Pied Piper, 2016, British police baton, 22x3 inches.

Sourced from the digital marketplace of eBay, an antique police baton is meticulously transmuted here into a functional flute. An object originally engineered to enforce silence and physical subjugation is repurposed to facilitate breath, resonance, and human expression. The work is rooted in a re-enactment of personal memory—specifically the 1980s in South Korea. During this era of military dictatorship, mass uprisings against state repression were met by government forces wielding batons, water cannons, and tear gas as tools of democratic erasure. By physically hollowing out this instrument of suppression to create a melodic instrument, the work reflects on the radical potential to reimagine the tools of authority, even while acknowledging the persistent, percussive echoes of state-sanctioned violence. In the context of the contemporary political climate, Pied Piper interrogates the enduring, evolving mechanics of power.