24.11.20 - Soft Sculpture

 In a similar way to how I started my first project, I created a soft sculpture which surrounds the theme of power, again using the word 'Destroy' as my focal point. To complement the softness of the fabric, I drew the word out in a wavy, rounded style that contrasts with the connotations of the word itself to give the viewer conflicting ideas.

I realised that in order to be able to turn the shape inside out, I would not be able to stitch any of the negative spaces, meaning I had to go around the very edges of the word. This worked fine because I had drawn all of the letters very squashed together and there weren't any gaps. After inverting, the word would also be reversed so I drew over my outline with black marker so that I could turn the fabric over and sew from that side. 

To articulate the letters, I stitched the internal lines in after it was turned inside out, and I stuffed the shape with spare scraps of fabric at the same time to make the finished 3D word. I think it is slightly under-stuffed but the positive side of this is that there are more interesting creases and wrinkles in the fabric which would make nice tonal drawings. 

I suspended the sculpture with string and overall I'm happy with the way it turned out, and now I know that if I wanted to remove the negative spaces between the letters I would have to make each one separately and then attach them together, whereas I would have to cut the gaps out in this piece. The squishiness and warmth of the fabric in contrast with the word itself feels really disconcerting. It makes me wonder which seemingly innocent, mundane acts can cause damage that we are unaware of - for instance buying an item of clothing without knowing that it was made in a sweatshop, and therefore contributing to the demand for cheap labour.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mike Kelley Style Photoshoot

Image
  Mike Kelley's 'Ahh... Youth' piece inspired me to make my own version using old teddies from home, including some from my parent's childhood and some from my own - plus a recently acquired 90's troll doll from a car boot sale. I set up the studio lighting in a way that would reduce shadows behind the objects and used a white background like Kelley's image, which gives a professional atmosphere that  elevates them from being worn-out old creatures to something special and celebrity-like. I used a tripod so that they are all to scale with each other, and I like the empty space around them, it's like they have room to breathe and think. I also had to adjust the ISO, white balance and shutter speed on the camera to suit the light and conditions of the space, then I used manual focus to get the sharpness that allows you to see all the details and textures. After uploading the photos to the computer, I cropped them on photoshop and classified them into two separ...
Read more

Primary Research - Tetra Paks

Image
  Recently we have been making more of an effort at home to recycle things properly. Tetra paks are difficult to recycle because they are made of different materials; plastic, card and foil. We have been putting our empty cartons aside to take them to the correct place for recycling, so I took some photos of the collection. I think they have an interesting presence when arranged in multiples, strangely they remind me of a huddle of penguins or a crowd at a festival. I think the tower like shape also mirrors modern urban architecture.  Personally I find skyscrapers kind of dystopian and they give me feelings of impending doom as if something could go wrong at any second. They seem oppressive and sinister, a huge pillar of glass and metal. I think the cartons have a much friendlier appearance despite the similarities in shape, and the associations with food create a sense of comfort and domesticity.
Read more

29.1.21 - Objects in the Bath and Shower

Image
One of the first things that came to mind when I got the re-arrangement brief was to do something with my collection of beanies. Because they are so colourful, I decided they should go against a plain background, so I cleaned the bath out and started filling it with the animals.  The first set of photos shows the animals in a random arrangement where I photographed them from different angles... For these close up images I placed the camera in the bath with the animals and blindly took the photographs, not knowing what the results would be. The flash came on for these pictures which makes the in-focus areas appear very sharp with a clear representation of the animals' surface textures. They also remind me of claw machines in arcades, which gives the images a nostalgic feel - all of these beanies were manufactured in the 1990's and early 2000's. This is the thing that opens and closes the plughole in the bath, and it created some strange reflections of the beanies which look ...
Read more