Exploratory Project

Exploratory Project


My project will be about family, history, memory and how the individual is formed and shaped by the above. What are 'true' memories?


I have been exploring this theme for some time, using old photographs printed onto plaster casts, fabrics, etc. Using plaster is an important part of the project. Plaster has a semiotic significance; it sets to a hard surface that nevertheless is fragile and can easily crumble and shatter.


By reflecting on this the last couple of months my ideas have moved on, but without any 'concrete' evidence other what is in my head and to some extent in my sketchbook. (see sketchbook)


I have been sidetracked by theory, which from some direction seem to be of crucial importance, in contrast to the 'other' direction saying the research is 'practice based' and the theory will follow (this is my personal interpretation).



Research methods


Using internet/library

1. Emailed District Six Museum in Cape Town enquiring about a specific installation (Rod's room). This is a very moving and evocative exhibition dedicated to the black displaced population of this district during Apartheid. The artist's use of domestic utensils and day-to-day items very much relates to the way I work. The artist's name is Rodrick Saul and he is a well known SA artist.


2. Searching for other artists working with similar material combination as myself. Found a few, but not much of interest, mainly technical specifications and methods.


3. Researching artists and authors dealing with similar concerns (family, history, snapshots, etc.) Found many of interest, particulary Annette Kuhn, Jo Spence and Geoffrey Batchen (see bibliography below).


Practical Research

1. Using printroom and sculpure studios to make some more 'blocks' (notebook). Decided enough is enough.


2. 'Playing around' with models and sketches in my own studio. I know could (should?) be using the MA studio at college, but this is incredibly impractical when I have everthing to hand in my studio at home.

3. In preperration for my sudies I attended a one week summer school at Central St. Martins in London learning mouldmaking and casting prior to semester start.



Projected outcome


1st idea:

Make more photoimprinted casts and finding a relevant and meaningful way of displaying these. Also imbedding various items in plaster.


2nd:

TB put the idea of working with ceramics, maybe imprinting photos to decorative tiles/tablets a la grave momentoes, a bit morbid perhaps? But looking at Spanish/Mexican 'cemetery art' it is both joyous and amusing. I find this idea attractive but have not acted upon it yet.


3rd:

PB seemed unenthusiastic about printmaking and suggested I should draw instead. I can see his point but do not totally agree. He also reminded me of Mary Kelly's work 'post-partum document' which I agree is relevant to my way of working. Also suggested collecting and layering (both metaphorically and literally) which is something I have always been interested in.


Proposal:


Using my initial idea of 'bricks' I intend to build a wall of some description,using found objects(tokens, clothing, scraps of heirlooms) as well as plastercasts. I then intend to knock the whole thing over to create a crumbling confused pile of rubble.

Allthough I do not have a wider political agenda, it is important that the work can be read at may levels, pehaps as a symbol of our crumbling society, family relationships, destruction as result of war and unrest, changeable borders, both selfimposed and imposed by circumstances, chaos before order.


How am I going to do this?


Continuing reading and reflecting. Evaluate what I have already done and select what maybe useful and reject the rest.


Ongoing collection of momentoes and photoes.


Create plastercasts and collages, building up 'scenarios' in order to discover what may and may not work.


Listen more closely to 'my' old people at the Day Centre (I do not want to involve anybody personally).

Focus on the project and not getting sidetracked.




Bibliography

Messenger, Annette, Correspondences: Annette Messager/Quartier de l’Opera. Paris: Musee d’Orsay, 2006

Dream extensions. Gent: Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, 2004

Hiller, Susan. Susan Hiller: recall: selected works, 1969-2004. Gateshead: Baltic, 2004

Kelly, Mary: post-partum Document 1983, Routledge and Kegan

Kelly, Mary: post-partum Document IV, VI 1994, Helsingfors Stads Museum

Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida. Vintage 1982

Batchen, Geoffrey. Forget me not photography and remembrance Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam 2004

Kuhn, Annette, 1945- Family secrets: acts of memory and imagination. London: Verso, 2002

Spence, Jo. Family snaps: the meanings of family photography. London: Virago, 1991

Mack, John. The museum of the mind: art and memory in world cultures. London: British Museum, 2003

Burgin, Victor, 1941- Thinking photography. London: Macmillan, 1982

Lynch, Michael P. 1966- Truth in context: an essay on pluralism and objectivity. Cambridge, Mass. London: MIT Press, c1998

Evans, Jessica. Visual culture: the reader. London: Sage, 1999