A short blog text-wise this time as I’m starting to get much more into the visual research and ideas flow right now, which feels good.
Currently writing this from the beach after a lunchtime sea swim- (one of those days when you remember why you chose to live in Brighton).
My GUTS project so far has been mostly focused on the inner workings of the body, and after some stimulating conversation with artist Whiskey Chow a few weeks ago, I’ve had in the back of my mind the following question:
‘What is the role of the body in this work?’
With these images I’ve been focusing more on the body- the outside rather than the inside, and thinking more about my body as a symbol, a weight, a container, has coincided with spending time focusing on increasing my physical fitness and strength- I’m far from being very fit but I noticed a HUGE decline in my stamina and overall fitness after Covid and Colitis knocking me out for the best part of 2 months.
As well as swimming, getting back to dance classes and roller skating (all things that are much easier to do in the warm weather) I’ve been cycling more too. I worked myself up to cycling to the Lab and back home last week and that would have been unthinkable a month ago. It felt good.
I’ve been combining 3D scans of bodies and plants, and merging them, inside and out. In my ‘Getting Messy’ blog a few weeks ago I spoke about the way digital art can compel us to package representations of our bodies up onto neat and tidy plinths, with shiny projectors and surfaces…when in fact the reality the body and other natural forms are messy, slippery and often uncontainable. I read this interesting quote from Abject Art, Repulsion and Desire in American Art, published in 1993 alongside an exhibition at the Whitney Museum:
‘The proliferation of bodily fragments and degraded materials in contemporary art represents, on the one hand, the exteriorization of all interiority in the contemporary world; in the present-day postmodern age, we are ‘bodies without organs.’, ‘desiring machines’ or ‘cyborgs’…
The recent production of abject art, at a time of AIDS, backlash against women’s rights, and ‘private telematics’ (the dematerialisation of the body in post-modernism), signifies the irrepressible resurgence of the body in an era of diminishing returns.‘
Thinking further about plants and what they symbolise, I read this quote which resonated somewhat:
“Georges Bataille, in his 1929 essay “The Language of Flowers”, noted how flowers have come to represent the human ideal of the beautiful. Yet flowers spring from the manure pile, and “even the most beautiful flowers are spoiled in their centres by hairy sexual organs”; ultimately they wither and die, becoming excremental.”
Whilst in London a couple of weeks ago, I managed to catch the current exhibition at the Tate Modern, ‘Surrealism Beyond Borders’, which was great, although I would recommend making plenty of time to absorb it all. I only had an hour and found myself frantically taking photos of names and info panels so I didn’t forget to look anything up. There’s lots of work in it…and lots of writing!
It was so refreshing to see the concept of Surrealism across multiple continents, rather than the usual focus on Breton et al. Artists from diverse backgrounds exploring similar ideas across the world, years before culture and ideas became easily shareable via the internet.
I was particularly taken by Tod Joan’s ‘Long Distance’- a 9 metre long exquisite corpse created across multiple countries between 1976 and 2005. Joan’s ‘equation of Surrealism, travel and community’ features 132 participants that ‘extends the Surrealist idea of collaborative authorship.’
Speaking of communities, this weekend is Trans Pride in Brighton, which has grown so much since I first attended a tiny march and pub gathering back in 2013. As well as a march and various parties, there’s loads of community events and art happenings, including a video installation ‘Trans Performance Exchange’ at the Actors by my studio partner & friend Emma Frankland. Take a look! (I’ll also be a guest DJ there on Friday evening from 8pm-2am, if you are up for a dance!)
I’ll leave you with these words from Claude Cahun, on the wall of the Tate’s Surrealism exhibition:
Resources
https://www.whiskeychow.com/ (take a look at their work as part of ‘On Queer Ground’ at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.)
‘Long distance’ by Ted Joans video
https://transpridebrighton.org
https://www.emmafrankland.co.uk/work/trans-performance-exchange