My own
For my presentation, I showed the digital collages/setting I had made on Sketchbook and Maya. Created from photoshoots in the toilets and other digital photographs I'd accumulated. I edited together the imagery and digitally added in graffiti with crude language, swear words and explicit descriptions and instructions. I had five final images, each with a smaller hole in the centre (to be cut out when printed) so the viewer can see through each panel to the final 'backdrop' image. I had made a prototype of the paper peepshow to also show the group so they could try to visual the final piece. This was handed around so people could see through the peephole. While showing my work, I wrote a checklist to see if the themes and research I'm looking at were being successfully communicated through my visual work.
The group picked up on the voyeurism, utopia, fantasy, public toilets, the glory holes and secret underground scenes. I was pleased that these main factors were able to be seen in my work. Some peers said that it was work that they feel they have seen before, which has really challenged me to make work that is more unique and more specific to myself (as a source of inspiration). This was an interesting conversation, as others said that this is work that may have been seen in more central art schools, where queer culture is more spoken about, but within the context of UEL, a working class uni where the majority of students are not English and are the first to go to uni in their families, this would be something they haven't seen before. There was also some discussion about trying to find old public toilets such as in pubs and train stations where I could do photoshoots, or document performances to have a wider contrast between the glamorous fake furs and big hair vs the scummy dirty used toilets.
I was also advised to look into shame as a topic in Fine Art, in terms of shame itself, but also shamelessness. This I have done to an extent, I fell into a hole of exhibitionism as a queer sensibility, which was quite a pleasant journey and I may visit again. Freud was also someone I was told to look into, looking at the unconscious and subconscious drives. Lacan's Mirror Stages were also suggested as research to support my work. I looked into this and found lots of interesting information about the reflection, self-reflection, and the corporeal body. This links beautifully with my work and has encouraged me to focus on the body again. One comedian that was suggested was Kim Joel Booster, who I am yet to research.
Comments