'High Society' at The Wellcome Collection in Euston

Went up to Euston to The Wellcome Collection gallery to see an exhibition 'High Society', a look at drug culture. A mixture of science and art (thats what they specialise in). Interesting but noting much that jumped out at me except a series of photographs by Tracey Moffat, titled 'Landanum'. The photos were about a mistress and maid experimenting with the drug Landanum, set in victorian times the images show the relationship between the two women, the power of the mistress over her maid. The images were slighly disturbing and erotic at the same time.

Michael Landy at The National Portrait gallery

Went to see the Michael Landy exhibition at The National Portrait gallery. A series portraits, pencil drawings, really simple but very expressive, really liked them and i went straight home to do a self portrait in pencil....not so good but will keep practising.

Interim review

Got some really useful thoughts and feedback from my review. Again we talked about slowing down and revisiting work. I was told my critical thinking is ahead of my practice, so this slowing down and re working on pieces will hopefully help. My work is not what my thinking wants it to be so I don't really feel satisfied with each piece. So am revisiting, as I said with Melissa, the make up performance. I've started by filming the simple act of putting my make up on and have used other people too. I'm going to experiment again with the tights over face and work out a way of putting the makeup on the surface that seems mote realistic, for this I may need to change to a new surface as the tighta are hard to work on, they slip and don't take the make up smoothly. I find it hard to stick to one piece but i'll give it a go.

Tutorial- Melissa Bliss

Had a tutorial to discuss my practice with Melissa Bliss. Was really interesting to hear what she had to say and what suggestions she had. We talked about revisiting work and looked specifically at the performance piece about make up. She suggested it needs to be more subtle and realistic, to put the make up on as I really would, to avoid rhe obvious 'tights on head', to just have a covering on face so it looks like just a blank canvas of a face. She suggested looking at using 8 then 16mm film as I would need to plan before doing. She also suggested using other people to perform the work as it would give me more freedom to do more than my own limitations. She questioned why I use webcam and camera phone rather than film (easier to access). Lots of really good input that I'm going to take on board.

Feet

Have been taking photos of feet for about 6 months now, I'm not sure why, I suppose I like the anonymity of the shots, most are of me in various places but I'm more interested in the secret shots of other people. I've no idea why I'm doing it but I'll just keep doing it and see where it goes.

Cindy Sherman

Kyla and myself went along to Sprueth Magers gallery to see the new Cindy Sherman exhibition and to discuss how her work is relevant to our own practice. The images are huge and printed onto wallpaper (well actually it is a very fine sticky backed fabric but looks like wallpaper), the exhibit is specifically tailor made to the space. I think its an interesting move into installation and away from the print in frame. There's a real power in the installation, the size and expressivness(?) of each character, but still a comfortable feeling That it is still Sherman as subject, photographer and masquerades. This time she is using digital manipulation instead of makeup or actual masks which creates a more subtle disturbance in the character of her face. I found the characters confrontational yet vulnerable, although some where grouped together they each had an aloneness (?).
The ways in which it relates to my practice is her questioning of identity and gender, specifically female identity. I am also looking at ways of masking, hiding, obscuring identity, so a form of masquarade.
I am questioning the objectification of woman, I'm questioning 'can a woman be objectified if her 'true' identity is hidden? If her face is hidden, her expression, her eyes, does this make her less appealing due to the fact that I see the face as the most expressive and the place that will show her passivity that is so desirable in these images that we see so much in contemporary visual culture?
Having worked as a stylist in the fashion industry for many years I am used to these images, used to creating them to please the advertising teams and to appeal to the viewer so it's interesting to re examine them from a different perspective and question them.

Daily documentation of intimate life

As of 1st jan 2011 I have been taking one photo a day as a documentation of my intimate life, it's a lot harder than it sounds, how to keep each day different, interesting, refreshing and to express that day...there's a difference between documenting my real life and making art, some days are creative and others just snapshots but I'm interested to see where it goes and I think it's a good discipline for me to aim to take just one photo a day...Hmm we'll see if I can last the year!

Cindy Sherman at SPRÜTH MAGERS london

Looking forward to going to see Cindy Sherman's new exhibition tomorrow at Spruth Magers gallery London.

http://spruethmagers.net/exhibitions/276

Mirror image

Am using mirrors in my photography this week, looking at the several identity's that an individual can have.

reading

am interested in self portrait photography and am reading two good books: 'the photograph as contemporary art' Charlotte Cotton. Thames and Hudson. and 'Auto Focus, the self-portrait in contemporary photography'. Susan Bright. Thames and Hudson. Both are giving me ideas for my essay but still unsure of the question/title but will keep reading and hopefully the question will come.

Alexander McQueen

i have been asked to interview at Alexander McQueen in their print design room for an internship, i feel very privileged to be asked but they want people who draw and i don't feel i am strong at drawing so it may not suit me but am still going to go along and show them what i can do, so am spending the week working on some ideas for them.

re thinking woodman

having thought about the Woodman exhibition over the holidays and been looking at her work again in books i think that the exhibition for me actually felt less intimate than when i view her work in the privacy of my own home. maybe it was the sparseness of the Vitoria Miro, that big cold open warehouse gallery with the small prints, maybe being conscious of other viewers in the gallery, how much time i give to each image in the gallery setting (at home i feel free to flick through images or spend time digesting one particular image. so for me the exhibition wasn't successful in giving me the feel i originally felt about her work when only seen in publications, i came to the exhibition expecting to feel even closer to her work but came away disappointed.

Francesca Woodman at the Victoria Miro gallery

I love Woodman's work so a chance to see her work in the flesh was a treat. The photographs were all printed small which drew me close and created a more intimate feel which is perfect for her work as I think it is very sensitive & personal work. There were images in small series's, 2 or 3 that connected. The work went from her very first piece to the end of her life where she was starting to explore using colour (previous work was only in black & white). As I've previously said I'm interested in her work as she questions sexuality and uses her body as subject. I'm still questioning If she makes herself sexual object for the male viewer by being the female nude or, if by obscuring, blurring herself, especially her face, in a lot of the images, does she then de-sexialise herself? I think I might explore this in my next essay.

'Art, fashion, identity' at The Royal Academy

Went to 'Art, fashion, identity' at The Royal Academy. This exhibition i found really exciting, have been waiting for ages for it to open and it didn't prove a let down. Yes i think there could have been a bit more, it felt a little bit craft orientated in parts? It challenged my mind as i walked from a very fashion based piece to a much more art based piece, my head was shifting from seeing fashion to art but i think a lot of the work successfully merged the two.
I was really drawn to the installation by fashion designer Hussain Chaylian in which he created a theatrical installation that was really eary but beautiful (cant find any better words!!???), it was very fashion orientated, much like a living photo shoot.
A really interesting video/performance and installation piece by Mella Jaarsma about homeless shelter caught my eye. The shelters were wearable and representational of their chinese/Indonesian surroundings.
Also there were works I've seen 2nd hand on the internet, like Yoko Ono's 'Cut Piece', Cindy Sherman's dress up dolls video (can't remember actual title) and Gillian Wearing's 'sixty minute silence'. I love the Wearing piece, the idea of a living photograph, the idea of endurance and subtle movement...a photo can be very formal but by making it time based takes this away as the subjects become uncomfortable. I want to look at the idea of living photos, the extension of the moment that is being captured as a still?
I obviously have a strong feeling when it comes to fashion, i worked as a stylist in the industry for over 10 years and it is still something i am passionate about but not in a commercial way anymore. I'm interested in the issues of the female in society, the fashion and beauty industry and the female form. Plus a love of the physical act of sewing and crafting, i have a love of fabric and form. I think this passion will work its way more and more into my practice.

Stephen Farthing at the Royal Academy

Went to the Stephen Farthing exhibition at the Royal Academy, only went because my ticket from another exhibition allowed entrance to this one, so i wasn't going to waste it. Didn't like his work much but the was interested to see images of faceless women, again this relates to what im exploring in my practice at the moment, exploring the female form and weather hiding, distorting or disguising the face can make the female form less of an object or more of an object. How to de-sexualise a female nude especially.

V&A Shadow catchers

went to the V&A to see 'Shadow catchers' exhibiton. it really challenged me simply because of the technical process, i need to look into it more, its a shame that the technical side interferred with my viewing. I love the work of Floris Neususs (the image on the advertising is one of hers). The ghostly, floaty, blurred images remind me of Francessca Woodman. They are innocent, pure and although there is a female nude in the work, she is not objectified, not sexual, her identity is hidden, this is something i'm exploring at the moment.

Here it is in gallery. The gloss finish meant that the viewer was aware of themselves surveying.

The final image I exhibited this week.

Stitch

Change of plan!

Change of plan... Decided to print one of the images and print it large A1. I've chosen a very fashiony (?!) image that has that fashion, vulnerable, glamourous feel as it relates to the social visual media I'm questioning but obviously the tights are slightly masking the face... I'm a bit nervous about showing it as its not my usual work, it feels risky just showing one image and I am worried that maybe it's too 'fashion' and too 'beautiful' but I think it's good that I take a risk and test out a new idea and a new way of working. Showing one still image means the viewer has to work harder unlike showing the video of performance that gives the viewer all. I wait to see how the exhibition goes. Really looking forward to seeing others work too, in tutor group it sounded like a lot of exciting work being made.

Working on images about female identity, how we wear masks, to be socially acceptable, to conform. Women are under pressure to be feminine, to be sexually attractive. Im working on taking away my identity as a woman in these images, to hide my body, hide my face but still be visable as a woman. I have a series of these images that i am going to exhibit in the stage one show next week. They will be printed just slightly smaller than life size and be framed, the 3 images will be on the floor, propped up against the wall. The frame is important as im talking about being trapped and the being on the floor is so i am almost not seen by the viewer, they may just walk past, missing me...i am insignificant.

Upcoming exhibition nerves

1st year exhibition coming up in week... Have to decide what I'm going to put in, I dont see any of my pieces as 'finished', I'm working through performance, photography and stitch toward a piece, my work is a series of questions I think and it's all documentation of the process, kind of like a living sketchbook. I need to therefore challenge myself to show something that I see as unfinished and maybe not 'my usual' work ( a video documentation of performance), but then again I like some of the performance pieces I've been working on. Hmm, I have a week to decide, im sure I will change my mind again and again!

Femininity and objectification

I have just finished my essay, i chose the discussion on John Bergers statement about men look at women, women look at themselves. I looked at the work of Cindy Sherman, Jo Spence and Francessca Woodman for challenging Bergers notion and to John Currin who reflects the notion. I am in my own practice looking for ways to challenge the notion of objectifying the woman, looking at femininity. I've been obscuring and distorting the face, using humour and by being 'feminine'!!!???

Work in progress

Stitch cam

I've been sketching in stitch (sewing) and decided to film myself sewing. Sewing, especially embroidering has always been a very much female past time and is of interest to me and this question around 'womens work', gender roles I suppose, female identity? I used my webcam and decided to film without my face in view, to focus on my hands stitching. When I watched the film back I had to laugh, as centre stage to the film seemed not so much the sewing but my breasts, it kinda looked like some strange fetish website for 'sewing fetishists', I rather like it and will explore it some more!

Theory bloody theory

I'm struggling with the theory side of the course, my dyslexia is challenging and I've not found enough texts that I can easily read. my attention span in lectures is not much more than 15 minutes then come in and out after that, it's frustrating not understanding a lot of the language used. I need suggestions of text that is more geared up to dyslexia learners...And hope for more visuals in lectures.

Drawing on stitch!

Stitch has made a reapearance in my practice in the form of drawing, I'm seeing a softer side, a less self punishing side to my work but struggle with the feeling of it being less powerful as a piece, but ive taken on board the suggestion that I need to push it forward. I'm thinking that my passion for clothes which was part of my previous career as a fashion stylist needs to find a place in my practice too. Need a trip to the Victoria and Albert, want to visit the fashion collection that I've visited since I was About 7 years old, plus I want to look to see if I can find some old needlework, old samplers I'm thinking!

Question????

In my performances I am experimenting/questioning weather I need to be present, can I use other people, do they need to be female or can I use male, is my work just about the female? Is my work with others, weather it be another performing or the viewer, about power, control, am I in control or them?

Marina Abramović

Went to the Lisson gallery to see Marina Abramović. Her first solo show in the UK. Old and new works. An obvious shift in her current work from earlier works. today's work is subtle, sensitive, less shocking, but all the same powerful. Her earlier works, performances shown in the form of photograph and video. I find her work very punishing but have respect and interest in her indurance and commitment. She really challenges herself and the viewer. I find the photographic record of the performances interesting as I can't get the complete feel of the performance and if there were no text explaining the performance I would most likely just see them as poor photographs ( but I actually have an interest in photography that isn't 'correct' or techniqally 'good'). I rather like not seeing all the performance, I personally think a photograph can be a performance, even in her current work, the large photos show a snap second in time where I see Marina as performing. I'm interesting in exploring this idea of photograph as performance.