These will be my last few posts as my piece is almost ready for assessment. I feel pleased that it has worked out how I envisaged it, with a few minor alterations.
Rather than 90 prints there are now 96. I had originally thought of a section with 10 rows of 9 prints and the final piece is 6 prints wide by 16 deep. Although I was always aiming for 90 prints, I did quite a few spare – so I had choices. In the end I had 98 prints and used all but 2 of them.
I have my white walls on either side and the vinyl lettering looks good – and I managed to get it level without making a mess of it.
I am getting all my note books ready and have printed out my degree proposal again as it is required. I perused it to see how much I have followed out my proposal.
In it I talk about women as objects, possessions. My previous work had reflected some of that: history and also brutality in Iran.
I mentioned Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin as my influences. Both are print makers and talk about the women in society. I think my greatest influence has been Louise Bourgeois however: her wit and understatement, her unfailing energy i find most admirable. She worked in series – the last one A L’Infini moved me enormously when I saw it in Edinburgh early this year.
Following my proposal I did explore the Patriarchal Society and how women have lost power as the sacred life givers through, I believe, the influences of Primogeniture and various misogynist religions.
We cannot escape the news and men are still in charge in our society while in places like India and Pakistan women are abominably treated. Everyday there is some terrible event to report concerning the abuse of women.
Murdering and raping women is illegal in most countries, yet it seems to be getting worse. It’s as if men feel they have an entitlement to do so.
Female Genital Mutilation is illegal in this country, and has been for 29 years, but the numbers of British born girls being mutilated because of such barbaric, medieval customs, is rising. it is now mentioned frequently in the newspapers.
I had considered doing one final piece on Female Genital Mutilation and perhaps moving onto a sculpture using the wooden struts we removed from our roof space to represent the structure of the Patriarchal Society.
I arrived at a symbolic idea to convey the horror of mutilation; a bloody orchid. When I showed these first prints to my tutors they liked the idea and the concept of a large piece, comprising many prints, grew. It also seemed true to me, and something that I just couldn’t let go.
Rather than doing just one shape in the middle of the paper, I tried various different shapes and sizes – representing the different ages when females are mutilated from babies and children to young women. Within the bleeding orchid prints there are also prints to represent the bloodied pieces of amputated flesh, and also, in extreme cases, infibulation. This is an attempt to show the reality of the horrendous practice. Normally it is unseen and only obvious from the traumatised withdrawal of the young girl and her painful walk.
If we can’t see something in society, we don’t want to think about it.
Louise Bourgeois was always subtle. I hope my approach is too, yet shocking at the same time. I have tried to give the work an aesthetic quality and if people want to make the connections then hopefully there will also be a frisson of horror as they realise what they are looking at and walking over.
Bourgeois didn’t exhibit her prints on the floor. I have researched a contemporary New York artist who does: Polly Apfelbaum. Her work is colourful and textural, influenced by Outsider Art, Feminism and daily life. She rejects aggressive masculinity.
It is interesting how we view work: sculpture sits in its own space – but the rest is usually hung on walls.
The floor is exciting. But you need to have ample space and space is often at a premium.
