Benson Joseph and Parinda Pin Sankaeo wanted to be independent.

Now, Joseph, a fifth-year architecture student and Sankaeo, a third-year, collaborated on an architectural artwork called “Homo-Symbiosis” located on the first floor of Bird Library. The structure serves as a reminder of the interdependent society that we live in, Joseph said.

After one year of work — including both of their spring breaks and Joseph’s summer vacation — the mirror-covered installation stands in Bird Library.

“The piece was really organic,” Sangkaeo said.

The two met by coincidence on a late Friday night last year in a laser cutting room. At that time, Joseph said it was rare working there. Sangkaeo started helping Joseph improve his digital skill set, while he helped her with building models, an aspect of architecture that she wasn’t confident in.

“It was kind of like … a symbiosis,” Joseph said.

The two students bonded, despite being from entirely different walks of life, over the fact that they were the “boring kids,” who didn’t like to “party or go out.” Sangkaeo is from Bangkok, Thailand, while Joseph spent the first 10 years of his life in Haiti, but considers Florida his home.

For the partners, their upbringings played a part in the concoction of the installation.

Joseph said he grew up somewhat privileged. As a black man, he was expected to play sports, which he wasn’t interested in pursuing and was often asked why he talked like a white person. This motivated him to use his situation to help others.

Sangkaeo also wanted to be herself growing up.

Growing up in an Asian culture, she said people couldn’t stray outside the rules. She disliked how regulations were placed on things like her hair length and the way she dressed. By sixth grade, Sangkaeo said such restrictions pushed her to ask her mother to allow her to transfer to a school system based in American regulations where she could be the person she wanted to be.

Karleigh Meritt-Henry | Digital Design Editor

The two said they didn’t give up on “Homo-Symbiosis” because they were used to the long hours.

Joseph said he saw the art piece as encouragement for individuals to retain their identities, but never forget that they live in a society that is co-dependent. Both students agreed that there is no single way of interpreting “Homo-Symbiosis.”

“We’re not trying to create a movement,” Joseph said. “To me, that’s the beauty of any public art. You can have an idea and then, as you are creating the piece itself, the stuff that culminates is not simply from one mind.”

Although the piece has no specific meaning, the artwork does carry a political sentiment. Joseph said art, or any form or expression, is inherently political, and any idea can start to create a ripple effect in ways people may not imagine.

The pair’s next collaborative artwork is going to be located in Slocum Hall and it is going to be more architectural than artistic, Sangkaeo said.

“From our point of view, with engineering, architecture and art, there’s no clear separation,” Joseph said. “Art is the up here,” he said, extending his arm high in the air, “and architecture is one of the subtopics.”

Commenting on her future aspirations, Sangkaeo said she wanted to “explore and experiment.”

“I’m totally with her on that,” Joseph said.

Published on September 18, 2019 at 12:02 am