Prophecies and Deceits is part of my MA final project. I am working with language, not only through the written word but through the signs and symbols used to communicate and express thoughts and feelings. I am particularly interested in the use of political rhetoric and how words seem weightless and without foundation despite their impact on the fate of many.
The writer R W Mitchell defined deception as ‘a false communication that tends to benefit the communicator'[1]. ‘Prophecies and Deceits' is a body of work that attempts to expose deceptions through the ambiguities of political speeches and our propensity to be taken in by them. Our perception of the truth is based on our beliefs and our belief in others, but paradoxically it is not in our best interest to learn the truth. The truth is far more complicated, and foreboding. ‘Prophecies and Deceits' is fundamentally about the dichotomy between the words that we believe are true and the deception that hides behind them.
[1] Vrij. A, Detecting Lies and Deceit, John Wiley and Sons Ltd, Chichester, 2000.
Everything is falling into place. The artworks are nearly all finished. I hang on thursday the 9th of April and I'm feeling a bit nervous.
I have been trying to write about my work and am finding it dififcult. It is as if all my energy has been spent on the making process. A friend of mine said I should wait and write about it after the exhibition is over. I need to renergise and have a clearer head space to view the work and intellectualise about it.
Since the start of my MA I knew that there would be some difficulties with time management-especially that I lecture in a college full time. My only days to concentrate on my MA work are Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Now that I have my Final Project exhibition to work on I have found that my evenings are also taken up in the studio. Despite the pressure and the zero social life I have developed a good system of working and seem to work well on the adrenalin.
It has been an anxious week. Part of my Prophecies and Deceits installation are 7 lightboxes . In January I entrusted the manufacture of the lightboxes to a local signmaker. He promised that the lightboxes would be ready by mid March. Well only one has been completed. He has asured me that the rest will be ready by next week giving me only a few days to take photos and try them out etc.. This project has definately been a steep learning curve. Especially when using outside contractors.
