Books/Authors to Read

Don Delili - White Noise + Zero K

Olivia Laing - The Lonely City

So excited for this!

Heard about this exhibition opening soon, curated by Cornelia Parker on the theme of found objects... could it be any more perfect sounding...

http://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/events/found/

Artist Statement for Degree Show Hand-In

As always, writing a statement has been really tricky - as I have been helping put together the catalogue and receiving everyone else's statements I have been able to read through many different styles. In one respect this was helpful because I was able to form an opinion of the kind of approach I wanted for my own, but it also made me very aware of what was suitable and unsuitable for my practice. My least favourite style of statement that I read was in first person, where people very explicitly explained what their work is about, what the viewer would think (I hate that - what if they're wrong, and it doesn't make the viewer think what they predict them to at all) and even who or what their influences are. On the other hand, my favourite approach was poetic, creative, almost abstract approaches which are cleverly worded and leave a lot of space for interpretation. It is thinking of these statements that stunted with my own however, because i don;t think this style makes sense with my themes of truth and science - it is not about fantastical narratives or particularly edgy, punchy statements. In the end I tried to forget that I read everyone else's and just wrote about my work in a slightly disconnected manner that would mention my processes without telling the viewer exactly what i was thinking about.

I wrote, admittedly, a very short statement. I would hate for someone to think that this was because I couldnt be bothered to write more, but I really couldn't think what tot write (just as with the dissertation, I just can't think of how to phrase things under the pressure of knowing someone is going to read it and mark it). I also decided to pair the statement with a reworded definition of 'lens', because it touched on all the ideas that I have thought about - contact lenses, camera lenses, crystalline lenses, as well as the idea that a lens concentrates or focuses attention, or changes someone's perspective. I really like how the first point mentioned both a magnifying glass and a telescope, which sums up my work really concisely.

Curated objects and quiet interventions trace entangled histories of sight and knowledge, the mythology of light and the fragility of vision. Artworks oscillate between the visible and the out of sight, the vast and the minuscule, the celestial and the everyday; amidst each, on shifting ground, are metaphors and allegories for the mundane.

In an old and crystallised contact lens there glows the moon, and indeed to somebody it once was the world.

Lens

i. A piece of glass or transparent material with curved sides for concentrating or dispersing light rays, used singly (as in a magnifying glass) or with other lenses (as in a telescope)

ii. The light-gathering device of a camera

iii. (anatomy) Short for crystalline lens

iv. Short for contact lens

v. An object or device which focuses or otherwise modifies the direction of movement of light, of sound, of attention etc.

Workshop

It is no secret that I detest the workshop. It combines all of the things I spend my life avoiding: dangerous machinery, waiting around awkwardly, unfamiliar processes and people who watch as I do things I'm not very confident doing.

I found it particularly stressful this time because I was heavily reliant on the technicians to help me make my cabinet, which I had no idea how to design or fabricate. I was completely dependent on them telling me how it could be made, which left me with little idea about how to get what I wanted. I'm not an assertive person so if something perhaps wasn't looking quite right I don't have the confidence to say so....because what do I know, perhaps it will look right in the end.

Making the cabinet was also a little heartbreaking because I'm not very good at spending money...however, no expense (seriously no expense0 was spared for this thing.... which is why it had to turn out right.

There are a few things which turned out a little different to how I had planned - for example how the glass aligns with the inside instead of outside measurement of the frame, which I think looks a little strange. This was the direct result of me following instructions and those instructions perhaps not aligning with what would actually take shape as we made the design up as we went along.

In future... what can I do in future to change that? have more confidence (in what aspect of my life don't I need that) and know more. Its down to experience I guess. I'm happy with the look of the cabinet overall, it serves its purpose, its not shoddy (I really hope) and it works well in the space.

Titles for Degree Show Works

With my dissertation on titles I am feeling the pressure titling my own work. However, I think I have learnt that there is no real formula to titling, the main consideration is whether it will hint at what I am trying to convey. With a lot of my work it is also important/critical that there is an explanation of what the object or material is so I decided to include a line, as if it were the materials list, of what the work really was.... of course, especially with Negative Space, the nature and physicality of the work is debatable so it is not a strict, factual explanation.

It is always curious to note that some works occur with their titles very mic in mind, and others have to be decided. I overhead some other people in my studio coming up with titles for their paintings and prints and found it a really alien process because my titles are usually so ingrained in the meaning or used functionally to explain.

Cartography of a Contact Lens

A map of the surface of a used contact lens (worn May - November 2013)

Measuring Spoons of Darkness / A Litre of Light

Candle wax from religious buildings

The Light In My Eye

35mm slide images of used contact lenses (worn February 2011 - October 2015)

Negative Space

A small space in Woodlane Library

No doubt I will want to edit these slightly as I see people respond to them - is that how titles work?

More Measuring Spoons

Having now become more familiar with my degree show space (although the wall is still up so I can't quite picture it entirely) I am pretty set on displaying the measuring spoons of darkness and have been testing out some formations. It makes the most sense to me that I would arrange them from light to dark because then that gives away the theme and is easily understood. However I am undecided as to whether they ought to be arranged in a grid on one wall, in lines, or in a continuous line at the same level around the space. I think it will be one of those things that I will decide once I have prepped the space and can know more what it might look like.

Degree Show - First Work Complete

Its all coming together, yeeeeeey.

My slides arrived in the post and I've set them up in their cases and had a quick look at them on the projector,,,,I am so happy with them, the colour is beautiful and they are such good quality. So wirth the extra money (....thanks Mumma Russ).

Also very excited to have my first work finished so I don't have to think about that one at all anymore. I love the feeling of the pieces slowly fitting... I have been making rather thorough to do lists for the past week and I am very much enjoying crossing things off one by one.