I wanted to distort the actual work this time. I wasn’t sure of this while creating The Haze of Social Media, I was scared to damage the breasts but I became more confident and decided to place the breast in a cup of water to exaggerate the distortion more. I liked that I was physically changing the environment of the breasts and the appearance as some were damaged and turned to mush. Shauna questioned me in Talking about breast sculptures 6 , is it a negative thing that they are damaged? Or is it part of the process?
From Water, I continued this imagery of pebbles in Clay Boobs in Water, see below. Slowly dropping the breasts in the glass of water evokes the idea of women drowning due to pressure to be socially accepted.
Reflection 21/12/20: within my bath projections I really enjoy the use of ripples as it manipulated the film/projection of the female form.
Reflection 15/04/21: There’s this play on distortion which I have noticed has been relevant within my practice this year. I am still using distortion and destruction within Sweet Tooth B&W with the physical act of chewing damaging the soft icing breast, suggests this crushing control of the male.
Jane and I discussed how I have began to involve myself into the frame of my photographs and becoming confident with film. I’ve started using my hands within my work and this has produced performative elements which is something I didn’t see coming. A Handful of Women is a still image which didn’t have the movement and impact like a film would. It would allow the viewer to see the intensity of holding the breast and the motion in the hands as all hands have a type of language.
Reflection 14/04/21: This is where I began to involve myself into performance and currently now use others instead, Sweet Tooth B&W – I feel they make more captivating images as well as films which then play to the display/exhibition of them affecting the way they are further more perceived.
Richard Serra was an artist recommended to research for the use of film/hands in my work to develop this performative element further. Firstly he began with the Verblist, see below, a list of ‘to do’s’. He would choose one e.g. ‘to drop’ materials of his choice. He uses “actions to re-late to oneself, material, place and process.” (Buchloh, 2000, p7). This meant that he could explore different elements of the materials he was working with as well creating a different and new kind of work in the late 60s.
Richard Serra, Verblist, 1967-68.
“a simple verb-based action becomes a powerfully minimal work of art” (Chayka, 2011). I really like this quotation for Serra’s work. It’s about the focus within the action rather than the material/object he’s working with. This was something I had taken from Serra’s work, to focus in on how to manipulate the clay breasts, to create a visual language with movement, hands and action. – exploring surrounding the female gaze & male gaze.
Reflection 28/03/21: In reflection to what works best within my practice, this performance element has been a strong piece of work that I have returned back too with creating Sweet Tooth B&W work for the exhibition proposal – holds more attention/visual meanings.
Repetition is strong. In Hand Catching Lead, see above, there’s a mesmerising element of seeing the same action over and over. It becomes slightly different every time with the way his hand opens and closes and if it will land in his hand. It appears his works are all about “possible manipulations” (Michelson, 2000, p25) which I love. The use of repetition was also something that was spotted in my sketchbooks – displayed images that were similar in a row. This is where the repeated flow continues within work subconsciously and I aim to develop this further. Also suggest stills taken from a film.
Reflection 14/04/21: I have noticed I used a series of 3 stills from film, To Bite, for my print workshop, going down vertically this worked well in regards to composition, colour and relation to my practice.
Reflection 08/03/21: ‘To eat’ – repetition in a current development/adaption of Consuming 2, called Sweet Tooth B&W and To Bite Again and Again. Working with this uncomfortable feeling of a never ending consumption of women by a male.
See below Serra page from my sketchbook: I’ve decided to use my blog as a way to finalise what I am exploring:
Every hand is different/ personal. It becomes an intimate thing to watch hands; hands holding clay breasts. There is this sexualised stigma that comes with this. Breasts are intimate but so are hands. When they are placed together they cause emotions of discomfort and intimacy. But there is also a large difference between a female hand and a male hand which I aim to continue. A male hands appears aggressive and dominant. Reflection 21/12/20: Like how Consuming 2 was projected large in CUBED and felt even stranger! I projected Only Touch With CLEAN Hands large in the bathroom – it changed the whole meaning of the female hand when they were projected large. Does it becomes more meaningful being in intimate spaces of the house? & bigger?
In Hand Catching Lead, the hand appear strong, large and aggressive. Whereas women’s hand are soft and delicate, there’s a different message that comes across with a female hand. I chose two verbs from Serra’s list. ‘To collect’ and ‘to drop’. I decided to indulge into a performative film, of me, placing and holding the clay breasts in my hands and due to fact that I would be unable to hold them all, naturally they would drop. See below.
Reflecting from my 1-1 with Newson, I have continued the ability of “using things in my environment” (Me, 2020). I feel it’s more personal as well as the new need to be clean clean. I continued this idea of women being there for the males needs, as delicate objects and COVID, I combined the two issues to explore how they come across together in performance. Breasts have a stigmatised image of them where they have been overly sexualised and object that represents women. The caress/claw like hands evokes the image of women being secured yet, controlled. I used my own hand to play with the representation of women’s online presences with women. I wanted to contrast the imagery of control and darkness with the bold pink background of glamorisation.
Reflection 14/04/21: Glamorisation has been continued throughout my practice – this element of glamorising the sexual obj of women by the cinema, pornography and the male. – Sweet Tooth B&W exploration with cellophane.
Reflection 26/01/21: This was good experimentation for my Interim exhibition – the representation of breasts and play off of sexual objectification of women within a domestic setting creates an impacting environment. I learnt that the breasts displayed on their own was enough without the action of dropping too.
The hand sanitiser is there to coincide with society’s new rules of washing your hands every 20 minutes. I wanted to show the cleansing of the hands before and after as though the hands are touching ‘a prized possession’, like how women are seen as though they must not be dirtied by the hands of men or society. Reflection 04/03/21: I have brought it into the bathroom to project in the shower/bath, extra layer this idea of cleanliness.
Reflection 24/11/20: My group crit regarding this work was amazing. Interestingly enough even though it was hand doing the holding, a woman, my peers related their ideas to male domination and sexual objectification by a male. Will these stigmas always be around?
This film allowed me to experiment and to not be so precious over it as I struggled with massively in L4 & L5. The dropping of the clay breasts from my hand damaged them, are they actually damaged? Or does it add to the result/effects of actions in the film? See below. What would it further mean if it was a mans hand doing the dropping?
