women are commonly thought of as more biological than cultural.

I have been working with the idea of having the wolf be apart of Alice rather than Alice behaving like the wolf. This lead me onto experimenting with collaging my own drawings to create new compositions. My original idea was to have the woman’s ’ponytail’ also be representive of the wolves tail, her vagina actually being the wolves mouth and her menstration red tongue of the wolf.

Like many social theories my anthroology research got me reading about Freud’s theories. Freud decribes sexual predatory behaviour in humans as the ‘ID’ He defines this stucture of the psyche the “unorganized part of the personality structure which contains the basic drives. The ID contains the libido, which is the primary source of instinctual force that is unresponsive to the demands of reality. The ID acts according to the “pleasure principle“, seeking to avoid pain or displeasure aroused by increases in instinctual tension.^“

These principles and the quote from an essay on the author Angela Carter about the story ‘Snow Child’ helped inspire my latest collages. For me representation of the importance of menstration within womanhood has become increasingly significant in my illustrations, before I had been representing ‘Alice’ as an adult who is already comfortable with her own body. The vulnerability in my latest illustrations has proberbly enforced the idea of Alice being a child entering womanhood and going back to primitive instincts; these instincts are then shown to be a natural part of humans even after being raised in a civilised society (as confirmed by the ID theory) I have begun to slightly reverse the principles of the story Wolf Alice by combining quotes from both stories to illustrate my on interpretation “she is just on the cusp between woman and child, with very fine hair and scarlet and white cheeks”

I am playing with the idea of the little girl dressing up, showing her innocence, naiviety and excitement of becoming a woman, the ‘bunny ears’ behind the head are another way of showing this metamorphse.

I am involved with a artist collective called The Fabelist who are exhibiting a group project called Connect in London and New York from August. I have been involved in this project since January this year and want to use this blog to record the second phase of my project up to exhibition status.

I would describe my art as mixed media I love experimenting with collage,print and drawing, I use processes and techniques which develop naturally throughout the work process rather than dictate or force a look onto my work. My own practice focuses on presenting social female taboos as a human act rather than gender specific.

I have called my blog ‘women are commonly thought of as more biological than cultural and are taken to be closer to animals than men’ this came from research on anthropology from the book The Mirror of solitude by John Gray. Obviously this statement is contrasting to the ethos of my art, but I want this statement to exaggerate and show an obvious contrast between societies views against women’s own experiences while showing that innate human behavior is something even culture cannot get rid of “science gives a sensation of progress that ethical and political life cannot. The authority of science comes from the power it gives humans over the environment.” John Gray

Firstly I will explain where i’m at now. I began sketching similarities between humans and animal instincts to connect their characteristics, I then began translating these animal poses onto women. I found it a struggle getting them to be representational of animal behaviour I don’t just want to show a woman crawling I want to engage in what humans perceive as degrading behavior as this is recognised as animalistic e.g. I have drawn a girl squatting on the toilet and a girl peeing in a teapot as my initial intention was my wolf-Alice to act feral in a civilised situation.

As my research developed I began analysing the story of wolf Alice along with essays on the author Angela Carter, this analyisis has helped me to understand the subtleties between people and animals. In my journal I have concluded my own interpretation of the connection between the two species, the wolf girl is inducted via menstruation into a correct and liberated social and sexual awareness wolf-Alice only notices she is different from animals when:

1) she notices her reflection

2) Puberty – through menstruation and development of breasts.

It is now that she can begin to differentiate herself from nature “it is only because nature cares nothing for us that it can release us from human cares” John Gray (The Mirror of solitude) she begins to behave, feel and think differently to before “yet her relation with the mirror was now far more intimate since she knew she saw herself within it” Angela Carter.

After this realisation I noticed my drawings becoming more gentle, more ‘human’ I concentrated on the girl comforting heriself when her first period begins she is curled up near a fire. At the time of these drawings I myself was having bad period painis so maybe I connected and undertood more what he felt at the time?

Where I am at now?

Going back to the Connect theme, my connect has developed into connecting the girl entering womanhood. The wolf has become more of her inner animal than literally projecting animan behaviour. My latest work is incorparating the aggresion of menstration, using a wolf tongue to show the red blood and teeth not only as protection but as a sign of the mutilation which is indisputable as she becomes an adult.

I am really trying to get a sense of the animal with my body language I realise aggression and ‘animalistic’ behaviour do not have to be the same thing, looking back I didn’t notice how sensual and sincere my illustrations are. Ironically it’s almost as if i’ve picked out the more ‘human’ traits we may see or connect with animals subconsciously. My sketchbook has really increased the quality of my drawings, I also feel regular life drawing classes in recent months have made me focus and concise my work better.

I really feel the wolf tongue compositions are exciting, I am unsure how i will develop these but for now i am sticking with focusing on just this composition for now.