Enjoy the showcase of student work

My body of work explores the theory of colour in filmmaking in which certain colours create different elicit psychological reactions. By taking a number of stills from a variety of movies and piecing them together I’m able to create emotional projections of each colour. The six pieces all symbolize different meanings unique to its colour. My body of work aims to support the use of colour in film in which different colours are chosen as a conscious choice to set the tone of the film.

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Patched, Torn and Broken captures the beauty and madness of skateboarding through a multimedia collection of six separate artworks, linked by the layered and collaged expression of the subculture.  

The facial collage illustrates the grunge culture often heavily associated with skateboarding  which is conveyed through layering, peeling, tearing and juxtaposing detailed portrait  photographs, tag graffiti and skate magazine graphics. Inspired by collage artist Basquait, layered images coincide with colourful drawings, text and painted background. 

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Light and shadow. Reflections blending into each other. My collection Worlds Reflected explores the fundamental concept of forms – deconstructed elements of some things that do not reveal their complete nature but give a hint as to what they might be, prompting glimpses without truly revealing the full picture. A patch of colour. A rough, undefined shape. Perhaps they may evoke certain things in the real world – landforms, oceans, figures, wind – but they give nothing definite. They are ultimately subjective refractions, highlighting the incomplete nature of perception.

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My triptych explores the inner workings of the mind and its response to the fear of the unknown. This creates a state of entrapment within an individual that ultimately leaves the persona in a labyrinth of their own torment. The inability to subdue this constant terror of the mystery becomes a catalyst for an eternal entanglement. The human response to this constructs a state of lifelessness and unsettlement within.

This collection of works is an exploration of humans and their minds, contrasting how we perceive the body with the blunt and simplistic definition of bodies in an objective and physical sense.

An interest in psychology and human behaviour was explored in the non-traditional and opposite lens, opting to discuss the depth and intricacy of the human brain by removing all sense of such from the concept. The works serve as purely objective and simple images of the body as meat, lacking acknowledgement of personality, emotion and psychology by capturing zoomed in areas on a body without illustrating the “mind behind the meat” as such.

This concept is further explored however in the audience response as a part of the pieces themselves. Although the images explored within the works are no different to parts of a human that society is exposed to on a daily basis, such as a fist, ear, foot or shoulder, these are unconsciously given further meaning not otherwise present by viewers. Responses to this collection are often assumptions of sexual content, even as the images are purely unedited and honest to the human body in its normal form.

In the initial stages of this collection when painting the first piece of a scrunched fist, there was an overwhelming and continuous response to it as a sexual and inappropriate work, as even when a simple objective depiction of skin, blood and meat, we as humans cannot help but give meaning where there is intentionally none. 

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“A world that continues in cycles of destruction and renewal”.

My major work was inspired by the idea of the “witching hour” which is thought to be the time of night where supernatural events and disasters happen.

My drawings are intended to appear as dream-like images of fantasy figures that could be the stuff of nightmares. The arrangement of the pictures moves from menace, death, urban decay, pain to contemplation, change and renewal. 

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Globally, we recognise children as being a source of hope and change that will guide us into the future, yet we continue to silence, overlook and neglect them. Engulfed simultaneously depicts the global darkness felt at the loss of a child, while overturning the complacent societal inaction towards the circumstances which lead to the “unnatural” deaths of children.

More specifically, the pieces focus on the grief of a nurturing parent within a society which accepts child mortality. The pieces were inspired by the exploration of contemporary society and the universality yet personal nature of death amongst an age of social upheaval within the German Expressionist movement.

Significantly influenced by the themes and loomingly elongated figures present in the work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the entwinement of familial figures within the depictions of WWII tragedy by Käthe Kollwitz, Engulfed utilised nude figures in expressive gestural poses to enhance the overarching theme of primal grief.

The use of white paint gives the sculptures the ability to be manipulated with the experiences of the audience to simultaneously highlight the forced universality of grief and the overlooked over acceptance of child mortality.

To enhance this, the use of “found” photography sees bold, white sculptures representing systematic institutions into a natural landscape as to describe the forceful entwinement of systematic death and destruction with “accepted societal norms”.

The pieces combine expressionist figures and disturbing themes to create a level of discomfort which forces the audience to question their founded understandings of war ridden, ignorant societies which find inadequate levels of discomfort at the loss of our global children.

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Art is subjective; this is an indisputable fact. An individual may see a blank canvas and believe it’s “a rabbit in a snow storm” or they’ll simply see it as a blank canvas. Others may see the works of artists cemented in history for their beauty and brilliance, while others are confused by their meaning.

Aspects of our lives, due to our industrial need to adapt and evolve technologically and digitally, are void of this artistic beauty and intent. Rather, they’re cemented in history for their efficiency and tangible quality. 

My printmaking series explores telephone poles, their wiring, lines, wooden supports and beams. These are utilitarian devices – not designed for any artistic purpose. Rather, they possess one brutal truth; they are made to obey the cruel rule of efficiency. Their only intended goal; stay above us and out of our way whilst connecting all of us.  

The discreet, innate and overlooked beauty of their meticulous design unites us through our modes of technology. As towering symbols of human nature and our mistakes, these giant rough edges, wires strangled around poles or another, support beams stemming outwards. These poles, all intertwined into one another, compose an unintentional work of urban beauty, cruelly hidden out of site. 

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My work explores the different methods which Seneca used to take his life. It creates a viewpoint of the confronting subject of suicide from a more objective perspective, with the items having their own individual focus instead of being present in one image of a person who’s end is imminent.

The work invites the viewer to find the beauty within the macabre, having the objects viewed as separate from his death while providing context within the collection. The use of oils allows for the exact image of the items to be created, showing fine detail of the objects through manipulation of light and dark.

The Death of Seneca captures a way in which beauty can be drawn from tragedy by the elements which collectively detail a story of valour and resolve.

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Inspired by the conceptual framework of abstract expressionists, in this experimental work Cicatrix the process of mark mrking intersects with camera-less photography. The process challenges the sacred notion of light-sensitive film encased within the camera body. I deliberately expose the film to natural light and my physical actions as I mistreat the negative onto stone and steel. My actions are abrasive, as I scratch and pierce the emulsion with repetitive and deliberate marks, scarring the film in order to demonstrate the impact we have on the world around us.

The process then becomes archaeological as I enter the realm of the darkroom. Under the light of the enlarger, I explore and discover moments hidden within the chaos, unbound by the original limitations of the camera lens. The enlarger forces me to contextualise these moments as memories, fragments of light caught within the layers of explosive action.

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My works are dreamlike natural landscapes. They take you on a journey through this world of unrealistic colourful places.

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This collection of works is an exploration of humans and their minds, contrasting how we perceive the body with the blunt and simplistic definition of bodies in an objective and physical sense. An interest in psychology and human behaviour was explored in the non-traditional and opposite lens, opting to discuss the depth and intricacy of the human brain by removing all sense of such from the concept.

The works serve as purely objective and simple images of the body as meat, lacking acknowledgement of personality, emotion and psychology by capturing zoomed in areas on a body without illustrating the ‘mind behind the meat’ as such. This concept is further explored however in the audience response as a part of the pieces themselves.

Although the images explored within the works are no different to parts of a human that society is exposed to on a daily basis, such as a fist, ear, foot or shoulder, these are unconsciously given further meaning not otherwise present by viewers.

Responses to this collection are often assumptions of sexual content, even as the images are purely unedited and honest to the human body in its normal form. In the initial stages of this collection when painting the first piece of a scrunched fist, there was an overwhelming and continuous response to it as a sexual and inappropriate work, as even when a simple objective depiction of skin, blood and meat, we as humans cannot help but give meaning where there is intentionally none.

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My Major Work is an animation that is made up of two different animation styles. 2D Animation and Clay Animation. The story follows a little man-creature named “Dedoid” and his journey with a mysterious plant-being that sends him to different dimensions and eventually passes the curse of being a plant onto him.

The 3D animation is inspired by filmmaker Tim Burton and UK artist David Shrigley inspired my simple black and white animated figures. The 2D animation was made using a software called Storyboarder and I used a stylus and pen to draw. For the Clay animation, I used lots of different kinds of clay, cardboard, thumbtacks and card to create a more whole and three dimensional world for my characters.

The concept behind this animation is the simple exploration of absurdity, as I have always been attracted to things out of the ordinary. As one can see throughout the film, there are many hidden faces and characters that seem as if they shouldn’t be there, and strange landscapes that feel dystopian but strangely inviting. Using humour and pathos I have attempted to create an engaging but truly absurd piece of work.

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This Body of Work explores the vital and beautiful nature of three different spheres that do their part to help the world flourish. Planet Earth is made up of six overlapping systems that contain all of the world’s land masses, water sources, living organisms and gases. I have chosen three of these spheres to base my sculptures on – Atmosphere, Biosphere and Lithosphere. The sculptures are symbolic of each sphere through the use of form, shape and design elements in porcelain and faux fur.

For the Atmosphere, a cylindrical shape forms the base of the sculpture, and the colour black is used to represent the absence of colour from the Earth’s atmosphere. The rounded forms attached are representative of the gasses that surround the Earth, and the contrasting sizes create depth and interest for the viewer. The use of a porcelain sphere is symbolic of the atmosphere itself encapsulating and protecting our planet.

For the Biosphere sculpture, the chosen base form and floral elements represent the biosphere being made of all living things. The forms created are specifically in reference to the leaves and flowers, plants and creatures on Earth.  The element of brown fur underneath is symbolic of the grounding nature of soil, being the initial and primary production of living organisms.

My third sculpture, Lithosphere, replicates the layers in the Earth, with multiple spikes and ribbon-like forms which create rows of detailed layers, representing the lithosphere’s layers of rock, stalactites and stalagmites which ground our planet.

The circular nature of the display is forcing the viewer to move around the sculptures, creating a physical connection to the artwork, like our planet revolving. It allows the audience to be immersed within the work and allows up-close viewing of the details of each piece, like looking into a microscope, then taking a macro view and seeing the artwork as an ensemble. Through the use of form, shape and presentation the work is able to engage the viewer and show appreciation for and awe of the spheres that make up our world. 

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My main inspiration throughout this year was Sofia Coppola’s style of film and use of colors in her work. Through her work, there is a key theme of the use of pastel colors, natural lighting, and women in a difficult time in their lives.

I liked the idea of looking at the work through the female gaze as it’s something I can connect to and finding more interesting and beautiful as things are seen on a more emotional level.

I used a combination of two of her most well-known films in my photographs, The virgin suicides for the slightly faded look and lens flares layered over the top of the original photos and Marie Antoinette for the ruining of beautiful things such as the macaroons. The still photos were a collection of photos I had taken throughout the year as inspiration for my major work.

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To me freedom is an emotional response; from either a moment that takes your breath away or the people who make your heart skip a beat. To everyone, the meaning of freedom is different. A child could receive a bike and unlock the world, while another could support charities and stand up for what they believe in, yet both could achieve freedom. To fight for freedom is to dedicate time towards something that makes you happy, no matter who tells you otherwise.

Stimulus is a creative, conceptual piece retelling my journey and experiences through teenage-hood. The audience is shown the peace in the forever chaotic urban life. Exploring different emotions such as love and depression, Stimulus creates a surreal, conceptual atmosphere to dive into. Enjoy.

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Denouement is a French theatre and cinema term referring to the final resolution of a situation or narrative. I chose this to represent my body of work because my film is an exploration of a potential climate post-apocalypse, and to what extent the interaction of the human and natural worlds will lead to the end of one or the other.

Central to this exploration is the medium of animation, which requires a huge amount of work to produce and can lend itself to a sense of whimsy, magic, and suspension of disbelief, such as that seen in Hayao Miyazaki and studio Ghibli’s films like ‘Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind’, which explores a similar concern regarding the implications of nuclear weapons on society and the natural world. My accompanying physical works are a selection of the hand painted and drawn watercolour backgrounds for the film.

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I was inspired by the experience of sleep paralysis. The elements of darkness and oddity as well as obscurity. incorporating items that related to this tied together the work conceptually, such as the draped fabric and specific but small parts of the obscured figure beneath. Leaving an element of mystery as well as anticipation to the overall work. 

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The Transience collection de-materialised the human form from the physical to the metaphysical in a search for understanding of ephemerality. Using my own body as a vessel, I have translated the figure to complete abstraction, dissolving the form into its essence.

From performative recorded film to long exposure photography to abstracted paintings, the form has been distilled into motion and marks. It begins with the physical captured by photographic means, translated through long exposure photography into marks and gestures. Those gestures are then further dissolved into painterly layers of oil on the surface. The result suggests the ephemeral and transient nature of existence.

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