Summary of Negotiated Work – Social Confinement
At the beginning of my project I decided to explore the idea; the little things in our everyday life that restrain us.
“My work is based on social boundaries set in place by our everyday life. The constraints of our social norms, our rules and regulations on how to live our life. How we talk, who we talk to, how we present ourselves; the invisible puppet strings that control our every move, our every thought.
The basic principle that underlies my work is to find different ways to confine people in varying spaces and environments. I want to read between the lines of the life we perceive as normal, boring, every day. When you actually think about it, every inch is monitored by these so called norms. To do this I will work my way towards making a sculpture that influences the feelings of its audience. I want my audience to feel anxious, used, exploited and insignificant when they are around my sculpture (like a cage, suffocated, if you will). This is because when it comes down to it, you are insignificant, just a tiny cog in this massive socioeconomic, politically constructed universe. My work is largely based on the audience’s reaction.”
In a way I wanted to defy and rebel against the rules and boundaries we almost unconsciously abide by. For example “no smoking” signs etc.
My finished product however is, to some extent, completely different. Yet I feel it has worked out better. I have explored many diverse skills, including sculpture, video and photography.
I began looking into producing some form of Social Sculpture in which I would display within a public place. However, the more I thought about it the more I decided that a photography route would better suit me as an individual.
When researching and making sculptures I focused on trapping the volunteer by creating an environment they would feel vulnerable in. After experimenting I began to look at how actual places such as: the city centre, parks and industrial areas can do the same job by using their environment to change the atmosphere, instead of creating the mood via sculpture myself.
After my tutorial with Steve he recommended a book to me: ‘Vitamin Ph’. Within this book, some photographs from artist Tacita Dean (as featured in my blog) gave me the inspiration to explore the idea of using a type of staged photography. The settings in these photographs are a perfect representation of isolated areas in which I could portray in my own images. Another example of this is a selection of photos from Alex Slade. The only difference in my work is that I will involve a model to enhance the expression I am trying to give.
My original thought was to use the same technique as my previous work and use a man made “space” to confine my volunteer. I used black tape to mark out a “space”. This didn’t work out as I imagined. I wanted to create photographs that imposed more of a statement. I began to think of a way that I could confine my volunteer without using a physical object.
I also thought that photographing Andrew with his back towards the audience would enhance this illusion; my audience would begin to wonder why he is not facing towards the camera.
After looking through my images, it hit me, the most perfect way to present these was to have them printed life size. Yet because of funds and the space available for my assessment, I had to produce a final piece which hopefully will briefly show what I would do, if I was to have the money and space to do what I really wanted.
I have produced a series of images which I have displayed in A3. Using photoshop I have converted the images to black and white and changed the brightness/contrast to enhance the feeling of un-ease among the audience.
