Mentor meeting #1 - Sebastiane, 30/01/18

My meeting with Sebastiane today left me with some further ideas and things to consider and research for my FMP. Firstly, I need to investigate and identify the difference between an exhibition and an installation, and decide which my FMP will be. After this, I can begin to think about how physical, emotional and interactive I want my work to be. We discussed artists for me to look at, and also previous student's work which was relevant and may be inspiring for me. Specifically, we discussed skin - the texture, surface, opacity, movement, etc. This led me to think about fabrics and skin-like materials which I could incorporate into my work, even to things like dust - the remnants of skin. In terms of making the viewer feel more included and involved with the work, I began to think about the use of mirrors; not only displaying images of other people's bodies, but also allowing the chance for the viewers to feature within the display themselves. 
It is important that I now go away and continue with my research and experimentation of artists, materials, photography, influences and inspirations. 



Relevant artist research: 

Gary Hill:

Switchblade, 1999.

"Switchblade focuses on the memory of the body as seen through the accumulation of markings, scars, and memories arising from accidents, dreams, probes, operations, and other invasions of the body."

http://garyhill.com/work/mixed_media_installation/switchblade.html 

Hill wove together images of human body parts and projected them simultaneously, creating interesting, emotive and highly detailed images. The focus on markings and scars is highly inspirational for my work, as an important theme for me is to reinforce the idea that bodies are beautiful in all forms, whether scarred, marked, blemished, big or small, old or young, and so on. Hill's images tell a story - the viewer can begin to piece together what the subject may have endured to gain these bodily marks. Furthermore, the audience can most likely relate to these stories and images; something that I would like to also enforce in my own work. 

Switchblade, 1999

Yves Klein:

Klein discovered that skin need not only be something that holds a body together, protects the inside from the outside or is simply looked at by others; but that it can be a tool for creating art. Covering nude female models in blue paint, a specific shade which he later named International Klein Blue, they then pressed themselves against walls and the floor to leave blue impressions of their bodies. These impressions only resembled parts of the body - the legs, torso and shoulders at most, but not the heads, feet, arms, hands, and often not even the full torso. For this reason, they may not even be recognised as impressions of the female body, due to their abstractness. In any case, there is a message about variation from woman to woman within the shape and size of their body parts. The warm, deep blue shade is an interesting choice - unlike green, red and yellow, it does not so strongly connote an emotion, but rather perhaps can be associated with the ocean; connoting freedom, vastness and power.
The variation of body shape and size, and the idea of viewing and using the skin as more than just the outside of the human body, are aspects that inspire my work. I would like to investigate skin further, seeing how I can use and manipulate it to create strong imagery. 

Andres Serrano:

The Morgue series, 1992. 
Serrano worked with a forensic pathologist to photograph deceased individuals, including their cause of death in the captions. Although the subjects are kept anonymous, their seems to be a heavy invasion of privacy - the viewer feels uncomfortable and disturbed, as though dead bodies are not supposed to be seen, or that they should be left to rest peacefully without being photographed. However, it is interesting to consider what death does to the body. Relating to my work, I like how Serrano captures the texture of the skin in a way it is never normally seen - how it changes after death, especially if the cause of death was something that might alter skin texture. Furthermore, although anonymous, each image seems to tell a story. As the viewer knows their cause of death, they can begin to image what that individual may have been like and what they did in their lives. A particularly interesting image is the one below, where the victim was clearly unknown, and so required fingerprinting to be identified. This evokes emotions of sadness, horror and loneliness.
The powerful emotional impact, as well as the close study of skin and body parts, are aspects that inspire me within my work. 

The Morgue series, 1992