Title of Blog: We know what we are, but know not what we will be.
Web address: https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/we-know-what-we-are-but-know-not-what-we-may-be/date/2015/03
In my own words my experience with the Blog assignment;
My experience with using the “blog” has had its ups and downs. I’m pretty old fashioned when it comes to technology, and I feel more confidant and stronger when my work is on pen and paper/ sketch book rather than online. The reason being is I have difficulty with internet access, as I cannot afford a lot of internet at home, so I have a limit usage. This restricts my time when posting blogs, and the whole processing and uploading my images, thoughts and research. Whereas a sketch book it is accessible anytime.
The second issue I’ve had is with images. This is because my computer doesn’t allow me to change my images, i.e. rotate them and uploads them to the a.n website as they appeared on my laptop. Instead it uploads the original image that was uploaded from the camera. This meant that I have to spend unnecessary time using photo shop on the University Campus Suffolk computers, rotating my images.
The third issue that I ran into was mind mapping. I suffer from Dyslexia and was given a document on my computer which helps me plot them out with ease on a computer. This document then transfers these into word documents. But when I tried to upload this document/ or copy and paste it onto my post I was creating, it would allow me to paste into the text but when the post was published it was erased. Hence why the mind maps on my blog are small and displayed as photographs as this was the only way I could get them onto the Blog.
The positive side of the blog is that it is neat and tidy. You can clearly see the whole progression of the project. Allowing you to edit and review anything and add web links is also handy as you can refer back to things with ease.
Over all I have enjoyed the experience and will continue with the blog to help keep myself organised.
Mrs Sheree Gradiner.
BA HONS Fine Art.
Marc Quinn’s visceral sculpture Self (bloody head) is made up of nine pints of his own frozen blood.When his work was first exhibited, it created a big stir with the public some described the work as repulsive and some admired it. It was reported that Saatchie’s wife,, Nigella Lawson half melted the piece of artwork after accidentally switching the fridge off. (The independent Friday 27 March 2015)
Marc Quinn has since this time made three the newest is currently being displayed in the National Portrait Gallery.
Quinn, said that his work was inspired by Rembrandt’s self portraits.
Quinn said ‘Self’ had been driven by his desire “to push portraiture to an extreme, a representation which not only has the form of the sitter, but is actually made from the sitter’s flesh.”(Akbar, A. 2015. the independent.)
http://www.npg.org.uk/about/press/marc-quinn-press.php
Artist and Feminist Porn Award nominee May Ling Lu uses a variation of material to create her work. Ranging from pen, ink and menstrual blood. May ling Lu details and documents her body’s monthly ritual.
Su’s work is titled On My Period for the full project and more graphic details you can access On her website. May Ling Su has spent the last two years taking photographs, videos, and diaries.
This images shows May ling Su smearing her own menstrual blood all over her naked body on a beach. Which I thing still invites sexual intention. Despite there being menstrual blood.
“Su’s art takes her menstrual blood and pairs it with her sexuality in a way that clashes the stigma of dirtiness and uncleanliness that menstruation has held for many for centuries.”( Hecht, M. 2012. SmartArt)
There’s not a lot of information regarding the image but I felt compelled to display and acknowledge the artist Zanele Muholi and what her work stands for. She is a south African artist that created artwork using menstrual blood.Muholi work tells a story of black lesbians in South Africa and represent “curative rape. She believes that by using menstrual blood as a medium it empowers her subject, expressing pain and lost. I personally think that the medium empowers her work, the image itself looks attractive but underneath the surface it suppresses all the badness and pain that still exists in peoples life that needs to be brought to the fourth.
Even though the subject between my work and Muholi are completely different they both share similarities with regards to women being treated like pieces of meat instead of individuals and being respected.
“Drawing on her experiences as a lesbian in South Africa, Muholi’s body of work speaks eloquently to the violence and attempts at erasure visited upon her community. In my mind, one of the most important and effective means of creating real change in any community is by inspiring people to personally recognize and respect the humanity of the “others” experiencing brutal violence. In this capacity, art can succeed where politics sometimes fail.” (Jamie, 2012.http://www.autostraddle.com/artist-attack-zanele-muholi-13277/)
I continue to bleed each time I read about rampant curative rapes in my ‘democratic’ South Africa. I bleed every time queer bodies are violated and refused citizenship due to gender expression and sexual orientation within the African continent. I constantly bleed when I hear about brutal murders of black lesbians in our townships and surrounding areas. I’m scarred and scared as I don’t know whose body will be next to be buried. I bleed because our human rights are ripped. I cry and bleed as mothers, lovers, friends, relatives lose their beloved ones, let alone the children that become orphans because of trans/queerphobic violence. We bleed, our life cycles invaded, we bleed against the will of our bodies and beings.
– Zanele Muholi
I can honestly say that I am not a big fan of Marcel Duchamp. The ready made artist also used bodily fluids to create a piece of art work called Paysage Fautif. This “artwork” was a gift for his Brazilian lover, sculptor Maria Martins back in 1946.
Even though this piece was originally created as a private act, it is now a public piece of work. I do understand that art can be erotic and can be sexually inviting but is this going alittle bit to far?
