My current project is my library research project which consists of one intense studio week to create at least two pieces of artwork that somehow explore the theme of Outside/Inside. During this week, to inform my ideas, I will also be looking at two books; ‘Laughter Ten Years After’ by Jo Anna Isaak and ‘Chiharu Shiota’ by Hatje Cantz, two journals; ‘Woman’s Art Journal’ and , and finally, one DVD, which was Lolita (1997).
In 1947, Humbert, a European professor of French literature, rents a room in the home of widow Charlotte Haze, largely because he sees her adolescent daughter Dolores, also called “Lo”, while touring the house. Obsessed from boyhood with girls of this age (whom he calls “nymphets”), Humbert is immediately smitten with Lo and marries Charlotte just to be near her. The film portrays Lo as being the one to ‘blame’ for Humbert’s obsession, even though Lo is only 12 and he is considerably older (around 37), which reflects the victim blaming of today, where we see many cases of predatory men not getting prosecuted because our society and legal system blames young girls/women for their actions. The book, which was released in 1955, actually portrays how it was actually Humbert who was the ‘bad’ one and certainly contained a tone which definitely blamed him for his actions and that Lo’s flirtation wasn’t what caused his obsession, but himself. The way this has influenced my shaped painting is by how sexualised Lo is in the film, especially considering her age, and how her flirtation and body was to blame for Humbert’s action. I used cleavage for this because showing it means that you’re bieng ‘flirtatious’ or ‘asking for it’, which is ludicrous. Female (or male) bodies aren’t obscene.
The two books I looked at was Laughter Ten Years After by Anna Isaak and Chiharu Shiot by Hatje Cantz which included images and themes that I added to my pieces. I chose Guerilla Girls from Laughter Ten Years After because their use of political and informing text, often on top of images, corresponded with my shaped painting. My other piece was inspired by ‘Becoming Painting’, 1994 because it’s a performance piece of a girl with red paint all over her, which heavily implies blood and perhaps menstrual blood, which is something I’ve touched upon, and her other performance piece, ‘From DNA To DNA’, which is again about blood, but this time with the use of red string. I combined the string that looks like it’s stained by blood, which is meant to symbolise menstrual blood, and a performer who has blood all over her hands and crotch area with a look of embarrassment and shame on her to highlight how our society still shames women (and men) for periods to the point of never speaking openly about it. I also used photoshop for the first time to get the layered edit to it in order to practice.
I also made this performance/photography piece into a book mark because, similarly to periods, it’s a very normal and common thing since half of the population will have/have them.
My shaped painting is below as well as my wall during the project;
I also took inspiration from ‘Women’s Art Journals’ since they looked into femininity, nudity, female strength, etc which is something I was very interested in for this project.
saratrouble 
One thought on “Library Research Project”