I’m thinking about my study statement and objectives for my project, what have I done and not done, where am I. I seem to be doing what I planned to do. I’m still committed to creating self-portraits for the duration of the course and have been doing this consistently and am finding it meaningful. I’m still using Instagram to build a world and perform this world. I’m still reading as much as I can. I’m making a physical book. I had planned to present some kind of very small scale installation by the end of this year. I still want to do this but I’ve had to put it on hold for a little while and change my thinking about the logistics of it for reasons I won’t go into just yet. The reasons are not bad, there are just things to wait for and figure out.
I now also have plans to make two more books. One will include a selection of the printed self-portraits and their captions. The other will include images made from text (building on this kind of thing that I experimented with in the interim show). The text will also come from the image captions but will be edited and abstracted, not written in their original form
There was mention in my Unit One feedback about whether I could make some kind of short film within this project. I don’t want to do this in any kind of conventional way but I have been enjoying experimenting with the editing of some recent videos on OnlyFans and I do think about how it would feel to compile them all together into one “film”. I also had an idea about creating an experimental video that would play with the format of an “instructional” video, using poetic narration.
New self-portraits with the bridal/wedding theme and how this theme connects to broader ideas around “work”.
Jonathan asked me how I work practically with the different themes. I specified that I am working on one at a time, i.e. I haven’t been creating work around all three themes simultaneously and then presenting it one by one. I prefer to immerse myself in one at a time and then present the work while I’m making it.
I mentioned that earlier in the project I was focused a lot on the idea of creating a “saturation” of images and that this was just as or more important than the images themselves, presenting a mass of images. This is still important but the individual images have become more important to me. I want each image to be interesting on its own, not just interesting in the context of presenting them all together.
We talked about different ways of presenting the images physically not just online. Jonathan mentioned that I create a lot of rules around my art and I thought it was really interesting that he said this because it’s true and I have been thinking about it a lot lately. I always want to my work to be conceptually rigorous and to have reasons behind the choices I make. But I may need to allow myself to experiment more freely in the early stages and remember that just because I try something it doesn’t mean I have to use it or show it publicly if I don’t like it. I said that when I think about the different ways that I could present the images physically I get a bit frozen because I worry that there is a right and wrong way to do it and I don’t know what the right way is. But of course there is no way that is technically right or wrong I just need to try things and find what makes sense for me.
I mentioned that I would love to make an installation in a real office space, like on a big floor of a big building with lots of office cubicles and how I get sort of stuck when I think about ideas that don’t feel possible for me at the moment logistically. We talked about finding ways to realise simpler versions of ideas on a smaller scale (Jonathan mentioned the maquette, a small version of a sculpture before the real thing is made). Like maybe I can’t access an entire office right now but I could do something with one desk or access one desk in an office. We also talked about the option of using an existing space to create a moment or installation (e.g. putting my photos in a real office space) versus the option of putting work into a dislocated setting (e.g. putting objects from an office into the street). Neither is better, just different ways of considering presentation.
We talked about the Sermon on the Body book. Jonathan observed my choices – using the 12 point Times New Roman font, the most basic/simple font option, very minimal. The rudimentary decorative style – creating rough holes in the paper with scissors, the size of the tape that is used to stick down the ribbons, the ribbons being visible on the back of the page as well if they are tied through/around the paper, the use of plastic and a binder.
Next steps:
I’m going to print some photos onto paper and just see how they look and how it feels and play with them in some way and not worry about the outcome being right or wrong.
I’m going to go back to my study statement and reflect on where I’m up to, if I’m doing what I thought I’d be doing at this point or am I not, what have I discovered.
I’m going to keep making self-portraits and pushing myself in terms of the composition of each image.
I’m going to keep making pages for Sermon on the Body and allow myself to enjoy this process.
I’m going to keep reading about things that I’m interested in and trust that I will be able to come up with a topic for the research paper as a result of doing that.
I’m thinking about ways to make images using text, the ways I’m currently using or could potentially use text in my work. I’ve written about it here.
I went to the Tate Modern on Friday and there happened to be a small area in the gallery dedicated to art that uses text. I was drawn to two works. The first was by Douglas Gordon, part of his series from 2010 titled Pretty much every word written, spoken, heard, overheard from 1989…
The second was by Louise Bourgeois, titled I am Afraid (2009).
In both works, I was drawn to the simplicity of the presentation, the colours, the fonts, the formatting of the words and the words themselves.
The first work in particular reminded me of one of my initial aesthetic inspirations regarding using text in my MA project – corporate themed wall decals. When I presented the text based works in the interim show I used whiteboards mostly for practical reasons but my initial ideas were leaning more towards applying text directly to a wall as opposed to attaching text to another thing to then put onto a wall.
What happens when text is placed on a wall? Well, there is a lot of text on a lot of public walls. Paper signs or instructions taped onto walls, more permanent signs with symbols indicating lifts or stairs or bathrooms, graffiti, scribbles on bathroom walls. It just fades into the background. But when it comes to art specifically, and in a gallery setting, text maybe becomes imposing somehow… Not necessarily just in relation to the size, although this can contribute. More like, the specificity and deliberateness of it makes it stand out and seem significant. Maybe it has something to do with the “instructional” connotations. Like, because text on a wall is usually related to information, instructions, directions, rules, restrictions, guidelines, when it appears on the wall as a form of art, there is something about it that has a resonance with those things, subconsciously.
I do feel there can be a specific kind of “coldness” that is created when text is used as art (not always) and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s something I would like to utilise. I like the idea of reconfiguring the text from my poems, which are extremely personal and subjective, into images that are quite cold and stark. This is one of my earlier office decal inspirations which gives some context to the kind of aesthetic I’m talking about:
My thinking about text relates to my ideas around book making as well. I want to make books of my poems which I have already written about a few times, including here.
My ideas around all of these text-related things feel quite chaotic at the moment. The things I want to do are:
make a handmade copy of my poem Sermon on the Body, viewing this as a work of art/sculpture
make a handmade copy of a book that brings together all of my OnlyFans content captions, viewing this as a work of art/sculpture (can’t do this until the end of the degree as I will be creating for OF throughout the whole course)
consider making scaled-down versions of the books above that could be replicated, printed in multiple copies
think about and experiment with ways that poetic text could be presented in an installation context with the view that this is something I might like to incorporate into my final MA show
As I’ve already stated, I will use multiple forms to realise my project. I want to create a world for the project that inhabits physical and online spaces in various ways over time, not just within one outcome.
Here are some rough notes on the elements of my project. I’m drafting this in preparation for my study statement, it will be kind of messy and not necessarily make a lot of sense right now, I just need to get my ideas out.
A series of self-portraits titled She Has a Body of Work. These are currently being created and I will continue creating them throughout the whole MA. They are being presented and will continue to be presented in various overlapping contexts including online on OnlyFans, the interim show and later within a larger scale physical installation. This work plays with an office/corporate/white-collar aesthetic and explores ideas around performing the self in the context of work, commodifying the self, money, exploitation, autonomy, selling art and selling the body.
Interim show. I think I’ll use the interim show as an opportunity to play with an idea I have that relates to my interest in generic corporate aesthetics. I’m intrigued by the art and decor used in office buildings and foyers. It’s an aesthetic that is also seen in hotels, another type of space that I love and love to work with. I love the bland prints and canvas or framed photos on the walls in these spaces. Sometimes there will be something in the generic motivational/inspirational quote genre. I’ll write in more detail about this another time but my idea at the moment is to present a few of my self-portraits in a way that connotes “corporate foyer-art”.
After the interim show, I will spend some time thinking about weddings. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that my interest in generic corporate aesthetics is linked to my interest in generic wedding aesthetics. I have been wanting to make something related to weddings for a while and it keeps coming back to me. I thought at first that it was something I should put aside for an entirely separate project but now I can see the connection. Marriage is very connected to work. Marriage is viewed as a success, in the way that a lucrative or stable career is viewed as a success. Marriage is “hard work”. Weddings have highly recognisable aesthetics and symbols. Some things I think about in relation to both work and weddings/marriage are: money, gender, performance, safety, fantasy, the labour of the body, contracts, social expectations, autonomy, freedom, the seeking of meaning and fulfilment. Again, this is something I’ll write about later in more detail in terms of the concepts. I view this as like a little offshoot within Work. In terms of an outcome for this element, I can imagine creating a small scale installation of images and objects and maybe a video piece that could be part of an installation and/or viewed online. But I can’t articulate more about that right now.
Sermon on the body. I mentioned in this post the poem I wrote a few years ago titled Sermon on the body. This poem has inspired the self-portraits I’m taking. I would like to make a physical book of the poem. I view this as a kind of functional sculptural object. I imagine the physical version will be an object that is incorporated into an installation. I’m inspired by the designs of corporate documents and promotional material, so this will probably be my starting point in experimenting with the design for this object.
Larger scale installation. I would like the entire project to culminate in an installation that incorporates parts of the whole world of the project.
Documenting the work on Instagram. This is something that is already taking place and that will continue for the rest of the project. I like using Instagram and have never been able to use it in an “authentic” way, I like using it in a performative way. I’ve never used it to share my “real” life in a candid sense. Although the “realest” part of my life (or most important part) is my art/work, so seeing as I use it to share my art/work, maybe I’m actually using it in a way that’s quite authentic. Anyway, I’m using Instagram to document the work and kind of “perform” the work as it unfolds. I view this documentation as an element of the work in itself. I’m sharing parts of the work, for example some of my self-portraits, and using Instagram to promote my OnlyFans. I’lll also be sharing other images and videos I make that complement the ideas and aesthetics that I’m working with. It will be a visual encapsulation of the entire piece up until the end of the course as well as a promotional tool. Self-promotion is an idea I’m interested in in relation to work, selling the self and selling art, so utilising social media within this project feels natural and inevitable.
Holly Brindley 