Working with Queer Contact

Recently, I've been part of a project called 'Queer Contact', the Contact Theatre's involvement with LGBT history month. We worked with their current artist in residence Qasim Shaheen on a project we named 'Urban Shrines'. The initial meetings were based mainly on discussion and figuring out what exactly it was we were aiming to produce, with the time given.

Self Portraits

 Visual portraits VS Conceptual portraits

Business Card

For our latest graphics brief, we were given the task to create our own business card. The aim was to create a personal advertisement which would hopefully catch the eye of the receiver.

I scanned in two pieces of cardboard and a drawing of myself, then layered the cardboard over the drawing and proceeded to 'cut out' the letters and numbers. 

My business card has a quite a 'hand made' feel to it, with the crudely cut letters and the use of cardboard as a surface, a theme I have used in my work previously.

Miltos Manetas

http://www.manetas.com/

I actually first came across Miltos Manetas when I bought a t-shirt with one of his drawing printed on it, as part of the Join Red campaign gap were supporting. When I saw the image (pictured below) I feel in love with it instantly because of the how delicately the lines have been drawn, how serene the piece looks because of the closed eyes and especially the addition of computer wires in the subject's hair. Previously I have used discarded computer wires in my work to create bolder lines and to add third dimension to a piece.

Unsuspecting victims...

Two (oblivious) men I drew on the bus home, on the back of an envelope

Feeling festive,

or trying to, at least. I was sat bending some wire the other day and it ended up a tree-like shape. This inspired me to make a star for the top of the 'tree' and then turn my tiny sculpture into a Christmas card. I scanned the wire onto the computer, giving it a lovely ready-made icy blue background. Whenever I look back at the image, it makes me feel peaceful and calm, a contrast to what Christmas can sometimes be like.

My womanifesto

‘Window into my Soul’

- AN ARTIST’S WOMANIFESTO -

There are many things that define a person, primary, secondary and tertiary parts. For me, art comes first and foremost and is what I consider to be a defining piece of my life. I grew up in a house where art was celebrated. On the walls in frames, clumsily plastered on the kitchen table and embroidered beautifully and intricately in conversations. I was always encouraged to be creative, imaginative and my own person, who willing to fight for my morals and beliefs despite the negative things that surrounded me. I felt like an outsider looking in from the beginning. A more intense view of the world pushed me forward in my understanding, but also held me back from my peers.

After receiving art therapy for a number of years, I gradually learned to use art as an outlet for self-expression and at times became more natural to me than talking and interacting with other people. I no longer saw my drawings and paintings as hobbies, but an extension from my mind into a page. From this realisation, I learned to vent my feelings in this way and I was able to create more powerful and cathartic pieces of work stemming from situations that were too painful and difficult for me to understand. I feel as if I used art to filter and translate that rush or emotions into some malleable, tangible that I could comprehend. It became a coping mechanism that I believe has helped me find myself.

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way - things I had no words for" – Georgia O’Keeffe

My work reflects feelings of freedom, expression, imagination and liberation of self and materials without a fear of using less conventional media, techniques and surfaces. Sometimes more abstract responses to life and others a mixture of observational line and over layered texture.

Art the healer, the escape, art is a window into my soul where people can see me in my most raw, organic form.

I can clearly remember seeing Dali’s ‘Persistence of Time’ and at that moment a whole new world was opened up for me when this mixture of real and surreal were together in such a recognisable piece of artwork; something, which I had been shown, was incorrect.

A life without art for me would be like a ship-in-a-bottle desperate to explore the world or a message that is never fully received because there is no one to hear it. I don’t think I’d be half the person I am now without a creative path to follow.

That repetitive mantra of ‘art will get you no where, 
you better chance your ship’s course.’
Falls flat from force of thoughts of living freely,
and without remorse.