Jiwon Woo

Forgot Your Password?, 2014 

Neon light, personal items

78 x 60 in

Personal passwords allow us access to our own private online arenas. Sometimes, we forget these passwords, and, in order to recover access, we must verify specific pieces of personal information. What elementary school did you attend? What is your favorite book? What was the name of your first pet? We are asked to corroborate facts relating to our existence in the real world, or rather, we are asked to corroborate specific facts we input when the online account was first created. I may be in ownership of the real-life reference, but if I cannot produce the correct referent as  evidence, I am denied access to ‘my’ slice of the Internet. When forgetting ones password, the text referent is vital, whereas all and any physical proof is rendered worthless – a fact playfully highlighted through these artifacts of my physical existence, haphazardly strewn around the central text in this piece.