Adoption and Identity

Louise Bourgeois and Boris Mikhailov at Tate Modern – July 2016

Red has already featured in my work as I mentioned in my blog on 13 July. It was made even more significant when I visited Tate Modern during the summer break. For Louise Bourgeois ‘red’ translated as fear; she felt vulnerable and remained fearful of many things throughout her life.

For me red, is the colour of connections and the idea of making contact with my natural family that I know a little about, but feel I relate to in many ways because of certain features in our characters. Red also links me with another part of my family that I know exists, but who don’t know (I assume) anything about me.

I have added some images of some experimental work which feature the colour ‘red’ that signify loss, ties that have been severed and truths that often lay hidden…

There was also an exhibition of Boris Mikhailov’s powerful images entitled ‘Red’. A diverse group of eighty-four colour photographs taken between 1968 and 1975 – every one of the images containing the colour red. See http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mikhailov-red-t13358

In July I paid an interesting visit to The Foundling Museum, to glean ideas for my project.

Definition of a foundling: orphan, waif, stray, ragamuffin, urchin, outcast

Museum information:

A token was left by the mother with her baby as proof of identity for when, and if she came back to reclaim her child.

The baby’s basic details were entered onto an admission ‘billet’.

I purposely visited the museum so that I could see the exhibition ‘Found’ curated by artist Cornelia Parker. It was a thought-provoking display of diverse objects donated by over sixty artists interspersed with the museum’s exhibits. You can see more information about the exhibition on the museum website at http://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/events/found/ The one particular piece that stood out for me was ‘Iron Baby’ by Antony Gormley, evoking the vulnerability of nature – here the mother’s breast is replaced by the floor.