End of Year Unit: Textiles Project

For this project, we were told we had to incorporate textiles into our work, my previous final on the 'unit 1 journey' project I used embroidery and I found the technique quite effective, so I wanted to explore it further. Firstly we experimented with a variety of printing techniques, including monoprinting and collographs.

A section of prints I did, which I analysed on a previous post.

I found these prints quite intriguing, especially the top to, as I found the reminded me of abstract skulls, or portraits, so I decided I wanted to focus more on portraits, and faces, and maybe even including some photography, which I've never done before.

Following on, I drew some sketches of skulls, using a reference off pinterest, in different styles.

I found I liked the cross-hatching, as the lines create harsher and darker tones, which match the sharp angles on a skull, as well as the curved lines, to match the rounded shape of the top of a skull, I then photocopied the skull in two different tones, one sepia and one in black and white. I decided to use red thread to add some accents to the eyes, as the red thread has connotations of blood, and the brain. I decided to stick with the simple angular lines to match the marks made by when I drew this with a biro. I then found another photo on Pinterest, and decided to embroider the veins on the brain, I used red and blue thread, as I think it fitted well with the medical and anatomy theme well, having the short lines mimicking the sharp lines of cross-hatching.

For the next lot of experiments, I took photos of someone and began experiments with different ways to work into photos using embroidery, I also experimented with scratching onto the photos, to remove the ink to show the white of the paper through. 

I used a needle and scratched off the surface to look like veins, but in turn, I found they looked more like roots, as the lines are smoother and more fluid, compared to veins which are more random and slightly more angular. On the bottom piece on the left page I used a photos with a sepia filter and very low saturation and scratched out the eyes, I found this quite effective as removing the eyes almost has a dehumanising, anonymous effect. I wanted to take this further and used red acrylic to block out the eyes, as the red symbolises blood, and anger. The bottom right photo I used black and white acrylic to block out the eyes, and I found this gave it a glitched look, and along with the embroidery veins it looks rather effective, as it makes the model anonymous, but makes you think about their emotions. I next wanted to focus more on emotions, and use a different model and take photos in a studio setting.

I took some photos in the photography studio at college, and the contact photos are below:

I found using the studio rather challenging as it's something I've never done before. When going through the photos I found that most of them were under exposed, and some were out of focus too. But I selected 4 main photos I wanted to develop, which are on the pages below.

I used Aperture to edit the photos to make them brighter and cooler in saturation, and the bottom left photo I had to edit a lot to increase exposure and brightness, but I find this photo quite effective as the model looks rather small and isolated, which links on nicely to the fact I wanted to look more at emotions. So I decided to scratch out the face and eyes more, to make it more anonymous and almost dehumanising and just focusing on the emotions. I continued to use thread and developing on colours and emotions, using yellows and pinks to mimic happiness. Next, I looked at 3 of the photos I'd taken and then look at different emotions and the different colours they remind me of. 

I started off using the photo of the model that has his body in to begin experiments, I used green and purple to mimic sadness, and isolation, as when discussing with friends they mentioned both these colours, and I found they complemented each other very well. I used the same marks for all these photos, using a dry brush and the colours I used to stipple the paint on the edges framing some edges of the page, I used the same brush then to paint lines across the eyes, mouth and in some cases the whole face. The needle scratch marks themselves have a lot of emotion in, the desperateness and madness that goes on in ones mind and people on the outside are always unaware of whats going on in someones mind. The purple and green experiments I scratched out and painted out the whole face, to remove the human element and it matches the feelings of being isolated and alone. On the other hand, I used yellows and pinks to create a sense of happiness and positive emotions. As yellow has connotations of summer, and beaches, and personally reminds me of family holidays which relate to positive memories. The colour pink also reminds people of happiness and positivity, and also femininity, and by using a male model for the photos it neutralises the masculinity and femininity so creates a very neutral feel, allowing the yellow tones of the thread to show through.

For the final lot of experiments I used the same red and blue thread as in the first lot of experiments when I was focusing more on the anatomy diagrams, as I likes the simplicity of using red and blue, as when people first look at it they first think of veins and the blood that flows through them. Using the red also has emotional relations, especially to anger and rage, and my scribbling the eyes out it gives a sense of frustration almost, which ultimately leads to anger in some people. So I find it very interesting as by using red it has this double meaning.

For my final I plan on re-creating the three experiment photos I did, but on A4 as I feel they'll have more of an impact on a larger scale, but still small enough to get in a reasonable amount of detail on the veins, and the stippling of the paints. So I'll print out the 3 photos on photo paper - as its thicker and easier to embroider on without the paper ripping or creasing- and do the same thing I did on the smaller samples but on a larger scale.

Final Outcome:

Title: 

Inside Out

Artists statement:

 There's a fine line separating colour and emotion, how one's emotions on the inside can be completely masked by their outward appearance and body language. On the outside, sometimes ones emotions matches the inside (the first photo), sometimes people put on a mask to conceal their true emotions (the third photo) and sometimes slight changes in someone's body language can reveal how ones feeling on the inside. 

It shows how anxiety can overwhelm someone when feeling isolated and alone, and how it fills your lungs and tightens your chest and makes your mind clouded, and panic sets in as you can feel the blood rushing around your body.