Independent Critical Project - the finale

Thats it. Done. Finite. Next stop, third year!

The images are printed and the presentation has been assessed. There's little I can do about it now. This is for the ICP project, the final unit of the year, I've really enjoyed the work and feel proud of the outcome.

Basically this project was an exploration of my biological identity. Post production saw me experimenting with the effects caused to my negative images by various substances associated with the body.

I've yet to receive feedback on the unit. here are the visual results...

I AM AN IMITATOR.

I sometimes wonder if anyones ever really has an original thought, or are we simply engrossed in a never ending circle of repetition?

People are the same, many of us sit and escape into the visual world around us, we never seem to see ourselves as others see us, tricking mirrors and mysterious voices on answer phones.

Who are we? Who am I?

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

I'll Rip you off.

New post, new work, FINAL PROJECT (second year)!

I think I'm developing an unhealthy obsession with blood, not Vampire style though, it's all art. My second year is drawing to an end and with this comes the final project, Independent Critical Practice, this project was to be simultaneous with a Research Paper which covered the same theory/concept as our visual work.

I was really struck by the visual idea of blood as a metaphor for identity, more specifically, my biological identity/DNA.

I have a very small family and the few distant relatives I have are just that, distant, so as I have gotten older I have become increasingly proud and interested in where/ what I come from, my heritage and the very foundations of my existence.

So blood becomes the basis of my project and after researching for my paper I become aware of two interesting artists/photographers that implore elements of my theories in their work, Marc Quinn and Andres Serrano.

Marc Quinn, Self

(a frozen sculpture made of 9 pints of the artists own blood, Quinn is an advocator in the contemporary relationship between art and science).

Andres Serrano, Bloodstream

(Serrano's work often incorporates elements of his strong Roman Catholic background, and this particular series focuses upon our bodily fluids and the connotations associated with them).

Visually I find Serrano's work very inspiring and there are definite parallels between my work and his, after reading about the concepts behind this work i have been looking into how when contained say medically these fluids(blood) are considered safe and acceptable, but when the 'container' is removed they can evoke feelings of harm, injury/ trauma. An end project is for me to photograph the contained, and them to submerge my negatives into the unconfined, and the effects these outside substances have on the images can be relatable to the acquired elements of of social identity onto our already established biological identity.

Here are some work in progress negatives:

These two images are just tests, and the physicality of the negatives are going to be altered, I am also intrigued by the effects of cropping very close in, and taking advantage of the texture of the film surface.

I've decided I like these but need to take them further, they're still a little too obvious.

Marion. x