31/3/2016 0 Comments Bookbinding
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20/3/2016 0 Comments March EXPO
Throughout the process I surrounded myself with photo's of my family and the work of Margaret Kilgallen who was the major inspiration for the design of this project. This was hugely important not so much to keep me motivated but to keep me focussed on what I was portraying. Even so, I still found times where I began to make choices aesthetically, forgetting the people being represented; at which point I would need to return to the images and reconsider what needed to be shown. I feel I am still learning to allow my work to spread outside of what is seen to be visually appealing but this technique of immersive research is a huge help towards clarifying priorities. The IdeaThis project was inspired by the awkward conversations you have when meeting new people and trying explain an unusual family situation. I hate the impulse to apologise when trying to discuss which dad I'm talking about or the "my brother who isn't actually my brother" confirmations. This work celebrates the crazy family realities in my own life so that my spectators can open up about their own situations. Families aren't simple any more; they are full of colour, laughs and ugly truths and this is the only way I want to see them. The piece displays my own family tree from me and my siblings to my grandparents using my own visual language to include divorce, death and the unknown in my family narrative. The illustrations mounted on top of this are quotes from conversations with my mum that to me display the realistic ups and downs that make us who we are as a family unit. As you can see from the illustrative styling they are not to be taken too seriously, because after all if we had never fought, never laughed and never cried I don't think we could say we'd had much of a family life at all...
Being just over a year from graduation, this event provided an opportunity to really question where my practice should be going and what I will be creating for the daunting final degree show that's sauntering towards the near future. With much to improve but much to be proud of, I am happy to have taken risks and made a firm leap in a new direction that feels a positive and natural development for my work.
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