The fetishisation of food has become a hugely important aspect of my practice. The playful and flirtatious nature of eating on camera for an audience to document the sexualised reactions has developed from paintings of a “sexual” emoji fruit machine into a grotesque representation of the female body as an object to be consumed, mainly using performance and film. I have challenged the use of fruit emojis as representations of the female body, such as cherries and peaches, and created a series of films documenting my transformation into these specific fruits, which have been inspired by ORLAN’s body modifications.
These are shown through projections of my body going through these failing transformations. I have used a combination of marzipan for its fleshy consistency, and fruit for a grotesque and bloodied effect to make cherry breasts and peachy bums and used the left-overs of these performances as pieces in their own right. These pieces are displayed as relief objects to project my films onto and morph my body further, emphasising the transformations.
My work shines a light on the new era of impossible body ideals, where online dating has developed its own sexual language through imagery rather than words, and questions why exactly it is predominantly aimed at women’s bodies.
I have aimed to document a series of performances through film and then displaying the films through projections onto pieces from the performance, and also use blocks of colours and a series of flashbacks to represent the fruits and themes I have used, for example, orange for peaches. This will take me a month to prepare and build, as I have to rent the equipment and order items, such as USBs. I have also prepared key dates for things that will need assistance, such as plinth making over the Easter break, enabling me enough time during the two week degree show build.
I needed assistance with setting up audio/projector equipment by either Mal Bennett or Neil Pedder, and hanging up the pieces being displayed. I have also built four plinths to put my projectors inside, pointing towards the hanging pieces, which will need assistance by Nigel Williams. I will also regularly meet up with a technician during the build to ensure everything is going smoothly and that I’m meeting regulations.
In order to project my films, I’ve enquired a darker room. I would preferably need somewhere that people could see both my 3D pieces and my projections on top of them, however the projector’s brightness have sufficiently done this without any natural or extra artificial lighting. I’ve made numerous diagrams on Google Sketch up and a few sketches in my sketchbook to make it easier to see what I’m aiming for, and have constantly changed with research, practice, and enquiring with tutors and technicians;
My most recent ones are below, which more accurately show what I’ve decided to use for curational purposes;
I budgeted a £100 for everything, including USBs, wood, paint, marzipan, food, and have kept a spreadsheet to keep track of everything;
It all came to £103.60, which is only very slightly over budget, therefore I’m happy with this outcome.
saratrouble 