My Pechakucha - 20/02/18

Today I presented my PechaKucha, which is a series of images lasting for 20 seconds each, to my mentors Sharon and Sebastiane. I was apprehensive at first because the time limit for each image was making me feel pressured, and I struggled to squeeze the information I wanted to present into the time limit. However, I think the presentation went well. I spoke concisely and explained the main points of my work. I discussed inspiration, initial research, themes, test shoots and mock-ups. 

I was pleased to see my mentors were enthusiastic about my project. They reassured me that I am in a good place currently within my work timeline, and that I have some good ideas and a good starting point. They agreed that the basic idea is something that has been done numerous times before and that I need to take it in a new direction to make it unique and powerful. Sharon understood the emotional impact that I want to have on my audience - to make them feel slightly uncomfortable, but also very intrigued. She suggested some minor tweaks I could do to improve my original mock-up; for example, removing the borders around pictures, and removing the drawings altogether, in order to create one continuous sheet of skin. Sebastiane also suggested some physical aspects to consider:

• Why not make the 'walls' of my installation more fragile and transparent (qualities of skin)? 
• Do they need to be solid walls, or can they be more skin-like and material? 
• What about projecting my images instead of printing them? 
• Can I blur the line between installation and sculpture?
• What materials can I play with that might mimic skin - nylon, silicone?
• Can I zoom in closer to images and film footage? To avoid seeing any clothing that might break up the impression of a layer of skin?

Both mentors suggested artists for me to look at, such as John Coplans, and also suggested I research some more installation artists. They also really liked the idea of sweat, body hair and how it reacts to temperature, and were particularly intrigued by my photographs I showed them where it was ambiguous as to what body part the segment captured belonged. Finally, Sebastiane provided me with a better idea of how I would submit my piece of work, as it will not be simply a book or magazine. 

After discussing and beginning to develop my work in such detail, I have gone away with a lot of things to think about. As my next step, it is very important now that I begin to play around with physical ideas. Experimenting with materials, imagery, sound, visuals and lighting will prove very beneficial to the process of developing a highly effective and unique final outcome. Even if I create multiple examples that I do not use, I might be able to take small aspects from them to add to my work.