Restless Retail is a performance-installation that humorously transforms insecurity into fictional products like Shame Polish and Overthinking Mist. Set up like a market stall, I adopt a carefully controlled persona who actively tries to sell these absurd items—while also insisting no one really needs them. This contradiction reflects the mixed messaging of consumerism and self-help culture.
A looping TV behind the stall plays satirical commercials, reinforcing themes of manipulation, performance, and advertising. A recorded version of a prior live performance will also play throughout the exhibition, ensuring the work’s presence, even in my absence.

The work explores vulnerability, self-perception, internal criticism, and the commodification of mental health. Humour becomes a tool to invite both discomfort and reflection, highlighting the uneasy tension between genuine self-help and the often exploitative nature of wellness marketing

Andy Kaufman’s performative unpredictability and playful manipulation of ego have deeply informed my approach, while Tatsumi Orimoto’s Bread Man (2001) performance, with its absurd persona and public interaction, also left a strong impression. Both artists helped shape my decision to move into live performance and develop a character-driven practice.

Restless Retail critiques the modern packaging of insecurity—showing how anxiety and self-doubt are marketed as identities and aesthetic choices, particularly within social media and influencer culture. By mimicking the language, tone, and structure of retail environments, the work reveals how vulnerability is commodified, turning deeply personal struggles into both spectacle and product..