Morals and Sins

After much thought on how to demonstrate my identity I started to focus on how I have a strong morally based upbringing. My Mum took great lengths to teach my sister and I the differences between right and wrong and I thought this might be a good topic to illustrate. I thought about the things Mum taught us and ended up with the idea of 7 sins. Vanity, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony and Lust. After more research I discovered there were colours and animals associated with each sin.

Vanity - Horse - Violet

Envy - Dog - Green

Wrath - Bear - Red

Sloth - Goat - Light Blue

Greed - Frog - Yellow

Gluttony - Pig - Orange

Lust - Cow - Blue

In response I started with Gluttony and baked my depiction of Gluttony using vast amounts of icing and chocolate chips. I then photographed it against an orange back ground as that is its associated colour. 

Block Colour

http://blockcolour.co.uk/

I really like this website and how it is more a "stream of consciousness" than documentation of a specific project. As a result I think I am going to change this blog title so it is DirtyBertyButtonNose like the other uni based projects and have my Liberty Florence, or another name, as a blog for my "stream of consciousness". I was thinking of doing a joint one with Mikey so we can bounce off each other's creativity.

Dressing Up

Wish I could dress up everyday!!
As a child I would constantly dress up: my favourite being either a cowboy or Indian. I love this video as it is an "adult" version of dressing up i.e actually having a conceptual purpose behind the action!! I think it just looks like fun!!

Everyone's going to die

This video is set in my home town and has really inspired me to create a video piece for my NSP. I would like the video to be a 'based on a true story' trailer and a reflection of myself whilst possessing filmic qualities. Very excited to start this!!

Displaying Ideas

http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/menswear-dog

I think Cuba might be sporting my clothing pieces when they are finished like this cheeky fellow...

Identity - Home

Where I live is in the middle of no-where. Our family home is surrounded by fields which during the spring/summer are peppered with poppies amongst the Linseed crops. In response to this and as a way to demonstrate my identity based on a sense of place I embellished a cushion cover incorporating the tye dye technique seen in the clothes.

Identity - Tye dye

I thought I would combine the aesthetics of my work with my interest in fashion: these are a few pieces in progress, starting with a common tye dye base to capture a bohemian feel.

"Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only...fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening." Coco Chanel

  

Identity - Beginning

I thought the best way to start explaining my identity was with the beginning. These pieces are composed of black and white photocopies worked into with paint, lace, masking tape, nail varnish, ribbon, wool, etc. I wanted to create pieces which reflected my way of working now as well as reflecting my character as a child (and early adulthood!!).

Cuba

For my 18th birthday I couldn't help but fall in love with this adorable black spaniel when he was only a couple of weeks old, when he was old enough I bought him home. Cuba has been a smile on my face for the past two years nearly three and inspires a lot of my work. Watch out for him in future works!!

Heidi Plant

I really like the organic forms in her work which also possess a whimsical, fairy tale aesthetic. These particular works are made with 'hand carved and steam bent reclaimed 2x2 wood and ceramic'. I would like to take inspiration from her work to create sculptures using natural wood and wool 'embroidery', maybe in a more literal form such as to create text pieces. 

Yinka Shonibare

'Over the past decade, Shonibare has become well known for his exploration of colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalisation. Shonibare’s work explores these issues, alongside those of race and class, through the media of painting, sculpture, photography and, more recently, film and performance. Using this wide range of media, Shonibare examines in particular the construction of identity and tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe and their respective economic and political histories.  Mixing Western art history and literature, he asks what constitutes our collective contemporary identity today.'

 

I especially like the juxtaposition of traditional English with the African print, it creates something very visually stimulating.

Tim Walker

 

Tim Walker's, Story Teller exhibition at Somerset House in London was truly inspirational. Tim Walker is one of the most visually exciting and influential fashion photographers working today. Extravagant in scale and ambition and instantly recognisable for their eye-opening originality, Walker’s photographs dazzle with life, colour and humour. His recent work is drawn from the pages of the world’s leading magazines: British, French, American and Italian Vogue, Vanity Fair, W and The New Yorker among many others. One of his quotes from the exhibition reads,

 

'The way I work I have a mood in my head, a feeling for something. Almost like a set of directions, a map of how to get through the day'

 

I thought it would be interesting to do some work which is fashion photography based, incorporating ideas of fairy-tale aestheticism, nostalgia and the difficulty to differentiate between reality and illusion to be in keeping with my NSP.

Supermarket Sarah vs The Selby

vs

 

 

The Selby is the photographic documentation of personal belongings which are then displayed on the website's 'wall' in contrast to Supermarket Sarah's 'walls' which display personal belongings then the photo's of her 'walls' displayed online.

 

Both are fantastic ways of documenting personal belongings however Supermarket Sarah's method lends itself more to my NSP as I will have something 'in the flesh' to present at our final show. However definitely take a look at The Selby, it's a fantastic website.

Supermarket Sarah

 

After Sophie Calle demonstrated her character through documenting her/their behaviour, it made me think about how someone's possessions' could reflect themselves. I had come across Supermarket Sarah's work before in the book 'Creative Walls, by Geraldine James' but she has actually bought out her own book now called 'Wonder Walls'.

 

 'Eager to do something that was my own, I decided to combine my interests in fashion and vintage with some new ideas on how to sell online. Supermarketsarah.com is based around the idea of a real 'wall' on which to display and sell my items.' 

 

I would like to take this idea and use it to combine with my new ideas on being 'published', a new kind of autobiography, composed on fact and fiction but it still being autobiographical because I 'wrote' it. 

Sophie Calle- Pseudonyms

 

Sophie Calle's work 'The Chromatic Diet, 1998' was the result of a work by Paul Auster. Paul Auster in 1992 wrote a book called ' Leviathan' who's main character is based on Sophie Calle, although in the book he uses a different name, a pseudonym. In response to this book, and with Paul Auster's permission, Sophie Calle then, in 1999, bought out her piece of work 'Double Game'.

The work 'Double Game' is the documentation of Sophie Calle living the life of Paul Auster's character which was originally based on Sophie. The work plays with the fine line between fiction and reality. An example being 'The Chromatic Diet', which is based on Paul Auster's character's choice to only eat orange food on Monday, red food on Tuesday, white food on Wednesday etc. The piece is composed of the documentation of Sophie Calle copying the behaviour of the character which was based on her in the first place!!

Day of the Dead

The celebration of Day of the Dead is an integral part of the embracement of death that is particular to Mexican national identity. The popular belief is that the deceased have divine permission to visit friends and relatives on earth and enjoy once again the pleasures of life. The aspect which caught my interest was the idea of when our identity ceases to be an identity: e.g even after our death would our identity still be recognised or, in the case of Day of the Dead, celebrated. In response to this I created a 'Dry-point Etching' inspired by the Mexican Celebration.

 

 

Ruth Broadbent - Identity Cubes

 

I have looked at Ruth Broadbent's works before for previous projects but I thought her 'Identity Cubes' were so tactile, much like her other works, and a very clear representation of 'Identity'. I might adopt this form to create my own 'Identity Cube'.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

 

I remember seeing this article in the Daily Mail in 2009 and it remained in my memory so vividly because I remember even considering if I had BDD. The article by Jenny Stocks reads,

 

 'Almost all of us have something we dislike about our body- a chubby tummy, crow's feet or a spot of cellulite. Often, we magnify and exaggerate these supposed faults in our own minds while our friends see us as perfectly normal- even beautiful. But in extreme cases it is known as Body Dysmorphic Disorder, a crippling distorted self image that affects one in every 100 women in the UK.'

 

 I even bought Racheal Baughan's book, The Butterfly Girl in which she explains how she sees herself in the mirror and how after battling BDD now runs her own modelling agency.

Bohemian

'Especially an artist, literary man, or actor, who leads a free, vagabond or irregular life, not being particular as to the society he frequents, and despising conventionalities generally'

The connotation of 'Bohemia' became a romantic one, after the birth in Paris in the 1850's, into an ethic which spread and transformed into 'Boho-Chic'. This relation to Paris made me think of Venice and it's famous masks such as the 'Bauta', 'Moretta' and 'Larva'. The idea of concealing your true identity and how others see you was extremely interesting and reminded me of a video I had seen for 'Dermabland'.

Cancer/Monkey 1992

Imagination, Insight, Tenacity, Affection, Caring, Caution, Irritability, Despondency, Possessiveness, Moodiness, Hypersensitivity, Cunning, Stability, Wit, Opportunism, Leadership, Silliness and Zeal.

A prediction of a 1992 Cancer/Monkey child by Peggy Hunt given to my Mum when she told her she was expecting. Mum says, even now, it is an accurate description of my character.

NSP- Negotiated Specialist Project

IDENTITY

 

Identity is the main focus for my NSP. Looking at areas such as Fashion, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Pseudonyms, Zodiac Profiling and much more.