Gallery documentation
A photo dump to exhibit the process the past few weeks, I preferred doing this over easter as at the start I lost about 8 boxes and 4 uneven sixed ones walking up the hill.. it started raining out of where – I still feel shattered and in addition I twisted my leg due to the slop up Penglai’s so it really hasnt been my month but Happy with how the left boxes look.
Within the weeks I wrote I created I expressed I cried – I got in 3-8 people different timings to come join and write in the studio space with me
i enjoyed this style of expressive texture to cover up writing
To elaborate on these pictures and lack of detail of the written pieces are because the themes are based on my childhood nightmares, they hold secrets. memories that have suffocated me, they hold words which make water run down my face – These boxes hold the pain of wounds that no one saw – reasons behind the fake smile that everyone saw. There are tails that lay deep within my heart buried inside that wouldn’t surface.
Material testing
It’s been a productive time but with Easter SOA being shut bumps me as there is more to do
Artist Research
Wen Yau:
Wen Yau prides herself on being a multi-media artist who regularly deploys her artistic talent through a multitude of different art forms. Yau uses performance art to grapple with the cultural difference and intimacy of public spaces compared to the private mind. Yau influenced my project as the projection of hidden thoughts onto the boxes symbolizes the expansion of oppressed thoughts usually hidden away from the public eye. Furthermore, my decision to include performance into my project, including the public to expand upon my work, replicates the expressive work by Yau in her project “Recollective – Representing the Ephemeral”. Yau focusses on artistic expression through the senses as seen in ‘Ephemeral’. The blindfolded woman demonstrates the body guided by touch, smell, and sound; Bringing emphasis to the raw, blind emotion that guides the soul rather than through the visual material that we ingest. I want to take the performance aspect from Yau’s work and merge it with the installation that I propose. The interaction with the crowd forms a unique, ever-expanding projection of emotion which cannot be replicated without such interactivity. With this added audience inclusivity, the experience I can provide through the work would be both reliving and stimulating for those who attend and can leave their imprint upon the box monolith.
Kader Attia:
THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE
Attia grew up both in Paris and Algeria and travelled to the Congo, South America, and Barcelona to progress his art further. With this rich culture, Attia creates work based off the experiences he’s had whilst abroad. The artworks created involve rich, historical culture with emphasis on the passage of time and the affect it has – depressions, suppressions, loss, and violence. This inspires my own work as I use my own cultural wealth to create expressive artworks, sampling the passage of time and how it interlinks themes of the mind and creativity. The construction of Attia’s megastructures in ‘Ghost’ further inspire my work as it proves the monotony of identical cardboard boxes can be altered to form an interesting structure of unique nature. With the markings and language etched upon the boxes the regular, everyday resources amend themselves into a method of presenting interior emotions. Whilst my boxes aren’t as dynamic as Attia’s, the use of geometry, sharp edges, height, and lighting degrade the trauma of the written experiences and how they contradict the sheer brutish nature of the cardboard boxes
It’s been a productive time but with Easter SOA being shut bumps me as there is more to do