I’d intended on going into university today but the last 10 days of 4-10hours of walking has taken it out of me, plus my house is a mess and i can’t do anything when it’s like that. So today I’ve cleaned and tidied and washed and now I’m ready to get on with the real work.
I notice today my quotable ‘Art’s Hard’ has been made into a tee-shirt by a Leeds based graphic designer. I’d buy one if I had the funds but instead i live the quote.
I’m still thinking about the jars. I was nearly sick last night when I retraced my steps and couldn’t find the negatives from the paper eating and pinhole session. Thankfully after today’s tidy up I’ve located them and a cheque for £11.30 which I’d thought had gone forever.
Another welcome discovery was the handwritten notes from kenya hara’s white which I’ve now typed up. In doing so I was re-inspired by his thoughts on whiteness and paper. For him white is related to our understanding of completeness and perfection and making marks onto white is facing up to the possible failure of the act. Those marks which we see on paper we know are there because they have gone through a process of elimination and have been carefully selected.
With this in mind I think about eating white paper. Am I trying to consume perfection? To join it to my body in the process and in that act correct the failures of my body? Allowing the enzymes of my saliva to make the mark completely independent of an aesthetic mind? To go back to my original question what is them meaning of material (paper) in my work?
The act of chewing on white paper can be read in many ways. From Leigh Clarke’s view I am illustrating eating disorders. In particular a condition know as Pica, which has sometimes been a result of nutrient deficiency and a way for the body to signal to the conscious mind that there is a problem. This interpretation was not the intention of the work but the nature of post structuralist aesthetics mans that we can attach whatever meaning we see fit to a piece of work. Although I am not talking about eating disorders I must accept that this is a possible interpretation.
Chewing white paper could also be seen as a protest. Destroying the perfection of a pure white sheet of paper. Using the hardest substance in my body to take it apart and unmake it so that it becomes unusable. In this way it could be an act done in anger, frustration and need.
Thirdly the consuming of white paper could be seen as a desire to achieve perfection. Passing by the choices of the brain in making the marks on the paper and handing over complete control to the body. Again this comes from a need to replace a lack in the body. An acknowledgement of imperfection and the futile act of perfecting it. In a way this has links to the ideas of eating disorders.
And so what happens when I present the work in domestic glass jars. This then becomes a reference to food but also preservation and the glass creates a protective barrier rendering the contaminated substance safe to view and scrutinize. Paper in a jar as a scientific sample and also as a food substance could refer to how the food we eat today is modified and corrected to suit our tastes and most of the time we have no idea what it contains and where it came from. Of course there are the labels but this information does little to aid the understanding of how the food we eat has come into existence.
For me having a special container fabricated for the purpose of displaying the bolus would make the whole process void. Making from what you have, although a little ‘outsider’ in it’s nature attaches the work to the individual. By presenting something that is so personal to me the viewer perceives this personal object and can connect with it as the produce of a fellow human begin.
