Monday 24 October 2011

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Friday 16 September 2011

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Woody Allen

To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But, then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer, to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love, to be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy, therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness.

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Lorna Simpson


TEXT PANEL:
It is late, decided to have a quick nightcap at the hotel having checked in earlier that morning. Hotel security is curious and knocks on the door to inquire as to what's going on, given our surroundings we suspect that maybe we have broken "the too many dark people in the room code." More privacy is attained depending on what floor you are on, if you are in the penthouse suite you could be pretty much assured of your privacy, if you were on the 6th or 10th floor there would be a knock on the door.


This photograph series entitled "The bed" again uses this idea of an absent person, however this time the bed looks untouched and as though it has not been slept in. I also like the text panel underneath which Lorna Simpson uses quite often in her photographs to link a narrative to an image.

Monday 25 July 2011




I took these pictures after being inspired by the work below. each time I woke up I took a picture of my empty bed as I had left it. I really like the different creases and shapes in the material that show that someone was present but no longer is.

Wednesday 6 July 2011

Felix Gonzalez-Torres: The absent body




I really like this photograph by felix gonzalez -torres that was enlarged and put onto a billboard. The bed is empty but still holds the shape of two bodies lying side by side, which stands to emphasise the fact that they are no longer present or together. The inspiration for this photograph came about when the artist's partner died of aids, and I think the impact of the absence of any figure or presence is very strong and moving.

I'm starting to move more into this idea about "absence" and the idea that what is not shown in images is just as important as what is. The feeling that something or someone was present but no longer is. This makes me think back to when I was experimenting with my first blanket pieces and tried to use a female figure in my work to be wrapped in the blanket reading "He turned to me and said: 'you are worthless'", and I found that it was more effective when there was no figure at all, which is what I ended up producing. Also my pillow piece with the text represented this same absence. I like the use of a bed as well, something comforting and personal becoming a lonely and threatening image.


I am also very interested in this work because it is about making something very personal and private become public, which is what I was working on with my blanket pieces in the church that came from private letters and feelings shared by others.

I am going to focus on this idea of "absence" and research into other ways of showing this in my work.

Arab Strap

"On the English Riviera with the penguins and the waders.
In a chip shop on the front with the tacky seaside traders.
In a flooded cottage kitchen by the fire that you built.
In a B & B in Peebles, underneath a rented kilt.
In Barnardo's, Cancer Research, in Shelter and Oxfam.
In a quiet pub in Skipton, on a rusty Blackpool tram.
The Pleasure Beach and Coral Island, at the end of the North Pier.
On the moors with the wild ponies and the sheep shit and the deer.

In a corner of the Sub Club.
On the Art School's old dance floor.
In the hall and in the bath, just outside the downstairs door.
On a hillside in the Trossachs,
on the busy NY streets, in a hotel by a park, it's written in the sheets.

In the sand at Ilfracombe,
halfway up the A82,
the tallest cinema in Europe,
standing sighing in the queue.
The all-night garages of Glasgow,
the freezing streets of Aberdeen,
in every corner, every room and every bed we've ever been.

That's where we've left our love"

Overall I am really pleased with my finished work. I really enjoyed creating the textile pieces and think this is something I will want to continue to produce over summer. I also have become really interested in the use of text through this project and also through this creating a narrative for the viewer. The contrast and juxtaposition of the text and the colourful fabric is something which I always enjoy in my work and I will continue to work on creating this clash of elements to create an initial awkward and uneasy feeling with the viewer.

Exhibition opening






My Artist Statement:


“To remember other people’s memories is to be wounded by their wounds. More precisely, it is to let their struggles, their passions, their pasts resonate within one’s own past and present, and destabilize them” - Kaja Silverman



My work is based on the memories and confessions of others. The text is taken from letters received daily by the “Juliet Club” a group of agony aunts in Verona, Italy the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The club reply to thousands of letters and emails from people seeking help and support, or wanting to share their experiences of love. I was able to access some of these letters and I then used the phrases and short sentences that I felt expressed the most pain and suffering. I wanted to make these anonymous private feelings and secrets into shared memories, for others to relate to in their own way. These type of memories are often hard to recall, and are sometimes repressed, however I aimed to celebrate them instead by displaying them on large material resembling flags with bright colours and patterns, making them hard to ignore. It is important to also remember our own bad experiences as we learn from these experiences and they guide our future behaviour. The process of sewing the text is an important aspect of my work, as it represents the repair of something which has been torn apart, in remembering these bad moments we aim to recover from them and get past them. I wanted to display my work here in St. Brides because in the same way these people have wrote to the Juliet Club for guidance and hope, there are many people who look to religion for this help and forgiveness. I have also made 14 of these flags, referencing the stations of the cross, the suffering that Jesus Christ endured prior to his death.


“ You can erase someone from your mind. Getting them out of your heart is another story”



Putting my work up:


I used this image as a poster for the opening night of my exhibition. I chose this one because of the sky and bright background adding to the contrasting text sewn onto the fabric, and this is also my favourite finished piece out of the 14 I have made.

















I have started creating flags on a larger scale in order to display them in the church and so they are not lost in the space. I have now also started using machine stitch as well as hand sewing some of them. I like both of these processes so I want to continue with these.
I have started to think about ways to display my work, I want them to be hung up and here I used a washing line in my studio. I used a washing line because I wanted to bring something familiar and domestic into the display. Also the proccess of washing clothes is about caring for them which adds another contrast into what the text will read. This is where I am planning on displaying my work - St Bride's Church. I think this setting would be perfect for my work, as each fabric piece will represent suffering and loss which Jesus had to endure himself which is remembered during holy week- which is when I will have my work up. Also in the same way the people that have wrote into the Juliet Club for help and guidance many people pray and look for guidance from religion. I will also be making 14 fabric flags to be hung in the church referencing the stations of the cross.

The Juliet Club


I have started to generate my text from a different source. Previously I've been using forums on the internet to collect short phrases and sentences explaining the pain and suffering they have been through. I contacted "The Juliet Club" which is an agony aunt club in Italy based on Romeo and Juliet, where people can write or email in their problems and questions about love and heartache. I asked if I could see some of these letters so I could use their words and phrases on my fabric pieces, and they gave me permission to do this! In my continuing work I will be using these letters for my work.
I tried a few different experiements with the blanket including this one; having a female figure underneath the blanket with the writing visible. It's quite hard to make out the wording on this photograph, and I actually think the blanket is more effective when it is laid out on it's own. I think this absence of a human body has more of an impact with the text reading, "He turned to me and said, 'You are worthless'."


I've gone on to use more text and create similar pieces using sewing and contrasting material to what is written. I like this one in particular with the the child-like material.

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Monday 31 January 2011

blanket work









I was inspired by Tracey Emin's blanket pieces to create my own work. I really wanted to get across the contrast between the words that are placed on the blanket and the way in which I present it. I like the idea of stitching the letters on, it's quite a typically feminine craft which I think is quite interesting because of the text I am going to use.

My work so far

I can't be bothered to copy and paste the same stuff I've got in another blog onto this one, so here is a link to some work I've been doing recently

http://ljmuliverpoolbiennial.blogspot.com/

Tuesday 25 January 2011

I have also started to make up my own narratives in order to link them to a image or video of a memory. In order to generate these short stories I researched different people's happy memories on the internet to get a starting point and also asked a lot of people, in person that I know and also over an internet site yahoo answers to different random people who chose to answer my question. After reading these memories I used my imagination to expand these stories and create my own. Here is one of the made up memories I wrote:



"We were sitting together in silence listening to the old songs on the radio, you were sat with the blanket over your knees in your usual place, the chair positioned in front of the patio door facing the back garden, your pride and joy. The flowers that when you were able to move about so easily and freely you planted each and every day, whatever the weather. You were so passionate like that. Sunflowers, poppies, bluebells stood graciously in every corner of the garden. I sat to your right watching every movement in your face, your stunning blue eyes matched your blouse that day. I remember thinking how lucky I was to have spent most of my days growing old with you, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell you that. I don’t think I needed to. It was then the radio played our song, the one that we danced to for the first time so many years ago. I closed my eyes and remembered that day we danced together, my hands around your tiny waist in your blue dress that touched the floor. I opened my eyes and saw you slowly lifting your hand and without turning your gaze, you placed it softly in mine on my lap."

Monday 24 January 2011

You weren't perfect but you made life worth it.
Stick around some real feelings might surface.








Let's call out names, names I hate you more.