Proposal-Unit Seven
‘Walk In My Shoes’ is an invitation to the viewers to do just that! My final project will be a large mixed media piece with significant items from two cultures. I associate colours, aroma and seasons with occasions in my life. For example the smell of Dettol, triggers memories of my boarding school life in India .I aim to show the correlation between the East and the West; India with the United Kingdom, by using several techniques. I am using a combination of heavy -layered collage, fabrics, maps, wax resist and soldering iron techniques. I plan then to create a toran as a sacred gateway to my exhibition and will also make use of memorable objects including glass jars. My show will involve all five senses; sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste .For example I will be using music from my two cultures. This will help the audience to engage more effectively. The project will reflect my feelings, images and thoughts, as I moved from India to the UK. It will show the richness of two contrasting cultures, as I settled in Nuneaton and assimilated different ways and mode of life, yet retained important aspects of my heritage. It is a very personal project from which I will gain more experience and use several creative techniques and complete further research.
My show will be a channel of communication, which will exhibit visions of my journey and also be a medium for cultural enlightenment. I aim to show how two cultures can co-exist and benefit each other. My goal is that the viewer will gain a clearer understanding of my life helping them to ‘ walk in my shoes’ I intend to use vibrant colours , photos of friends and objects of my life in India .In juxtaposition my project will show the subtle colours and difference of life in the UK ,including friends who have influenced me and relevant objects .The concept is that the viewer will see in my work the diversities and similarities of two cultures and how they enrich , broaden and benefit our outlook and philosophy of life. My adjustment and integration into life and education here encouraged me to think that we are better together than apart.
Nature, people, daily activities taking place around me stimulates my work. My inspiration also comes from tribal Art particularly folk paintings from India called Mithila paintings and Gond paintings. A few artists whose work I admire, who also influence me are: Debbie Smyth who works with brass pins and threads; Grayson Perry whose work reflects his childhood experiences; Henry Moore’s batik and textile designs; Chein Wei Chang’s use of recycled glass jars; David Hockney’s large scale Art work; M.F Hussain’s vibrancy in his work; John Piper’s wax resist technique, Tony Cragg and his use of mundane materials and Radcliffe Bailey’s blending of cultures. All these artists have been a source of inspiration and have influenced my Art work .My recent visit to New Walk Museum & Art Gallery proved to be motivational, mainly the exhibition called ‘Don't Look Back! I Told You So’ by Chien-Wei Chang. The artist has used recycled glass bottles and hand-crafted objects exploring cultural notions of the cellar, in relation to the artist's Taiwanese heritage. During the next day I came up with the idea of preserving my memories in jars and bottles, as pickles and jams are preserved so they can be used in a time of scarcity. Several exhibitions have influenced my work; The Millenium Gallery in Sheffield did so, as it was a collection of family life in Britain. Future research at The Victoria and Albert Museum will give me idea for displaying ‘Walk In My Shoes’.
Layering various significant things to collage like newspapers, envelopes, stamps, fabrics, foils, wallpaper and tissue papers creates interesting textures. I work on these uneven surfaces, blending acrylic paint, emulsion paint, water colour and oil pastels. I will be using wax resist technique which is commonly used by artists like Henry Moore and John Piper. The wax resist technique works on the fact that oil or wax and water do not mix .I draw with oil pastels then give washes of ink and water colour over it. Where the wax is, the water in the paint will repel and so the paint either runs off it or collects in little drops .Using different meaningful things from both cultures, such as newspapers and free running maps, I will hook-up different ideas from my two cultures. These maps illustrate my interesting travels. I intend to use a soldering iron to engrave designs, maps and sometimes for burning fabrics. My boarding school life played a crucial role in my life. I will be bringing evocative glimpses, smells and sounds to my assemblage. My old school dresses, books, other relevant objects will be prominently displayed. Jars and bottles will hold my preserved mementoes. Having previously experimented with my trial piece, I have formulated ways to overcome any problems and also help me with my time management. My weekly schedule will help me to achieve my goal.
Working on a big scale is challenging. Difficulties include getting proportions right, exertion and paper bubbling up when it is damp .I overcame these difficulties by finding the right way to deal with them, by practising getting the proportions accurate. Every time I took a few steps back to see any errors during my trial piece, my fellow students helpfully gave their opinions. Accumulating relevant objects is giving me a problem as most are in India .Searching for and collecting my interestingly -shaped jars and bottles is time- consuming but I hope it will worthwhile.
I hope that from viewing my final show, the audience will understand my feelings towards these two different cultures and feel the vivid atmosphere of Walk In My Shoes This will hopefully allow them to experience and reflect on their own feelings and memories .I hope that the viewers will gain a deeper understanding of cultures living side by side .I am learning more from this creative project as it is my largest piece of work yet and it is my first exhibition. Above all I hope all the viewers go away feeling very happy.
My trial piece and experience of working on large scale .
I have been putting
layers, of emulsion paint, news papers, wall papers, tissue papers, foil, to
collage on thick paper of fabriano paper to give the piece more texture . I started my first figure and
gradually moved on . after completing these figures i started building layers using fabrics and PVA then started engraving maps using soldering iron.I even used multi coloured threads to sew maps .my initial trial piece was successful however there are many areas i could improve .my first point to improve upon would be compositional planing ,making sure i could fit all of my figures in as well as making sure that backgrounds are just as visible .also learnt that i sould only use traslucent fabrics rather than opaque because it obscured the figures too much.
