Lecture - report writing and considering new works- around chaos and momento mori, and Joes gorgeous photos. AI
Came in to find that Joe had left his waste test photos in the studio - he'd brought them in because I'd mentioned the qualities of some the paper he'd been using- it curls up at the edges and is just beautiful and sculptural. Had a play with them and sent him the photos.
Had a lecture on how to approach the writing for both dimensions and connections yesterday; really helpful and helped me to understand my research question. I'd approached it like a project objective; with a 'scope' of what I wanted to explore, effectively removing from consideration, anything that made my research question too big to effectively handle. I explained that the further my research takes me, the more I realise that I'm struggling because I feel I need to lean into the chaos to make sense of something, and the restrictions of the 'scope' may not work .. Ian encouraged me to explore the chaos and described it as reaching into a portal to take out the elements that I want and pull them back into what I'm exploring. This has given me freedom but from a platform where I'm confident about what I feel may derail me.
- I don't need to change my attention to full on folk, Wicca or greek mythology, but actually, dipping into them to pull out the relevant parts, could be really beneficial to my enquiry.
Reflecting on MSB's comments yesterday.. he made a statement. I feel that you don't actually like the witch? I hadn't considered this and a little part of me was a bit reluctant to say that I don't. I grew up with the idea of the witch and identified with the trope that was reluctant to conform and had strength in that. When I'd asked on Instagram "who was your first witch?" my sister had reminded me of Mildred Hubble - the worst witch that just didn't fit in.. but was still actually exceptional- I needed that trope as a child. But as an adult, I do resent the misinterpretation of something that's had such a huge impact on contemporary life.
This comment is akin to when Rebecca Davies asked if Kune Beveridges' sister had become my muse, when I was painting the veiled Venus. I'd found out that her sister was a nazi propagandist and it changed my relationship with the art; I began painting the sculpture from an entirely different perspective and then had to step away from it. I wanted to show people that this woman had put racist propaganda articles out, that she was not a Venus, I went through a phase where I had to really think about how I could operate without approaching all the art I made like it was my responsibility to educate and had had to consider if I was being didactic in my approach.
Then, the WACCA module on my undergrad, had made me realise that actually, Ray Beveridge, like Whistlers mother was a product of the society that they lived in, as we all are, but time gives us the ability to look back and see how different opinions and social norms were.
It's difficult to look past the present that we occupy to unwrap different perspectives.
So, that brings me back to chaos and the banal moments that live inside the chaos, that we relate to, or question.
KiKi too, keeps sitting in the back of my mind.. the untamed chaos of an excited girl about to take on the world, clipped by the social norms of the big city and coming of age, and then finding her way back.
Considering a momento mori of the Madonna holding a small handbag dog - to mean that "everything (including ideologies) must die" and reflect that women are choosing pets over children, and the birth rate is dropping.
Andres shared an insta page that featured old photos of witches.. will take a look at this.
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