The Gilded Cage installation piece was inspired by the metaphysical space that individuals construct within themselves as a safe haven from the world’s many villains and afflictions. In creating my first installation piece, I found myself encountering numerous structural and compositional challenges as well as intrinsic learning curves. I also wanted to try my hand at interdisciplinarity by involving another artist, my identical twin sister. Skylar (Rae) Bynum is a creative writer by trade, but in addition to expanding my concept to poetry, we needed to find a way to integrate our individual pieces into one holistic installation. I wanted to encourage the audience to consider their perspectives on self-preservation, evoking a sense of fear that the cages indiscriminately inflict upon the inhabitants that recede into themselves when life becomes uncertain. The wax represents the harm inflicted upon the cages’ prisoners, the gold attempting in vain to conceal it or justify the cage’s protective intentions. Another challenge was the composition of the keys and their suspension. The “floating,” non-uniform keys to cages with no locks represent the relentless insistence on the impossibility of escape. The piece was shown in my first exhibition in conjunction with the art collaborative in Nacogdoches called “Fire House Nac.”