New Work!!
May – Onwards.
This is might turn out to be a long post so please bear with me, I just need to get this written down though because the blog’s been quite silent for a while (due to a whole bunch of building reasons that I won’t bore you with).
My work thus far:
– Beauty
– Mirrors
– Projections
How can these three things link? How can my work progress?
With Focus.
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All these different aspects play upon image and the perception that we have of ourselves.
My portraits started off as an exploration of how I percieve myself. This led me to mirrors which gave me a physical reaction to this perception. The projections then, whilst being rather cliched in theory, allowed me to project this perception – another outlet of my portrait works.
From that I came up with the idea of building a room full of mirrors, an interactive space in which the viewer would gain this experience of perception. As thought out as this idea was in theory, in practice I felt that there was something still missing.
It wasn’t until I was out one day with my family and I had to accompany my younger sister to a shop changing room that something clicked.
Where is the very place that we view ourselves? A truthful yet spontaneous way to view ourselves. Quite often we’re shocked by what we see in those mirrors, whether its due to the full length of the mirror or the skillful use of lighting that the shops use.
I took some photos in the empty changing room which really got me thinking. Once I got home I started to research into changing rooms and was quite shocked to discover how their environment can be manipulated based on what the shop wants. Some mirrors are actually changed so that you appear to be thinner or fatter depending on if they want to sell any clothes or not.
There was this BBC News online article that I found during my research which humoured me quite a bit. It describes how shops are experimenting with new ways to try on clothes simply because too many people “fear” the tiny compact rooms. Thus resulting in a huge boom in online clothes shopping. You can read the full article here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22342626
A quote which stood out to me though was the introduction into the article:
“The fluorescent lights are flickering, the mirror is clearly (clearly!) warped, you’re dripping with sweat.
Standing there crammed into a pair of jeans two sizes too small, you become grimly resigned to the fact that you look more like an overweight haddock than the shapely denim god of your imagination.
Congratulations. You’re shopping on the High Street in the 21st Century. It’s an experience most of us either love or hate.
And it’s this fear of fitting rooms that’s pushing some of us online, which makes this the stuff of nightmares not only for consumers, but for the businesses they’re fleeing.”
Through that I found this idea of “Changing Room Rage” which to be honest I have found more funny than not. It’s what people call the frustration that others experience whilst being in the changing room. I can understand it but it’s hardly something to fret about.
Have you ever experienced it?
Joking aside, an article which gave my insensitive head more information on the topic furthered my thinking and has given me some ground work to think about.
UK Women Driven Insane by Changing Room Rage.
Recent research reveals that nearly three quarters of women in the UK are suffering from CRR, a condition that manifests itself in internal feelings of anger and disappointment in clothing store changing rooms, and exhibits itself externally in bouts of situational bad temper.
– http://coffeelounge.isme.com/2011/changing-room-rage/
I’m hoping to look more into this because I feel like I have a hunch and something to work with.
