Firstly, It was such a great experience to do a live brief, and for such a Iconic Historic site! It helped to focus my priorities as it was very much a time based project with a set installation date of the 13th of Jan.
There were also limits on the size and materials of the work, which must be small and safe to be displayed in this grade III listed building, the content, which must be suitable for a family audience and it asked me to consider the the effect of privilege both historic and present.
As I've mentioned I used to work at the Abbey and I was local to it as a child so had many family visits. Its a bitter sweet place for me, with so many memories. However This project was not about me (not entirely at least )
My work was within the catering side so the rooms I spent most of my working time in the guest suites and kitchens. My childhood experience of the Abbey is just of the grounds: bike rides and picnics in the gardens and paddling in the stream. Idyllic really and I feel lucky for the memories.
"Both sides now" is the title of a Joni Mitchel song reflecting on the nature of life its self, where as my work is reflection on how a persons experience of life is impacted by which "side" of privilege they may find themselves.
This work is built on the visual research from within the abbey and layered symbolism of the images chosen.
For the viewer I have kept my description to minimal, talking only about what I'm reacting to and using a title to inform a part of the work.
Here I would like to explain the thought process and the natural progression of the research and experimentation that has informed my final work
In reaction to the brief, I felt from the start this would be a political project.
Because of my personal history with the place I felt I was at an advantage of having an established connection with the place, however, I was starting with preconceptions that were like stepping into muddy water and I had to sift through a lot of attachments to bring a new perspective forward.
A building with such a rich history has so many interesting routes to follow and to be honest I felt totally overwhelmed. How do you decide which path to take? My blog journeys this and though I started out in a maze I feel pleased with the combination of themes that emerged and pulled together.
Following the political theme helped me to steer my ideas and the the visit from Simon the curator helped to cement these ideas as I was at a bit of a cross roads decision wise and he expressed a preference to the ant theme.
From the list of objects in the house to choose from I was drawn to the teapot and its association with the sugar trade and slavery. I asthetctly liked the willow pattern design and used that's as a visual stating point along with the owner of the tea pot and the theme of sugar.
im from a working class back ground and i also worked at newstead abbey, the nature of my work their also links with the teapot i though this should be my starting point,
We are in the middle of a pandemic, where the working class " key Workers/ essential workers" have taken the brunt of the risk for minimum wage. a large proprtion of these workers are women, like the female worker and. depicted in my plates on tghe undrrs to symbolise the upstaris downstrai aspect. the hidden labour. I Used the image of the "worker" ant to symbolise the the working class in general, and how the pandemic has higlighted this class divide that seems to be enternal.
In contrast to this i was also exploring the characters in the house: Byron and lady caroline lamb in a number f ketches and prints, I had quite a few images that i had been refining but was stuggling to connect them all
Following the political theme helped me to steer my ideas and the the visit from Simon the curator helped to cement these ideas as I was at a bit of a cross roads decision wise and he expressed a preference to the ant theme.
I sketched an ant as a decoration on a sugar bowl, and thought about making a sugar bowl, which led me to my own collection of china. It was a little late for me to make a sugar bowl at this stage as I'm not a skilled thrower (yet!) so I thought of possibly adding my ant motifs to one of my own sugar bowls.. it was this that led me to the vintage plates. I have loads of them and physically they make a great canvass. I'd already done some research into Awi Weiwei's ases and Cornelia Parks sculptures.
The plates enabled me to used all the imagery as an illustrated story, of the interconnection of the history of the house.
My work is a series of six vintage side plates, that would be used for cake or sandwhices, in an afternon tea type setting and exactly what I used them for in my vintage tea recreation events that I hosted at the Abbey.
The front sides I used three images I have developed during the project, Byron, depicted in a rock n roll pop art style to represent celebrity and wealth. Lady Caroline Lamb depicted in a more traditional profile image to depict Victorian femininity, wealth ;guarded and haughty, yet traditional and romantic. The third plate is in relation to the history of the abbey as a religious building ; an Augustine monastery and the order of cannons that resided here. The "kingdom of heaven " is from a detail on a suit of armour and the skull is to represent history, death and the hereafter. Religion is on the front side of the plate as to represent the privildge that come from control and the control that the church had, its looking at the relationships between the privileged and the poor, between spirituality and control and between the past and the present, its both sides now. How we look back on history and human deeds with a mixture of horror or romance yet that horror and romance is all still here in the present.
In reflection, if I went on to develop the work further and thinking about the situation of my work in front of the mirror, in hindsight or maybe it should be with foresight it could have worked more neatly if I had used just 3 plates with images on both sides and with the aid of the mirror on the desk where its situated both sides would be visible. However its a dark room and the plates stands would obscure some of the view.
After looking back at the photo shoot at college compared to the final installation, I think a further refinement would be only display the three ant plates. The imagery and interplay with them is more coherent as a uniform piece of work. Simply displaying only the underside of a plate is unusual and will that naturally leave a question mark as to what is on the front? Should I leave more to the viewers imagination? Am I overexplaining by including the front side of the plates? or am I so close to it now i just cant see? is this, in retrospect too obvious? I will be interested to hopeful get feed back from the exhibition.
I'm happy with the ideas behind the work and consider it a concept piece, the decorative nature of the objects is a part of that concept.
 |
| I think it would be a more refined work if I had edited it down to just these ant plates. They work really well together as the template is the same its just the sizing and placement of the ants that vary, which, I think gives an impression of movement, of a shadow cast. |
Comments
Post a Comment