Off to pick up a projector for a bit of experimentation with a film I have made, the idea is to project my film on to a muslin dress,” part of my project” so plug in and let the magic begin…well the computer is working but there is no projection, after faffing about for a while ah ha! It helps when you switch it on, this is like de ja vu from the bad print day! Yay, this looks like it may work! The aim is to create a spiritual feel to my work by projecting the film onto the dress, the film I am experimenting with is about disguise , based on a Capirote which is a pointed hat that is used in Spain. It is part of the uniform worn during holy week/Easter in Mediterranean countries “Penitentes” ( people doing penance for their sins) would walk through the streets with pointed hats. It was a way of self injury, however, they covered their faces so that they wouldn’t be recognized.
On Tuesday I headed for the printing room thinking on how I could to get my prints looking good , preparation is the key here.. Thinking to myself this is rather like a ritual, I had my lovely new paper at the ready and being extra careful, soaking the paper for the right amount of time, and trying not to get any smudges on it, on go the plastic gloves now to ink up my etching plate, then carefully place the plate on the press, cover it up with the blankets and wind it through, then to carefully fold the covers back to reveal the plate and then peel it off the special paper, so what went wrong ? Everything ! Then it happened again arghhhhhhhhhhh!
Thinking plan … how to display my degree show, what do I need , what works. what doesn’t, its time for sourcing materials and more experimentation. I cant believe how quickly this is upon us.
This piece of work is titled Cocoon by artist Rebecca Horn, in this image Horn shows two stages of the morphing of the human body or the extent of it, one phase shows the body enclosed in a cocoon, securely protected from the outside world, then it brakes free into the outside world,as the cocoon unfolds it transforms into butterfly wings.
This image could relate to having a sacred space , the first phase makes me also think of a tall hat disguising the body ,then it transforms into a ghost like angel freeing the disguise, thinking along the lines of my project!!!
‘Pope Joan’ – Medieval muslin undergarment, rice paper circlet breast pads – Julie Dodds.
“The rice paper obviously alludes to the flesh of Christ in Catholic tradition and the breast pads reference the myth that she had a child. The cotton red crosses signify stigmata and the pain of her situation as an oppressed woman, mother and religious icon.”
With our degree show looming, it is exciting and overwhelming. I guess like all of us I want to get it right, at this moment in time I seem to be continually consumed by my project, which is good but I really need to narrow it down and just run with it.
I have been making, printing and researching and whilst doing this I have been looking at medieval undergarments and trying to imagine what the character that I am studying would have worn to disguise her gender, and also taking on board her religious status of a disguised pope.
