IPP2 Exploration

Reflective Writing on Exploration: Working with Materials

 Sitting in the space, I am aware of two objects on the floor in front of me. One is a small, hand-held torch; the other is a length of soft, multi-coloured material. They offer to me the ideas of:

 Practicality... function... texture... shape... structure... movement... light source... covering... exposing... folding... comfort... memory...

 I do not know where to begin, so I simply start to move.

 I began firstly to move with the soft, fluid cloth as this seemed more accessible to me. A lot of my initial images were focused around the properties of the material; how it folded and rippled when moved through the air, and the shapes it created on the floor when released. I tried to mimic this fluidity and folding in my own body, falling softly in and out of the floor and curling up next to the material in the space. I quickly became absorbed in this process and began to see it as more of an act of play with my object rather than an exploration of the material’s properties. The prevailing theme for me during this workshop was the idea of taking apart and bringing back together;

 ‘...in working creatively with materials or objects from disparate sources we partially (or wholly) let go of their usual significance and their normal place in the world, in order to discover new connections and meanings arising between them.’

 M. Tufnell and C. Crickmay. (2004) A Widening Field. (Page 157).

 This concept allowed me to really enjoy coming up with new possibilities and a fresh view on the mini sketches I was creating with my objects. One image that I particularly enjoyed working with was simply gathering up the material into a bundle and releasing it again on the floor, watching it expand out again. I developed this idea so that I gathered the cloth up into a bundle under my stomach when lying on the floor, so that it could not be seen. I then slowly began to pull the fabric out from underneath my body creating what I hoped was a collection of images ranging from an offering to the group of my internal thoughts and feelings, to perhaps the more base anatomical image of internal organs such as the intestines. Working with the torch I found more challenging. Perhaps from an aesthetic view point I was initially less drawn to this object. The idea of working with a light source however was fascinating for me and stimulated many images for movement, greatly inspired by our previous workshop explorations with artist Christian Kipp using light from a projector. Having seen an image of an installation piece by artist Cornelia Parker entitled ‘Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View’ (1991), I am also keen to experiment with the idea of shadow and moments frozen in time. I began very simply with the torch, turning it on and off, rolling it across the floor, highlighting different parts of my body. I then started to explore more deeply with these images. In particular I enjoyed turning on the torch and pressing it to my skin. This created a beautiful amber patch of light around the torch as the light melted through the layers of my skin. Another moment I enjoyed real connection with was when rolling the torch along the floor I began to mimic this movement by rolling alongside it, following the light. This moment felt free, playful and child-like and I loved the symbolic moment as the torch gently came to rest and illuminated a part of my body as I came to rest in front of it. Although I briefly played with the idea of moving with both of my objects at once, I found it very hard to manipulte and move at the same time and the images I was creating with them did not feel as comfortable or personal. However, I did enjoy alternating between the two objects as, for example, the image of covering parts of my body with the material were juxtaposed with the image of using the torch to reveal and draw attention to my body. The opposite dynamics of my two objects informed and inspired my movement and were I to carry on this exploration I would like to develop this idea of switching between hard, rigid, tough objects and soft, malleable objects. I would also have liked to investigated the different components of my light source, taking it apart, seperating it and pulling it together again. I found working with these objects very complimentary to the way I move and think as an artist. Even though I was not working on my own in the space, I found myself becoming more and more involved in my own process and less available to the space and people around me. During previous experiences working with objects I experienced a desire to pre-plan and perhaps over-think what I could do with my object. In this experience however, I was able to lose my pre-conceptions about my object and simply allow it to inform my movement rather than my movement inform what I did with the object. This was an unfamiliar and exciting way of working for me and the movement material I discovered out of this fresh approach felt right and secure in my own body.