure entirely. The same object that marks success becomes the architecture of confinement.
The work engages multiple overlapping systems. It reflects on the educational pipeline that can entangle students within broader institutional structures, including economic and carceral systems. The weight of financial debt, incurred in pursuit of opportunity, transforms graduation into the beginning of long-term financial obligation. At the same time, the work addresses the internal mechanisms of academia itself—where each level of attainment introduces increasingly narrow pathways, prescriptive expectations, and professional pressures that shape identity and restrict agency.
The stark geometry of the enclosure masks the complexity of its underlying critique. The vertical bars form an orderly grid, suggesting the controlled precision with which educational and social systems operate. The polished surface of the bust projects the aspirational image education promises, while the encasement challenges viewers to consider the unseen frameworks that accompany advancement.
The Graduate presents a paradox: success bound by invisible architectures of restraint. It invites viewers to confront the tension between aspiration and confinement, and to question how structures designed for growth may simultaneously define—and limit—the lives they shape.
Photo Credit: Sarah Wall