Diffusion – Day 12

Today was a really exciting day at shit, as i helped with finishing touches and the curation of both Notting hill Sound Systems by Brian David Stevens and Alina Kisina’s Sound of Vision, curated by Sebah Chaudhry. I worked closely as an assistant for Sebah, who was particular and thoughtful of Kisina’s work, which was really great to have watched. I learned a lot about how to hang framed photos and polystyrene images onto walls – Kisina’s was jung with heavy duty velcro, and Steven’s was by nails. I was asked for advice on the positioning of images, as well as which walls should have which images, which I found pleasure to have done as an assistant. This took a lot of time and consideration, but we managed to complete it by the end of the day. These were the first works to go up onto the walls, making it really exciting to watch, as our hard work and preparation of the spaces were finally being used.

Equipment we used, such as the laser leveler, was a great thing to have learned about, as I had no idea it existed prior to setting these pieces up. I’ll be looking into using these for my exhibition hanging.

Cardiff MADE – Artifex

This evening I went to another student-led exhibition held at Cardiff MADE, called Artifex. It was a great exhibition, and many people went, making it seem very successful. The work put up had clear labels and were numbered, making it easy to find for if someone wanted to buy a piece. The curation was very clean and crisp too, as you could tell everyone had made an effort framing and measuring the hanging pieces.

I really enjoyed the variety too, and the contrast in Hollie’s grey landscapes with the colourful portraits by Molly or Evie’s abstract landscapes. They all balanced each other, and also greatly complimented each other. This was a great sneak peak to their final pieces, and I’m really looking forward to the final exhibition.

Kongs Printspace / Photography Exhibition

This exhibition had a few fellow students exhibiting, including Kirsty Alley and Karl Nurse, therefore I went to view the works, and was very excited by the artworks displayed. They were all photography/printworks, and worked so well with the Kongs industrial feel, as most of the works were monochrome, film, and dark, with very interesting narratives. Some were about everyday life, while others focussed on political aspects, such as the coal industry in the 60s in South Wales, where many miners lost their lives.

We also spoke on a local TV show, where young/learning journalists asked Imo and I to speak about the exhibition and who we were, which I found great because I rarely have to think on the spot about artworks in a professional environment, which was thus great practice.

Overall I really enjoyed the evening, and spoke to a few artists who were exhibiting there or just there for the event, including Gweni Llwyd, who is currently working for RawFfest.

G39 Invigilating

Invigilating today was really great, as I got to speak about our upcoming exhibition here, and also got a lot of the visitors to take posters home with them, and some will be distributing them to their friends.

I also got to take part in their “Frunch”, which is lunch that is meant to take part on a Friday, but today was such a lovely, sunny day, they decided to hold it today. The new intern was also introduced to her role today, so I got to meet her and was present for the meeting that introduced her to G39 and everyone’s roles, and what her role will entail.

Thomas Goddard was also here all day, and I spoke and had a good catch-up with him and what we were currently up to. I spoke to him about Diffusion festival, and he’ll be coming to the events that I’m involved in.

Today was also a chance for me to speak to Chris and Anthony about borrowing equipment, as I’m on the hunt for media players, and was wondering if they had any with VGA ports for the old projectors I’ll be using.

Diffusion – Day 11

Today was a great day, and took Shift to an almost finished point in building and painting. We finished the boards and fences we were painting for other venues, and  helped with the move of this huge piece for X-Ray Vision, which will have a huge projection of a record made out of X-ray film. We also finished clearing the space, and organised everything that needed to be moved to Senedd and WMC on Sunday for when the movers come. I also organised with Ayu and Cat everything I’ll need to take to the Diffusion stall on Monday, where I’ll be in the CSAD Heart Space answering questions and getting students involved with the festival. I was able to get my hands on maps, the catalogue, and printed Jupiter posters ready for the event.

Diffusion – Day 10

Today was spent painting the second layer and finishing up a few bits we had missed/couldn’t reach. This lead to painting lots of large MDF walls for the project David the director is planning for Senedd and WMC. This took all day, as we kept moving onto new boards that needed to be painted while we waited for the newly painted to dry, and rotated that way, which meant we could do them all in a day.

We also had primer today, which meant that the rest of the painting went much better and a lot quicker for us.

Fruit Bowl

I wanted to finish a piece from a recent performance piece better, as I realise when I film them, the 3D objects can almost just look messy, which is definitely good for my context, but I wanted to try making it a little more carefully and document through pictures and see where that took me. I started looking at aesthetic fruit bowl that only contained cherries and peaches, examples are below;

I wanted to re-create these, and I actually followed a baking tutorial where an attractive lady tells us how to create objects using marzipan. I mention she’s attractive because the camera kept focusing on her instead of the marzipan objects, which a number of people got frustrated at in the comments. I found this interesting, as it was obvious it was happening as you followed the tutorial, but it wouldn’t be as obvious if you were watching out of interest at all, defeating the function of what the video is meant to be for.

Therefore, I decided to make a grotesque version of this tutorial of a fruit bowl, using marzipan and paint. I mashed them up, to tint the marzipan entirely of the colour, then shaped them into the fruits, adding worm-like stalk, suggesting a rotten feel to the fruit.

They turned out looking bloodied and almost sunken, which I really liked. The fruit actually looked like fake fruit you find in museums and bakeries, which ended up looking really great for the purpose of the piece. But the unnaturalness, and the “blood” around the fruit, as well as the bloodied hand prints add to the unattainable feeling of it. I can’t wait to start experimenting with projections on this piece.

Diffusion – Day 9

The painting has really kicked off here, as most of the walls have had at least a first coat and the holes have been filled. This has taken a lot of volunteer help and a lot of hard work from interns around all venues, making the process go a lot quicker and simpler for me.

However, we did encounter a few problems; we didn’t have a primer today, so we had to paint straight onto the wooden walls, meaning more paint coats and more time was used up. We also found that some of the brick walls were full of holes/texture, meaning this also took a lot of time to paint. However, it seems under control for now, and we are well underway to open for April.

Radio Cardiff – Empower Me! Exhibition

We’ve finally began advertising for our call-out for artists to participate in our upcoming Empower Me! exhibition, held at G39 in July. I printed the posters in varying sizes, including A3, A4, A5, A6 and even smaller. We’ve put them all over the university, including the cafeteria and Starbucks, and I’ve taken a few to G39 while I invigilated. We all also posted it onto our social media platforms; I posted on both my instagram pages and facebook page, and a range of people have already shown a keen interest, which is really exciting.

We all also advertised/ announced our exhibition on Radio Cardiff, and chatted about the entire plan, including what type of artworks we wanted to see, from what kind of people, where and when it will be held, and where to find us for more details. This was also an opportunity to speak about our own practice, which all goes really well with the theme of the Empower Me! exhibition.

What I Eat In A Day: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

My latest film;

My latest film is about eating what you want to look like, as I, the subject, consume myself, as a female who’s consumed by the male gaze. This was done by a performance of myself eating marzipan, and slowly adding more and more marzipan to my face, creating a patch-work of skin-like texture on my face. I keep looking at the camera in an admiring way, again to address how I’m happy with this grotesque outcome, posing as if I’m posing for a photoshoot. I add to the grotesque nature of it by adding the same red paint as I’ve been using throughout these performances, creating a bloodied-skin effect. The aim was to eat up the marzipan, as I’d previously used it to create new breasts and bum.

This reminds me heavily of the masks some murderers are known for creating out of skin in films, such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, inspired by the hideous crimes of Ed Gein. Gein admitted to murdering two women, one who he had shot with a rifle and decapitated, and the Sheriff’s deputy discovered her decapitated body in a shed on Gein’s property, hung upside down by her legs with a crossbar at her ankles and ropes at her wrists. The torso was “dressed out like a deer”.

They found these in his property;

• Whole human bones and fragments
• A wastebasket made of human skin
• Human skin covering several chair seats
• Skulls on his bedposts
• Female skulls, some with the tops sawn off
• Bowls made from human skulls 
• A corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist
• Leggings made from human leg skin
• Masks made from the skin of female heads
• Mary Hogan’s face mask in a paper bag
• Mary Hogan’s skull in a box
• Bernice Worden’s entire head in a burlap sack
• Bernice Worden’s heart “in a plastic bag in front of Gein’s potbellied stove”
• Nine vulvae in a shoe box
• A young girl’s dress and “the vulvas of two females judged to have been about fifteen years old”
• A belt made from female human nipples
• Four noses
• A pair of lips on a window shade drawstring
• A lampshade made from the skin of a human face
• Fingernails from female fingers