My project concept revolved around the idea of harmony and discord. The idea stemmed from my visual investigations of the people around me and the way they dressed. In the past there were distinct subcultures such as the Punks with their distressed or customised clothing and spiky hairstyles and the Mods with their smarter Italian inspired outlook.
There were many others that appeared through time or evolved from another subculture. My time growing up I feel, has been very different in that there has been no clear subculture or visual identity that separates the youth of today. I noticed my generation have taken bits and pieces from what they liked from different subcultures and combined them together to create a watered-down identity or look they were comfortable with whilst not following a gang or tribe.
With this in mind, I thought it would be interesting to take recognizable parts of different subcultures, the best or even worst, and combine them. I investigated the dominant subcultures of the past and began to piece ideas through sketchbook designing and collage to determine what would work for my own project. I ended up customising existing garments whilst creating patterns for new garments. The range of garments produced are interchangeable with each other to create a clashing of style.
My initial concept for this project was to make a visual representation of the morality of the human psyche and behaviour, and how I could show this using uncanny visuals. I wanted to create something that would make people question it or think about why there was a blend between the human and the non-human visuals as a literal representation of how people question that in real events.
I made sure to focus my strengths on illustration and 3D work, as this gave more room for texture as well as line and shape, with each angle of the work warping the shape, playing into the uncanny. The concept and research into uncanny artists like Junji Ito and writers like Lovecraft really made me excited for the project, as these are styles of work that I have a lot of passion for.
I was really drawn to the research into phobias and psychological reasoning behind them too, as it brought my concept out more clearly with the uncanny and how something would appear surreal and unnatural.
My project concept revolved around the idea of harmony and discord. The idea stemmed from my visual investigations of the people around me and the way they dressed. In the past there were distinct subcultures such as the Punks with their distressed or customised clothing and spiky hairstyles and the Mods with their smarter Italian inspired outlook.
There were many others that appeared through time or evolved from another subculture. My time growing up I feel, has been very different in that there has been no clear subculture or visual identity that separates the youth of today. I noticed my generation have taken bits and pieces from what they liked from different subcultures and combined them together to create a watered-down identity or look they were comfortable with whilst not following a gang or tribe.
With this in mind, I thought it would be interesting to take recognizable parts of different subcultures, the best or even worst, and combine them. I investigated the dominant subcultures of the past and began to piece ideas through sketchbook designing and collage to determine what would work for my own project. I ended up customising existing garments whilst creating patterns for new garments. The range of garments produced are interchangeable with each other to create a clashing of style.
This project pivots around the abstract expression of existentialism. Exploring the concept that perhaps “existence is the problem of existence”, we are nothing other than what we make of ourselves.
I interpreted existence in this project to essentially be awareness, “existence” being the awareness.
With awareness there comes thoughts which conceivably can be said to be the response one has to the reality they find themselves in.
But what if the reality one might find themselves in becomes one’s “identity”, rather than one’s own thoughts and view of themselves?
I physically depict the struggle of coming to terms with the notion that we might only truly exist within those who are aware of our existence. Thus, self-perception this “identity” idea, at a constant threat of becoming defined by what others think of us instead of what we comply to think of ourselves. Do we conform to the labels we were born with, or try to defy them, what happens when we choose the latter option?
Is our ability to think detached from context, be it the labels society has made to identify us, the stereotypes surrounding those, our misunderstandings, restraining us from true unreserved understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
I depict these human limitations, these existential questions, by symbolising the part of ourselves that allows for thought itself, the neural system, alongside “chains of thought” trapping us.
My project follows the theme of forests and what that means to me; especially through the perspective of childhood. Seeing forests through the lens of childhood it allowed me to see the magical and fantasy side of it, it also connected me back to the calming and personal connection I had to forests as a child. I used various techniques to try and achieve this; I began this with using heat tools to melt organza to create a bark like textures. I then began to experiment with other techniques such as weaving, embroidery, crochet.
I also wished to include elements from naturally foraged items from outside in real forests and so within my weaving I included sticks and twigs. It was important for me to express through textiles the importance that nature has had on my life, weather that be through the connections to my childhood or the tranquil and therapeutic side of forests as a place I feel I can go to feel calm and relaxed; I personally believe my final piece included elements of both.
I took my final piece in a rather fantasy route, including large draping sleeves and a long simplistic skirt. It felt important that I didn’t over complicate the skirt element as I didn’t want to distract from the sleeves; there is also the reasoning that overcrowding my piece would cause a busy and somewhat chaotic look; something that would go against the tranquil and therapeutic side of forests that I love.
Overall, I believe that the fantasy childhood elements of my project came out successfully and that you can see it coming through within my final work; I achieved my goal from the beginning which was to create something personal to me with the connection I have to forests and the memories I have attached to them.
In this project I explored Land And Sea. I intended to do this visually and aesthetically, being inspired by the flowing forms and rich blues, greens and blacks of the sea. I also felt it was important to include in my work, a theme of working with found materials, specifically plastics, to set an example for how we can protect the sea and surrounding environment using textiles rather than pollute it further.
A lot of my work involved attempting to utilise plastic bags, as well as the offcuts from my other materials, in a way that was beautiful and created detail that effectively creates the same atmosphere as the ocean. I was inspired by the grand, flowing forms found in the works of Iris Van Herpen the fashion designer and brand, as well as Peter Gentenaar who creates sculptures using paper pulp.
Exalted Ape Studios is an established, high quality, triple-A video game studio that is working on a new narrative based single player campaign game: Haven. Hoping to fill a void in the market for story driven narrative games, ‘Haven’ will be a medieval/fantasy open world game.
For this project, I will be initially creating a logo for the studio, demonstrating the creativity and fictional aspects of their games, in the hope of generating a strong brand identity that can be clearly associated with an artistic and creative style. Secondly, I will be creating a concept art book that contains, character designs, concept art, explanative accompanying text, and a front and back cover.
Perfection Interiors is an interior architecture and design company that has given me the mission to create them a new brand identity for their company which will soon be opening in the well-known city, Birmingham. With Perfection Interiors being placed in this location, hopefully there will be a high chance of the company getting noticed quickly by potential clients.
Perfection Interiors is a company that is known for their interior designing skills and architectural skills where they are involved in the design or renovation of an interior space which includes structural, alterations, furnishing, fixture and fitting, lighting, and colour scheme. This company works in a range of commercial, leisure and domestic settings. This company also focuses on providing variety of sketches when working alongside clients so that the client can have a visual idea of how the interior space will look like before any action is made so then alterations can also be made.
