Contextual Statement
Title of Project: Awaiting Death
My work is about my personal, conceptual exploration with the subject matter of death. Having never experienced a death in the family, I feel an intense need to prepare myself for the inevitable. By exploring themes of life and death, the process has become to act as a therapeutic course of action for me, allowing me to gather an understanding of my eventual grievances.
The work originated through the experimentation with the material, black ink; using it as a symbolism for death. Starting with the procedure of letting the ink bleed into water on different surfaces and filming/documenting the process, however, I felt this way of working became very repetitive and moving forward with the work, continuous experimentation was required. I have been starting with filming with various materials and editing them, to then taking abstractions from these, through the use of photography as a way to see the film from a different perspective. Alongside, producing abstract paintings with expressive mark making to express how I interpret the subject of life and death itself.
I have always felt that whilst I was curious with talking about life and death, that the latter, of conversing about death, was not reciprocated. After coming to this realisation, that others felt uncomfortable with the subject, I began investigating the history of attitudes towards death and how they’ve transformed into what they are today. By analysing theorists, such as Phillippe Aries and Ernest Becker, has given me the opportunity to understand why people, specifically in western culture, associate death as a taboo. To how it was romanticised, to how it has become sanitised; by putting those who are old or dying into care homes or becoming hospitalised, we are in the process, ignoring the actuality of death.
Due to my work being an expression of feelings, it is about my need to accept that death will occur in my life, and the process of producing artwork on the matter is helping me come to terms with that. Therefore, it is not entirely imperative that the viewer understand what my work is about, if they do, great, but what is important is that I know what my work is about as it’s about my personal journey of accepting death.
Throughout my work I explore themes of both life and death to remind myself, that even though there is death, that life comes beforehand and that it’s a reoccurring cycle that everyone faces. I try and do this by editing films that I produce to give the appearance of someone breathing, pulsating in and out, also within m paintings have a gradual gradient of colour, fading from one to the other to symbolise the fading of life into death. I also use materials that mean something to me or symbolise life’s transience is some manner, such as the ephemeral quality of tissue submerged into water, or coffee, as it symbolises my mum, who I fear losing the most, the smell I associate her with is coffee as she drinks it every day. My work is experiential, so I set out guidelines before I work, by using a limited colour palette, working quick paced and constantly producing expressive and abstract works. I find, and have always found, that I’m a slow worker and time management is my largest constraint that I have been working on improving, by forward planning and gathering materials before producing to speed along the process.
My work fits into general public, socially, by going against the deemed social norms of society, which is to reject conversation about death. As mentioned before Aries and Becker, theorists on the subject, investigate why we deny death, especially through hospitalisation, which has increased in the last twenty to thirty years, where we pass the responsibility of caring for our sick/dying to the professionals and in the process are ignoring the fact that they’re dying. Artists that explore the subject include Damien Hirst, who believes that death should be spoken about as it is a way of life, who has influenced my work greatly in terms of coming to an understanding and being comfortable with death being a part of life, as well as, Bill Viola and Sam Taylor-Johnson, who produce video art on the subject, which has helped me gain professionalism within my film documentation.
“I was taught to confront things you can't avoid. Death is one of those things. To live in a society where you're trying not to look at it, is stupid because looking at death throws us back into life with more vigour and energy. The fact that flowers don't last for ever makes them beautiful” - Damien Hirst.
Title of Project: Awaiting Death
My work is about my personal, conceptual exploration with the subject matter of death. Having never experienced a death in the family, I feel an intense need to prepare myself for the inevitable. By exploring themes of life and death, the process has become to act as a therapeutic course of action for me, allowing me to gather an understanding of my eventual grievances.
The work originated through the experimentation with the material, black ink; using it as a symbolism for death. Starting with the procedure of letting the ink bleed into water on different surfaces and filming/documenting the process, however, I felt this way of working became very repetitive and moving forward with the work, continuous experimentation was required. I have been starting with filming with various materials and editing them, to then taking abstractions from these, through the use of photography as a way to see the film from a different perspective. Alongside, producing abstract paintings with expressive mark making to express how I interpret the subject of life and death itself.
I have always felt that whilst I was curious with talking about life and death, that the latter, of conversing about death, was not reciprocated. After coming to this realisation, that others felt uncomfortable with the subject, I began investigating the history of attitudes towards death and how they’ve transformed into what they are today. By analysing theorists, such as Phillippe Aries and Ernest Becker, has given me the opportunity to understand why people, specifically in western culture, associate death as a taboo. To how it was romanticised, to how it has become sanitised; by putting those who are old or dying into care homes or becoming hospitalised, we are in the process, ignoring the actuality of death.
Due to my work being an expression of feelings, it is about my need to accept that death will occur in my life, and the process of producing artwork on the matter is helping me come to terms with that. Therefore, it is not entirely imperative that the viewer understand what my work is about, if they do, great, but what is important is that I know what my work is about as it’s about my personal journey of accepting death.
Throughout my work I explore themes of both life and death to remind myself, that even though there is death, that life comes beforehand and that it’s a reoccurring cycle that everyone faces. I try and do this by editing films that I produce to give the appearance of someone breathing, pulsating in and out, also within m paintings have a gradual gradient of colour, fading from one to the other to symbolise the fading of life into death. I also use materials that mean something to me or symbolise life’s transience is some manner, such as the ephemeral quality of tissue submerged into water, or coffee, as it symbolises my mum, who I fear losing the most, the smell I associate her with is coffee as she drinks it every day. My work is experiential, so I set out guidelines before I work, by using a limited colour palette, working quick paced and constantly producing expressive and abstract works. I find, and have always found, that I’m a slow worker and time management is my largest constraint that I have been working on improving, by forward planning and gathering materials before producing to speed along the process.
My work fits into general public, socially, by going against the deemed social norms of society, which is to reject conversation about death. As mentioned before Aries and Becker, theorists on the subject, investigate why we deny death, especially through hospitalisation, which has increased in the last twenty to thirty years, where we pass the responsibility of caring for our sick/dying to the professionals and in the process are ignoring the fact that they’re dying. Artists that explore the subject include Damien Hirst, who believes that death should be spoken about as it is a way of life, who has influenced my work greatly in terms of coming to an understanding and being comfortable with death being a part of life, as well as, Bill Viola and Sam Taylor-Johnson, who produce video art on the subject, which has helped me gain professionalism within my film documentation.
“I was taught to confront things you can't avoid. Death is one of those things. To live in a society where you're trying not to look at it, is stupid because looking at death throws us back into life with more vigour and energy. The fact that flowers don't last for ever makes them beautiful” - Damien Hirst.