Object Stories

Catalogue of Materials

I created a catalogue of various waste materials found around my home as well as some further photos of most of the materials. Some materials are recyclable while others are not. Some of these materials aren't recyclable. They are also unsustainable to produce and don't biodegrade. Once their single use is complete, they are often disposed of in landfill which contributed to greenhouse gases and global warming. Maybe we should re-think how these materials are dealt with after their single use, and create more purposes for them. Art is an easy solution to the issue of landfill disposal as the materials can be given sentimental value or importance so that they are kept. Some of these materials will be seen in use throughout this project.

The Mask 

Exploring dimensions, materials and animality and the self.  

The Arctic.

Due to global warming, much of the Arctic has melted away and caused the sea levels to rise. My creature is a Polar Bear of the Arctic. It is in the Polar Bear's nature to live independently as an adult. They become territorial and must learn to hunt for themselves to survive. My Polar Bear wants to be able to thrive and give her cubs the best start in life. To do this, she has to give them all of the food, strength and protection she can offer. She is alone in this challenge. Though she may not know this, her species is endangered because of global warming. The decrease in land makes it increasingly harder for her and her cubs to thrive. Seals - her main pray - live in the ocean however all of the extra open sea and less ice has made it all too easy for the prey to escape her. She and her cubs are starving. She is exhausted from swimming in the ocean with little to no pay off. Sometimes she can scavenge leftovers or small prey on land, such as birds, but it is barely enough. Other Polar Bears are hungry too and may try to fight her to make a meal out of her precious cubs. Although she is a fierce, strong, protective mother and fantastic hunter who is well adapted to life in the extreme Arctic environment, it isn't enough in her vanishing home. If her cubs don't survive, her species could risk extinction. My Polar Bear must adapt to life with more sea than ice but evolution can't keep up with our global warming.

To improve on my mask, I would somehow add a layer of some of my written work on the polar bear on to the human "self" side of the mask to subtract away from the realism style, and more towards a surreal style. I feel that the realistic style used on that side pushes it in the opposite direction to Fine Art, and that this would strengthen the piece overall. 

The Impossible Landscape 

Creating my mask reminded me of northern, cold, tundra landscapes that consist of extreme weather and terrain. Below is the result of my impossible landscape with this idea in mind. I used insulation fabric to create the floor as it reminds me of soil, heather, bushes, and gravel. The viaduct image is taken from an out of date calendar and I painted the trees myself onto waste tissue paper tubes. I feel as though my painting skills are one of my strongest art skills so I wanted to include it here. In my impossible landscape, there are trees growing in frequently along the viaduct. 

Art Installation Celebrating Life 

After viewing the work of James Turrell, I was inspired to create my work using vivid colours. I used a self portrait sketch, a childhood photo of myself as well as a photo of my mother to create my installations. 

My self portrait is being viewed through a patterned drinking glass with the vivid purple light beaming through. 

1 Minute Sculptures 

Created with domestic materials and body to explore ideas of what confinement and freedom mean to me. 

To me, confinement means darkness, restrictions and feelings of depression, being trapped, ignored, silenced, and panic. These are feelings I am confident that many have felt during the several lockdowns over the past year. Within 1 minute I was able to use rubber washing gloves, black hardware tape and black and blue makeup to create my translation of confinement. Conveniently, all were monotonal, cool colours which represent feelings of sadness and loneliness.

On the other hand, freedom means feelings of joy, simplicity, oblivion, aloofness, fun, creativity and sometimes fear. You are able to do something because you have freedom of choice and will. There are no limitations, or at least any to consider. Sometimes too much freedom can lead make you naïve to consequences which is why I chose a fragile glass object to represent potential consequences which can be handled responsibly or irresponsibly. Here I chose to represent irresponsibly because I feel like it relates to politics, companies, billionaires, and other such people of influence, when it comes to the wellbeing of the world and its population. I used makeup again, this time in red and green to represent the happy and contempt feeling that come with freedom.

1 Second Sculptures

A fun experiment where I felt I could combine random items in my area to create something abstract. I used a roll of tissue, masking tape and an aluminium foil wrapper to create three 1 second sculptures. I feel like the materials used relate to the confinement of lockdown, as well as the need to be resourceful and to adapt around the situation because masking tape is useful for quick, amateur upcycling/repairs, tissue rolls were a priceless ration, and food availability increased for some while it decreased for others.