Death is inevitable, it will happen to everyone. Yet it appears as though people are slowly revolutionising against reality that one day it will occur. Whether it is making death more appealing or creating mementos as not to forget the deceased; it is evident that slowly, attitudes towards death are changing to create a modernistic view on mortality. Having never experienced a death in the family or someone I know personally, my work is a personal, conceptual exploration of both life and death expressed through art, therefore this project is helping me prepare for the inescapable, by me interpreting my emotions towards death, coinciding with underlying themes of life – as one thing ends, another begins. My work symbolises how I specifically interpret the word death, acting as a predetermined coping mechanism. I have been investigating Western attitudes towards death, specifically in the UK, as a basis of research to my work as well as exploring the difference between attitudes and the news, alongside statistics about life and death from a credible source. It interests me how death was once a ritualised event that was universally celebrated and acknowledged and it’s slowly transformed to a forbidden subject and a taboo, not to be spoken of, in fear of making someone upset. Therefore, exploring the relationship between art and death, how it can help the viewer contemplate death and come to terms with it, even if they don’t accept it, they will still be thinking about it subconsciously; and inadvertently changing ones view on mortality. I believe we fear death as we do, because of how it’s portrayed in the news as violent, painful and graphic. By producing artwork about death, the imagery is more subdued, allowing the viewer to accept it without the fear that comes alongside death.
Looking at artists such as Damien Hirst, Jodie Carey, Bill Viola and Sam-Taylor Wood has allowed me to gain an understanding of how they approach this fragile subject matter, and how they appreciate how death shouldn’t be something we fear. As well as books on theories of why we deny death, such as The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker and Western Attitudes towards death – From the Middle Ages to Present. Both of which attempt to conceptualise why we deny death and how the attitudes have drastically changed in the past century. Coinciding with a book on Mindfulness & the Journey of Bereavement by Peter Bridgewater to help myself prepare for a death of a loved one, accepting it’s a way of life. My work this semester has focused on the reaction of ink joining water, originating with the experimentation of the two liquids and filming the process on different surfaces. This developed to my filming the process and editing the films in slow motion, fast forward and back again. This then developed into ink drawings of stills from the film, which led to paintings and sculptures. However I found the drawing on acetate to be more effective and aesthetically sound, developing them into a larger series of twenty pieces, which took more time then I initially planned as the drawings were very intricate, so in hind sight I should always leave enough time to get the work done. Currently I am working on producing an animation from my ink drawings which again is very time-consuming but if I was to praise myself it would be my patience that it takes to draw the complicated pieces and then take pictures of each individual one to then edit into a film, so my work this semester has been a continuous evolution of pieces; one piece always leading onto another. Using both film and animation is out of my comfort zone as I have never used them before but I am finding them an interesting media of choice to use in my work.
Developing my work into semester two, I plan to move my work forward with the constant experimentation with the use of film as a starting point to lead onto ongoing pieces of work; drawings, paintings and sculptures, still being conceptual and personal to myself and my interpretation of both life and death. It is important that my work shows both sides as it could become too dark very easily, exemplifying the life cycle, so the viewer know that although life will come to an end, another will always begin. Experimenting with different substances to add to water to have varying outcomes to take further into different medias, possibly working larger scale to entice the viewer into viewing my work and therefore contemplating the meaning behind it. In terms of my final major project, I don’t have a definite idea of what is going to be in the show as my work is all about my exploration with different medias and the word death, which is constantly changing and developing into something different. To solve this dilemma, I will need to carry out a series of possible outcomes and ideas in possible sketches, macquettes and again continuously experimenting with ideas until I find one that is absolute. I find that I have this intense need to explore this concept because I need to prepare myself, I am an emotionally attached person and the thought of losing someone I love, scares me immensely, this project is preparing me mentally for what will happen, its therapeutic for me, it’s a psychological preparation. In terms of materials for these experiments, I plan to carry on with the use of film to document the process which I feel is an important part to my work, but in order for it to look professional and not amateur, I need to think through numerous possible implications that could occur if not carried out in the correct setting. Such as background and lighting – making sure to use natural lighting as it comes out better on camera and to use a white background as not to distract from the main subject matter in the film. When carrying out drawing work, the surface being drawn on needs to be taken into consideration as I found this semester, working on acetate to be very time-consuming as it was mostly having to repetitively go over the same spot due to the ink pen not transferring onto the surface as it was nearly waterproof. To prepare potential outcomes I will need to carry out sketches to plan what I am going to do and many macquettes to test stability of sculptures and aesthetic an constantly gain peers opinions to see what works best. I think the best way to plan for the end of year show is to make sure I give myself plenty of time to produce it as I find time – management to be my greatest constraint.
Continuing with the research into the second half of the year will include a thorough investigation into modern attitudes towards death and gather a deeper understanding of how I, personally view it. I will need to find more books that look at western attitudes towards death, trying to narrow it down to specifically the UK as that is where my viewer is and it is where I live and therefore I can connect more with the information. I also hope to get into contact with Stibbarts; Stepping Stones, in London road, Leigh, which is a counselling organisation that deal with many situations of people coming to terms with the death of a loved one and the mourning process which will allow me to understand the attitudes towards death on a narrowed down spectrum.
To evaluate the success of my work it is important to continuously gain peer review, tutor advice and constant self-assessment. Thus far from critiques with peers and tutors I have been told that my work personifies fragility and the light and dark side to death when viewing my ink on acetate drawings which shows me that what I’m conceptually exploring is coming across to the viewer. I don’t necessarily want the viewer to understand why I am doing what I am doing, I just want them to gather a small inkling that my work is about life and death and it is not something not to be spoken about. I would like them to not see death as much of a taboo after viewing my work, to contemplate death even if it they don’t like my artwork and what it personifies, then at least they are still thinking about death and life coming to an end which leads to a new beginning and therefore possibly altering their views/attitudes.
My work fits into the contemporary Fine Art debate culturally, politically and socially. In particular through the news and social media, death in these genres is depicted as a violent, painful, brutal and negative subject. It is either showing how someone was murdered or how someone we all know, like a celebrity, has died, making people see death as a taboo, upsetting and not to be thought about in too much detail as they connect the negativity towards death with what they hear in their lives. If someone is constantly told something is negative and always see that something in a bad light, then that is what they are going to believe. What the news and social media often fails to show are deaths of natural causes or the birth of a person, meaning that people only ever hear about one side of the story. Contemporary artworks that believe death shouldn’t be a taboo and unspoken of include Damien Hirst; with his works on shark sculptures, called the ‘Physical impossibility of Death in the Mind of the Living’, which built upon his exploration for human beings of attempting to comprehend the idea of death, and the Wellcome Collections exhibition on Death showing both historical and contemporary artworks with the concept of death, showing how attitudes have changed towards it and how the artwork has changed in accordance with it.
Looking at artists such as Damien Hirst, Jodie Carey, Bill Viola and Sam-Taylor Wood has allowed me to gain an understanding of how they approach this fragile subject matter, and how they appreciate how death shouldn’t be something we fear. As well as books on theories of why we deny death, such as The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker and Western Attitudes towards death – From the Middle Ages to Present. Both of which attempt to conceptualise why we deny death and how the attitudes have drastically changed in the past century. Coinciding with a book on Mindfulness & the Journey of Bereavement by Peter Bridgewater to help myself prepare for a death of a loved one, accepting it’s a way of life. My work this semester has focused on the reaction of ink joining water, originating with the experimentation of the two liquids and filming the process on different surfaces. This developed to my filming the process and editing the films in slow motion, fast forward and back again. This then developed into ink drawings of stills from the film, which led to paintings and sculptures. However I found the drawing on acetate to be more effective and aesthetically sound, developing them into a larger series of twenty pieces, which took more time then I initially planned as the drawings were very intricate, so in hind sight I should always leave enough time to get the work done. Currently I am working on producing an animation from my ink drawings which again is very time-consuming but if I was to praise myself it would be my patience that it takes to draw the complicated pieces and then take pictures of each individual one to then edit into a film, so my work this semester has been a continuous evolution of pieces; one piece always leading onto another. Using both film and animation is out of my comfort zone as I have never used them before but I am finding them an interesting media of choice to use in my work.
Developing my work into semester two, I plan to move my work forward with the constant experimentation with the use of film as a starting point to lead onto ongoing pieces of work; drawings, paintings and sculptures, still being conceptual and personal to myself and my interpretation of both life and death. It is important that my work shows both sides as it could become too dark very easily, exemplifying the life cycle, so the viewer know that although life will come to an end, another will always begin. Experimenting with different substances to add to water to have varying outcomes to take further into different medias, possibly working larger scale to entice the viewer into viewing my work and therefore contemplating the meaning behind it. In terms of my final major project, I don’t have a definite idea of what is going to be in the show as my work is all about my exploration with different medias and the word death, which is constantly changing and developing into something different. To solve this dilemma, I will need to carry out a series of possible outcomes and ideas in possible sketches, macquettes and again continuously experimenting with ideas until I find one that is absolute. I find that I have this intense need to explore this concept because I need to prepare myself, I am an emotionally attached person and the thought of losing someone I love, scares me immensely, this project is preparing me mentally for what will happen, its therapeutic for me, it’s a psychological preparation. In terms of materials for these experiments, I plan to carry on with the use of film to document the process which I feel is an important part to my work, but in order for it to look professional and not amateur, I need to think through numerous possible implications that could occur if not carried out in the correct setting. Such as background and lighting – making sure to use natural lighting as it comes out better on camera and to use a white background as not to distract from the main subject matter in the film. When carrying out drawing work, the surface being drawn on needs to be taken into consideration as I found this semester, working on acetate to be very time-consuming as it was mostly having to repetitively go over the same spot due to the ink pen not transferring onto the surface as it was nearly waterproof. To prepare potential outcomes I will need to carry out sketches to plan what I am going to do and many macquettes to test stability of sculptures and aesthetic an constantly gain peers opinions to see what works best. I think the best way to plan for the end of year show is to make sure I give myself plenty of time to produce it as I find time – management to be my greatest constraint.
Continuing with the research into the second half of the year will include a thorough investigation into modern attitudes towards death and gather a deeper understanding of how I, personally view it. I will need to find more books that look at western attitudes towards death, trying to narrow it down to specifically the UK as that is where my viewer is and it is where I live and therefore I can connect more with the information. I also hope to get into contact with Stibbarts; Stepping Stones, in London road, Leigh, which is a counselling organisation that deal with many situations of people coming to terms with the death of a loved one and the mourning process which will allow me to understand the attitudes towards death on a narrowed down spectrum.
To evaluate the success of my work it is important to continuously gain peer review, tutor advice and constant self-assessment. Thus far from critiques with peers and tutors I have been told that my work personifies fragility and the light and dark side to death when viewing my ink on acetate drawings which shows me that what I’m conceptually exploring is coming across to the viewer. I don’t necessarily want the viewer to understand why I am doing what I am doing, I just want them to gather a small inkling that my work is about life and death and it is not something not to be spoken about. I would like them to not see death as much of a taboo after viewing my work, to contemplate death even if it they don’t like my artwork and what it personifies, then at least they are still thinking about death and life coming to an end which leads to a new beginning and therefore possibly altering their views/attitudes.
My work fits into the contemporary Fine Art debate culturally, politically and socially. In particular through the news and social media, death in these genres is depicted as a violent, painful, brutal and negative subject. It is either showing how someone was murdered or how someone we all know, like a celebrity, has died, making people see death as a taboo, upsetting and not to be thought about in too much detail as they connect the negativity towards death with what they hear in their lives. If someone is constantly told something is negative and always see that something in a bad light, then that is what they are going to believe. What the news and social media often fails to show are deaths of natural causes or the birth of a person, meaning that people only ever hear about one side of the story. Contemporary artworks that believe death shouldn’t be a taboo and unspoken of include Damien Hirst; with his works on shark sculptures, called the ‘Physical impossibility of Death in the Mind of the Living’, which built upon his exploration for human beings of attempting to comprehend the idea of death, and the Wellcome Collections exhibition on Death showing both historical and contemporary artworks with the concept of death, showing how attitudes have changed towards it and how the artwork has changed in accordance with it.