final project

Slavery slavery! My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love The first artist that I have looked at is Kara Walker, She is a contemporary artist who does cut paper art silhouettes in black . I think that it is important for her to create her work large scale because of the space she uses up for the different silhouettes, also her work slavery slavery is done on a circular space and “insists that the viewer participate in the story by walking across the periphery of the landscape as if spying on the events taking place.’ Kara Walker’s art is crowded with figures that evoke history, employ stereotypes and caricatures from the past, and invite viewers to imagine stories and scenarios. Scenes are presented frozen and disconnected, with fragments that often invite viewers to fill in the missing elements’. Additionally, the circular structure of the work eliminates a clear beginning or end to the story”. The materials and techniques used to make this work is mainly black paper cut into figures and shapes and then put onto a white background this makes the work stand out more to the viewers because of the contrast between the two colours. The subject matters in the art work are mainly figures and shapes which makes it more interesting to look at and makes the audience think about what that object is . The concepts that this work explores are race, gender, sexuality, violence, identity and mainly slavery; how life was for the slaves during that period also how the slave masters treated their slaves. The questions and issues that Walkers work would raise are ‘What do you think the artist wants viewers to learn or understand from this work? ‘ the answer would be the artist wants the viewer to see the different things that went on during slaver in depth. Also What do you imagine is motivating the slaver masters to do this? The answer would be that they feel superior to the slaves and they own the slaves so therefore they feel that they have the right to do what ever they want with them.

The vanity of small differences

Grayson Perry is a contemporary artist that does tapestry work. Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, Perry creates a story through his work. Both Pieces have major subject matters in them, his work can be interpreted in various ways, in my interpretation, the first one has a male and female leaving their parents and home, their parents begging them not to leave which looks dark and rainy to go to a new family where it looks sunny, rich and they look accepted. While in the other tapestry, their has been an accident and a woman injured badly, some of the people in his work are exaggerated for instance the tapestry on the left, the woman laying on the ground, her torso is very long compared to the people around her, in my interpretation, this is to make her stand out as the main subject. The tapestries also tell stories which makes can draw the audience in to the work by making them interpret the work in their own way. the concepts and ideas that this artist explores is mainly class and narratives “The tapestries tell the story of class mobility, for I think nothing has as strong an influence on our aesthetic taste as the social class in which we grow up”. The questions that his work would raise are ‘where does he get his inspiration for the characters?’ the answer would be “goes on a safari amongst the taste tribes of Britain, to gather inspiration for his artworks, literally weaving the characters he meets into a narrative”

Yinka Shonibare

A key material in Shonibare’s work since 1994 are the brightly coloured ‘African’ fabrics (Dutch wax-printed cotton) that he buys himself from Brixton market in London. This artists is a contemporary artist, his work is very unique and different, because of the way it is structured and the message behind the installations. Shonibare, uses African clothing in his work, but what I like about his work especially is the way that he makes the structure of the clothing Victorian, this makes his work more intriguing. He has various subject matters in his installation, and those subject matters always leaves the audience to imagine the actual scene, also, Shonibare, managed to capture the moment effectively. The concepts that this artist explores is mainly identity and class.

The swing How to blow two heads at once

Statement of intent

I intend on working on my identity, by researching more into my culture and finding things that attract my attention, although the artists that i have researched so far have had illustrative ideas in common, this inspires me to make my work about myself and my identity. I plan on using various media in order to show progression and creativity in my work and also plan on refining work that needs refining.

This shows the different stages that the African traditional clothing has gone through and evolved with the western fashion. Although the patterns stays he same, the style changes, however the traditional African attires will still be there for various traditional occasions.

African Ankara Patterns

I started to research African Ankara prints, these prints are from Nigeria, and what attracted me to them are their boldness and colourfulness.

I moved on to creating my own prints on Illustrator after researching on different prints. This print looks like a hand reflected upside down, making it look very unique and somehow traditional, I also made one in colour in order to give it some vibrancy.

I went on to project the print I made onto my skin, to symbolize a second skin as a Nigerian, I believe that I achieved this aim. The technical and visual qualities of these photographs to me are good because the focus of the camera, and the lighting are On point, this is because when I edited them on Photoshop, I controlled the lighting so that mainly the prints on my skin are visible. I selected two pictures from the non coloured print and two pictures from the coloured print to project on my skin This is because I wanted to see if it would create a different effect on the viewer, and in my opinion, the coloured print attracts more attention visually to the viewers Compared to the colorless print . I think I achieved symbolism in my work to an extent, this is because some viewers ,may understand why the prints are projected On my skin and some viewers may not understand, although the print is very unique, it can give some viewers a hint because of The uniqueness of the actual print.

What I did with this dress was sew a piece of an Ankara strip onto it, in order to show the contrast between my Nigerian Side and my British side. I think I achieved this aim because the dress was bought from a shop in this country and the Ankara was shipped to this country from Nigeria, the contrast is clear. The technical and visual qualities of my photographs are good, however in some of the photographs, the lighting is too exposed on my skin, and the colours, and lines on the Ankara itself stands out form the black dress which makes the Nigerian fabric eye-catching to the viewer. I believe that I achieved the idea that I was trying to convey through the dress, because of the contrast between the Ankara and the dress, I think this idea might be clear to the viewer.

John Baldessari

John Baldessari is a conceptual artist who works with various media such as printmaking, film, video, installation, sculpture and photography. What attracted me to this particular type of work is the painted dots on the faces of the main subjects in the picture, this stripes the images of their singularity and replaces them with symbolic meaning. The dots are done in primary colours, this attracts the viewer more, and causes them to interpret the work in their own way. My interpretation to this work, is by blocking out the faces of the people in the photographs, it blocks out their identities, this then gave me an idea for my work, which is to take photographs of my face and replace them with African prints, in order to show my identity without seeing my face.

I made these prints on illustrator by researching various Ankara prints and interpreting my own African print, i then used Photoshop to cut out an oval shape around my face then replaced it with the prints. I think the prints worked well because they are all brightly coloured and very unconventional prints with make them look unique, however what dislike about these prints are the way they look very unrealistic and almost cartoon like in my opinion, although this could be a good thing for the actual work altogether it could add to its uniqueness. My aim was to replace my identity which is my face, with an Ankara print, and i want this to be symbolic of my background and where i was born. I think the aim of this work would be clear to the viewers because the print is clear and also it encourages the viewer to piece together the image and interpret it in their own way.

Remi Lagos

I found this fashion designer Remi Lagos on the African fashion week website and I liked the was that the dresses are made in different forms, by this I mean that this designer, has clearly tapered with the clothing and simple structured it in different unique forms. This gives me an idea for my Ankara, which is to use my Ankara in various forms.

I went on a website called ‘continuum fashion’ and designed these various garments, i designed them in 3D form, this gives the garments some shape and shades. I like the form of the dresses because they can be played with and shaped differently in my control.

The aim of these photographs were to portray the different forms that the Ankara fabric can take. I believe that I achieved this aim because the different photographs show the different forms that the Ankara would take. I think that the technical and visual qualities of my photographs are good because i believe that the lighting is good and also the background makes the main subject stand out to the viewers , i also like the different shades if grey in the background, the colour of the background enhances the main subject due to the fact that the Ankara is brightly coloured, while the background is grey. I believed that i achieved this aim because of the different ways that the Ankara is wrapped around me, this would give the viewers a clear idea and understanding of the photographs.

issey miyake

I personally look at this design by Issey Miyake, and i really like the design of the dress because of the various shapes on the dress that is simply visibly because of the creases used and the folding technique. I plan on creating an Ankara dress and tampering with it to see the different outcomes.

This is an uncompleted version of the ankara dress that i am making, I plan on adding more layers to the shoulders and redesigning the dress in general, my aim is to tamper with the dress and see the different outcomes.