#mixedmedia

After choosing what turned out to be a module that completely wasn’t for me (designed based) I switched five weeks in and found myself completely at home in the landscape module.

It made so much sense choosing the landscape module (which had been my 2nd choice after all) Having spent the whole summer in Orkney and alot of last year I had plenty of inspiration right at my fingertips.

In my usual macarbre fashion I had a collection of dead bird photo’s due to the bird flu which is a really bad problem just now in orkney so much so that people were (and maybe still aren’t) allowed onto the beach in Birsay.

What drew my attention to these birds was their positioning,and how artful and interesting they were.I also found it an odd juxtaposition,the birds lying still and motionless whilst the sea moved,the people walked and life continued around them,the hands of time only effecting the decomposing effects on their bodies.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/in-scotland-a-bird-flu-crisis-threatens-thousands-of-seabirds

In the above article,it talks about how allready a quarter of gannets have died this breeding season,entire breeding colonies are being wipes out and due to gannets only laying one egg per year the recovery of the population will be slow.Not only this,but seabirds in general help the ecosystem as they have essential nutrients in their feces and are top predators which helps the food chain.Birds who are predators will surely die too from eating the carcasses and catching bird flu in return.Frustratingly,the level of this strong multi-strain has been known about for a while but no money has been put into protecting the birds,national and regional responses are needed now in order to protect the birds before more outbreaks hit.

Still lives in nature.

My direct response using the bones found from birds on the beach on Hoy island (which I later found out I shouldn’t of touched)

Loie Fuller

Over the summer I discovered and became facinated by Loie Fuller a ground breaking American dancer and performer who was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting.She used swirling silks and multicoloured lights and her movements were inspired by nature,she helped inspire the art Noveau movement of the early 20th century.I started to think about how I could use this performance style in my own work encouraged by death and life in the landscape around me.How could I use movement to resemble not only nature but the time that moved by?

Rebecca Horne

There seems to be a kind of similarity in Rebbeca Horne piece ‘Weisser Körperfächer’ and Louis Fullers wings and I wonder if prehaps she was inspired by her too!

Starting the process

The cycle I work in is one of drawing out by using a variety of mixed media so that I am able to put together in my head what i am going to do performance wise then I perform then I go back to drwing out based on the perfromance or looking at where things can be tweaked.I decided the best way I could show the connection of time with death and life was to make these wings which would not only act as wings but the hands of a clock an show movement but within the landscape.I also had a latin book which has doing words in it which I was initially just planning on using to collage then thought about how great this would be as spoken word over the top of the video/photos showing how movement is constant within the landscape altho death may be present life never stops.

Maquette

Based on the above image I wonderd how I could make this in a sculpted form,I started off wanting to make a more realistic form in metal (a media which I am fond of working in) but it would occur too many issues,I make a thick card maquette before I weld because then it shows up what will and won’t work altho I have to keep in mind that metal does not hold the same flexibility that card does.So I choose to make a more abstract form which shows the flow and movement of the wings.I plan on taking photographs of it on the costal line.

I initally wanted to make a more realistic form making a skirt but then i realised that the metal would’nt bend like the card would and the circular shape would struggle to attach to the shape below so how best could I attach it?

I decided to simplify the shape.the bottom half could symbolise a skirt of legs and what did it really matter anyway?The arms symbolised balance and flow.It would be interesting to make this into a kind of see saw where it could balance from side to side showing balance and motion.The moving life and the stopping death.

The bottom had to be weighted down using two pieces of card but I know that this shouldn’t be an issue with the weight of metal.

‘The Wings of time’

I choose Balmerino as my location as it is a place i am very fond of and feel a connection with.Altho I would of liked to of done the performances in Orkney that’s not really an option right now.Although the weather forcast said sunny it proved to be very foggy,whether that was to do with the smog left after a massive fire in town it was hard to tell.However,I felt that this gave quite an atmospheric feel.It was hard to balance on the pebbles but I somehow managed.The wind made it rather difficult at times too.I felt that it was important to wear black in order to contrast the white,altho i originally planned on wearing a black dress like the drawings suggested i don’t think it would of been very practical for movement.I found myself with an audience of old people which made it hard to concentrate at times.But once I was in the zone it felt like a new form of Tai chi,I moved with the wind and with my breath as you would with Yoga.I would say I am pretty pleased with how the photo’s turned out and prefer them to the video.My next move is to try and put spoken word over the photo’s in almost a slideshow style fashion. Inspired by Rebecca Horn I also wish to try and paint and draw with them.

Location shot of Balmerino looking very dreary due to the mist.

Using the wings as a tool.

Inspired By Rebecca Horn’s piece ‘Finger Gloves’ (1972) I decided to draw using a black ink wash.I decided that black worked as a great ‘theme colour’ due to not only it’s symbolism of death and decay but it’s connection with oil and oil spills as before oil hits the sun it is black in colour.

Both colours have played an important part in the process,from the ink wash to the brown muddy slime on the wings.

https://www.netregs.org.uk/environmental-topics/waste/managing-waste-materials/disposal-of-waste-at-sea/#:~:text=Disposal%20of%20oil%20at%20sea,miles%20from%20the%20nearest%20land

The above website states that oil should not be dumped into the sea if your vessel is less then 12 miles from land when i have witnessed this from a vessel right next to the land.

I hoped that by putting the hat on my head it would give a feeling of the elongated Gannet neck (a bird I had personally found dead in ebundance during the height of the bird flu pandemic in the Summer.

The wing bowing out in the middle was a happy accident as it helped me to see when painting with it.The split pin under the chin helped it hold on for the best part.

Wing put on my head to give me limited vision whilst painting,the same way a bird’s vision would be limited due to the virus causing blindness.The hat resembled that of a ‘Dunce’ hat.Painting with my head like this in the corner it certainly felt like it too!

I tried to capture simultaneously with both arms at the same time images of myself wearing the wings and images of one of the birds i had found from a photo.I wanted to capture movement with my movement,the movement of myself and the movment of the bird,like that of an aboriginie cave painting.

Jaxon Pollock no 32. I admire the gestural flowing free motion of this piece.I tried to create a similar effect in my painting altho the motions wasn’t quite as flowing due to the wings and width of the paper.

Five stag heads found inside a cave in the Nave region of Lascoux believed to be a stag in different stages of motion.Also believed to be one of the ealiest findings of ‘animation’

I wanted my paintings to reflect this due to it’s connection with nature it felt only right that the paintings should have a primitive feel to them.

Rebecca Horne ‘pencil mask’ was another inspiration behind using one of the wings to paint with.

Arm maquette

I really liked how much the card maquette resembled the shape of the human figure but with over exsagerated arms to capture the wings.I was really excited to make this maquette into a metal sculpture then take it down to the beach to take photo’s of it but then due to the strike the teacher never showed up.I had allready waited 3 weeks at this stage just to use the facilities and couldn’t afford to wait another 3 weeks as this would go right past assesment time.

The markings resembled the gentle pitter patter of bird feet,with other areas more chaotic which made me think of the **Bird Flu** virus itself seeping through effecting **90-100%** of a flock within 48 hours

‘Passing through’,Sonnabend Gallery May 1977.Taken from the book ‘Rituals of Rented Island’
Interesting arm extensions of a human kind.I would be quite interested to know what they were made of altho it doesn’t seem to mention.Prehaps Paper mache?

Green Screen test

Altho asthetically pleasing I felt that these images didn’t reflect the bird itself when dying from bird flu/oil spill or a harsh death in general.The movements were to soft and fluid and suggested a gentle death,prehaps dying in it’s sleep or from old age.

I liked the movements but they were far too fluid and should of involved me squirming on the floor.I didn’t end up editing these photo’s in after effects due to this

Performing on the beach.

Looked too much like praying and didn’t want to cause any offence towards anyone.

Sample collected from the slimy looking mud which covered the beach

The image of this gloopy slime type mud resembled that that i found on the beach.

How Oil Affects Birds

Birds are often ‘beached’ when they loose there buoyancy due to the oil as the sea becomes to cold for them to return to.

The above is something I really wanted to bring into my final piece but i am not naturally a great contortionist!I would however in the future try a different series of photos on the beach prehaps using facial expressions to express the pain. I did have a series of photo’s where I was flat on my back on the ground but I had the headpiece on which i felt was too ‘distracting’ and ruined the piece.Below I thought of the seabird chick who jump into the sea prematurely if their parents have died,still attempting to gently flap their wings as the disease takes hold.It is also said that as the virus takes hold of the brain the bird itself starts to loose it’s eyesight and become disorientated.

Final performance.

**This over exposure actually made for a great final picture in the series of photo’s as it told the end of a story where the baby bird finally passes away.**I decided that the Colour should return as death is a comfort.

This piece made more sense,after some discussion with my tutor we discussed how the movements should really display the struggle of dying and how i should really get involved and grotty on the beach. I tried to immerse myself and really feel the birds’s last moments and how uncomfortable it would of been.Would they of been comforted by listening to the sea in their final moments whilst looking up at the sky?

Taken from ‘Student body’ by Marina Abramovic.After looking at the video it was decided that the images were stonger then the video itself and that one of the final pieces would work well as a series of images.I felt particualry inspired by this performance I found where the woman acts out a different celebrity in each shot.However,I decided to just have rachel snap photo’s every time i moved in a slow and static fashion even tho the pain of the pebbles underneath my knees made me want to move fast!

An example of what I could see in some of the photo’s with the headpiece on my head whilst lying on the beach. It was comforting yet clostraphobic at the same time.It obscured my view the same way the virus would as it slowly made the bird go blind.

Final installation

**I looked at a variation of ways I could display the wings.Firstly a paper plane?**

Super pleased with how the print turned out.Altho the university printing unit was closed so had to use the one down the road

I am really pleased with the final results of my work and mostly the presentation for assesment altho my measuring isn’t great!But otherwise my placement in general I think flows as one item directs you to another.I also decided to have the lighter markmaking over to the left as it would otherwise be swamped by the darker colours and you wouldn’t notice the delicate detail as much.

I decided to start working on the construction and reconstruction of the face using the image of Hang Mioku.I decided to record this process using the hyper focus setting

Decided to paint a continous line picture of the 3rd stage of Hang Mioku’s surgery.Then i painted a sheet in cooking oil which relates to the cooking oil she injected into herself.I particulary liked the way the sheet of cooking oil gave an aged look to the painting.I then wanted to create layers and abstract shapes in response to the painting underneath.I then took this abstract image and placed it on top of the previous image of Hang Mioku previous to her surgery.

Continuing the construction of Hang Mioku’s image.I painted an image of her old image prior to the 10 surgeries to fix it and then used this image to layer the current image.I decided to use latex and inject it with oil.And masking tape to represent bandaging.The oil stained the paper underneath but did not have the desired effect which was to make the latex bubble.What I find particulary interesting is how the latex has removed the oil from the paper underneath it.I wanted to use the large eyes again to focus on Hang’s hunger for the surgery.I wanted to use the chicken meat so that people would feel disgusted at the industry.I think this image has been quite sucessful

‘The Broad’ by Jean Michel Basquait. I feel that this painting relates well to plastic surgery as it shows the inner turmoil of the mind and also the patchwork often messy look of after surgery or even botched surgery.

Jenny Savile ‘Ugly’ I like how this painting uses the title ‘ugly’ and presents someone who has went through surgery in order to look ‘pretty’ I think has great irony and hopefully disgusts people the same way i want to with my art.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_ytbaK8aLlap0CLR4bw5G1lMlzI27ijn

I decided to use layers of emulsion then cooking oil and ink to build up a painting which was originally of Hang Mioku.I liked the way the oil ran with the ink and the consistancy of it.I then decided to deconstruct using a chisel which is an instrument shaped similar to an osteotome use in nose surgery.I then thought of the phrase ‘your eyes are bigger then your belly’ in terms of plastic surgery.The want and need for more and more.So I used egg cartons to suggest this then poured oil into them untill it over flowed (see video).I think i like this piece at certain stages but not at others.Particualy the abstract ink/oil stage and when i had freshly scratched into it.I wonder if this is the same feeling people have at particular stages in surgery?I also can’t say that i feel a strong like or dislike towards this piece which i am still trying to figure out why

I visted this exhibition this time last year and found that the size of the photo’s themselves had the most shocking impact.All the different stages of Emin’s surgery learing over you in a very intimadating fashion.

The ideal that surgery will lead to ultimate happyness is often wrong.

I experimented with injecting oil into an orange and a chicken thigh due to their skin-like texture.I felt that there was something ever so slightly sexual about the way the oil seeped back out again

Viktor Ivanov ‘Meat teddybear’ was a partial inspiration behind me sewing the chicken skin together and making ‘meat parcels’

The deconstruction and reconstruction of the chicken piece.I wanted to show how once flesh is operated on it will never look the same again whether this be in a bad or a good way.I want people to be disgusted by the piece which seems to of been the effect that has happened around the class.

I decided to sew the skin together to give the effect of human skin.I loved the visual effect of how the skin looked slimey and grotesque and also how the inside of the chicken skin was similar to that of human flesh.I also liked the connection between ‘the butchers’ on the chicken pack and how people are basically butchered during botch plastic surgery jobs.

Heather’s blog

Landscape Module ‘The wings of time’