Although I intend to conduct my spaghetti experiments again, (this time with further preparation, scruffy clothes and a little less tomato sauce!) for the intial practice I placed spaghetti alphabet letters on to plates in the form of quotes from Dodie Smith's novel, 'I Capture the Castle', and got my flatmate to film the process of me washing the dishes... washing the spaghetti letters off the plates and throwing the leftovers into the bin.
I chose this particular novel mainly as I found it very influential and relatable to my own thoughts as I was growing up and reading it throughout my teenage years, not to mention for its narrative (diaristic) qualities. The intensity of the protagonist's particular thoughts at intervals throughout the novel identifies with my interests in narrative formulation and individual development. In a novel describing a potentionally amusing and comical situation; there are moments of great pain and self-doubt. The entries concerning religion and belief particuarly interest me, and I found whilst reading through and ascertaining quotes that I often shared the same thoughts on the subject as the main character, Cassandra Mortmain.
The process of placing the alphabet letters on to the plates (an act involving stamp tweezers, fingers, flatmate assistance and a great deal of patience) became very ritualistic, and I became entirely involved in its execution; returning to the book constantly and re arranging the letters to formulate more structured sentences.
Once the fliming began I tried to emulate my ordinary methods of washing up as much as possible to ensure the filming didn't appear rehearsed, yet in that mindset I became more ritualisticaly involved with the process of the act as ritual... making it appear as a reverant demonstration of cleansing and purification. The physical movement of my hands and wrist whilst washing was also notably intruiging, as watching over the tape showed them from a perspective I had not previously considered; turning the everyday, mundane act into a dance, a reverie of self-absorption and contemplation...
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