In this project I decided to focus on more of a philosophical theory. I have always been very interested in this, and thinking about existential ideas in general. In this project specifically, I focused on the idea that the only place I can really call my own is my skin. Everything else is man made, or not directly 'part' of me. As this project developed it manifested into breaking out of my skin, and feeling incapsulated in this bag of cells, how what we precieve on the outside is not really us but our brain/soul is. The main theory that began to surround this project was the brain in a vat theory proposed by Hilary Putnam
Primary photographs, These are my primary photographs for the theme 'A place I call my own', I vacuum-sealed myself into a clear plastic bag for some of these to replicate a second layer of skin, and for the others, I wanted to make my bones prominent to highlight the absurdity of skin.
Paper sculpture, hot glue
Cardboard inspired relief project, acrylic paint, sandpaper, sharpie
This project was one of my first a-level pieces, I wanted to experiment with etching as it was a new medium to me. My idea was to highlight the linear lines within architecture.
In this project, I set out to explore the beauty of decay, and the theme of environmental elements taking back something that once was theirs. I focused on fungi as that is something people usually consider a sign of decay itself, however, beauty lies within these signs. I decided to convey a theme of nature taking back man-made objects, specifically in this piece; a canvas that I created, that included live mushrooms taking over, to create art themselves.
I wanted to push the bounderies of what was 'expected' of us in a-levels, I didn't want to just be confined to paintings.
In this theme, which was sleep, I decided to tell a story of a mother and a child through imprints on a mattress. I orginally collected photographs of my nieces and a few photographs of me sleeping as a child and a teenager. This theme manifested into a personal story about the occasional absence of my mum, whilst she was in hospital with my sister who had a brain tumour
My initial idea was to collect primary photographs of imprints in memory foam, however, this proved to be difficult. To overcome this issue I resorted to getting images of the opposite of an imprint. I asked my dad to lie down and I put a sheet over him to record the juxtaposition of my original idea
Sketchbook pages, planning out final piece
EXPERIMENTATION
