Creating wearable art pieces allows me to connect with my ethnicity and heritage as a Trinidadian-American. Wearable sculpture is one of Trinidad and Tobago's most well-known forms of cultural expression during their annual Carnival celebration.

 

 I chose the theme of Alien, referring to the definition: “a plant or animal species originally introduced from another country and later naturalized.” The Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T” Pepper is of Trinidadian origin, though crossbred in the United States and Australia. The Trinidad Scorpion Pepper was once recognized as the hottest pepper in the world. Hot peppers are a staple in Caribbean cuisine, with its flavor in the body of the pepper and fire in its seeds.

 

This piece plays on the name of the Trinidad Scorpion Pepper, creating an arachnid (scorpion), capsicum (hot pepper), mammalian (human) hybrid. The most fiery parts of the pepper plant coincide with the most dangerous parts of the scorpion, with pepper seeds congregating in the "hottest "areas of artworks wearer.