Working over Christmas...

When I got home to the Falklands the ball really started rolling with my practical, ritual processes experiments... with nice weather and the beer flowing (obviously never when I was concentrating on the serious nature of my university work... hehehe...) an ideal backdrop landscape for filming and photography was provided on many an occasion.

I  took in mind pointers that my tutors (the wonderful Bob and Lisa) had given me during my end of term tutorial- to consider biblical font versus the message of the text and the way my aplahabet letters change the viewing of controlled messages, to steer away from my habit of being a little over- ironic, to deliberate on the metaphysical and physical landscapes surrounding the text in my images and their correlation to, or juxtaposition of a sense of displacement... and also a few cataloguing and sketchbook organisation issues which were already underway and just needed more work-

After sitting down and deliberating on the possible stages of displacement throughout my own life, and how certain metaphorical processes invisaged my personal notions of ritual, I creating small notes and sketches depicting the intial ideas for the experiments; and how carrying out or completing these rituals would correlate with my conceptual processes.

I started looking at what I named 'earth experiments'; looking at alphabet letters in natural, wild surroundings and their connections to the earth and the natural elements surrounding them. Using part of a bible quote from FIND QUOTE NUMBER! 'And unto dust thou return'. The photographs really brought out the contrasting colours of the surroundings (the dust really literally incorporated the notion of the wasteland) but unfortunately I couldn't manage to get any good film footage with the wind blowing all of the dust about!

Later on in the evening I tried a similiar experiment using the modernised version of the Exodus 3.14, 'I am that I am' to bring out the sublimity of the free, open landscape outside of my house... although perhaps the lighting did not bring out the contrasting colours as well, it was still an interesting experiment to try;

I also tried with a non- Biblical quote, placing the letters reading 'Come Home' outside the  gate, the threshold of my parents house (obvious alliteration, but I wanted again to play around with the visual qualitites and contrast colours whilst I had the chance);

The next experiment was (quite fun to carry out although not particuarly effective) to run over the alphabet letters with the landrover... but unfortunately I underestimated the swampiness of the wet ground, and the letters sank into the ground rather than being squashed or broken like I had anticipated. The letters did leave a few light imprints in the ground after several increasingly frustrated attempts of reversing over them, but overall it was not an effective method of experiementing with ritual process...

This next experiment became the initial experiment for my determined ritualistic direction, and gave me a chance to iron out any problematic issues before I tried to do it again...
For an entire evening I melted candles over alphabet letters, and photographed the ensuing results. I began the experiment with two candles, one with letters reading 'light' at its base, and the other (the longer candle) 'darkness'. However I only got as far as manually melting the 'light' candle, as the process was so time-consuming and labourious that I took up my Dad's suggestion to use a handheld blowtorch to melt the second candle.
Melting wax over the letters proved to be very visually effective for my photographs (and highlighted the dedication to time-consuming ritual that occupies my day to day life, not to mention embodying metaphors of light and darkness, etc) but I decided that a second experiment, filming the melting wax of the second camera whilst melting it down with a blowtorch would give the experiement both speed and edge.

The second experiment of wax melting really exemplified my visual notions of ritual process in the wasteland, and the sped up film of the wax melting outside my house with the dappled sunlight reflecting through the wind blown trees on to the wax really added a sense of movement to the experiment. We accidentally began to melt the alphabet letters whilst burning the wax down, but it resulted in a fascinated effect that I intend to focus upon and pursue throughout my future works;

 (N.B due to lost footage, which was again found, Dad and I melted a second, round candle down, burning it until the alphabet letters set alight and melted into a bubbling mass which was an amazingly powerful image and seemed to  me as though we were burning the message away; and DISSOLVING LANGUAGE)

Even though this previous experiment made my mind up about what ritual notions that I wanted to continue exploring, I carried on experimenting with other ideas; through 'water' and 'burying'. It has become increasingly apparent how natural elements both change and direct my ritualistic processes, bringing ideals of home and belonging into my displacement, whilst simultaneously altering my conceptual notions and constraints).

Using earth from Dad's newly dug flowerbeds (I like to recycle :P) I played around with 'burying' (or more accurately, covering, hiding) alphabet letters, and looking at how concealing physical parts of the letters themselves changed the visual qualities, and the message itself. I also took some landscaped images of the letters stuck into the soil next to a pool of water... playing with visuals rather than focusing on concepts that I usually centre on and forget the physical, literal qualities of my work...

Following on the theme of ritual process I experiemented with placing alphabet letters in water, (harking a little to baptism, cleasning rituals and the washing away of sin, of fear and doubt... maybe) an experiment which I tried out in three different locations around East Falklands; Darwin, Stanley and the Van Tan.
I photographed the letters (which you might've noticed that I've glued and stuck on to cocktail sticks to elevate, or 'stick' them into the landscapes) firstly in the sea at Darwin Harbour, focusing on the movement of the tide and the rippling of the water. Then, although with a far more unsuccessful outcome than I had anticipated, I tried to take similar images in Felton's Stream at the Stanley Golfcourse. However, the water had dried up considerably from the bottle experiements I had sailed on it last year for a previous project, and the fresh water had been contaminated with salt water, so the murky brown depths didn't give me the contrasting colours I was searching for (I also had a slight tantrum with the cocktail sticks, and ended up trying a few images of submerged letters...). I then got the chance to go up to the slightly more remote Van Tan, a landscape which really magnified the atmosphere that I was looking for. Due to the rugged landscape and clear, fast- moving waters and minature waterfalls I was finally provided with the chance to experiment with water texture and the smooth, matte surfaces of the alphabet letters (and  I got to wade into the stream and walk along it barefoot, so some naturalistic fun was included!). These experiments were enjoyable to carry out, and have helped me determine and focus upon the particular ritual process that identifies with my notions of identifying and overcoming feelings of displacement, and the resulting concepts of ritual in the wasteland...

THIRD YEAR INTERIM SHOW

Here are a few images from the first term interim show, set up in the style of the Royal Academy Summer Shows, our 'Academy Show' consists of a bulk collection of our experiements, contextual research, sketches, intial images and statements (displayed like Frazer Muggeridge graphic collage pages... an experiement for additional pages in our Degree Show Catalogue)...Enjoy!

The Spaghetti Experiment...

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...

Alphabet Letters and the Formulation of Ritual: Initial Experiements...

 

To kick-start my considerations of text and the formulation of ritual, I decided to use magnetic alphabet letters (and laser-cutting cut outs from a previous text installation project- 'Phoenix') as the initial material and visual stimulant for my experiments; in the hopes of directing the vague wandering of my ideas. 

I played with them- forming quotes and developing structures (as children do when learning to read and write) placing them over books from which I chose pertinent quotes, images I deemed as contrasting for the backdrop of the textual questioning, and images from films (whilst playing on the television screen) to add doses of satirical irony. This, although simple and relatively literal, had a powerful effect in making me consider the visual language of texts as viewed and questionned during our development... making me think back to childhood days when the simple and obvious questions seemed so important; and now ignored by those who had questionned them before... 

I then went on to experiment with the projection of alphabet letters with a broken projector (acquired from the depths of Martin's studio) and made some very Barbara Kruger-esque projections, accentuated by the shadows of the shattered glass of the screen.

After several failed attempts to capture shattered glass shards exploding and disrupting formulated alphabet letter quotes (taken from the bible , in this particular case 'I'm sorry that I made any of them' Genesis)... which I intend to try again at a later date... I have begun to formulate more experimental ideas that use motifs of ritual in their enaction; covering with candle wax, burning, washing, submerging, sinking, burying, cutting, breaking, reforming, exposing to the elements... etc, the majority of which I will carry out this Christmas Holiday back in the Falklands.

I also have a vision of creating a video exploring the cleansing/washing away of or the disguise within ritual, by filming the everyday process (and for me rather a habitual obsession!) of washing the dishes, but washing away spaghetti letter quotes which have been stuck and encrusted to the dirty dishes. I am intruiged by the conceptual dilemma of cleansing as a healing, purifying act; or a disguise to mask what was considered to be wrong...

Ritual in the Wasteland... and similar togography of displacement...

Continuing on from a similar vein in my previous second and first year projects- though this time concentrating more upon the formulation of text and narrative structure than the fantastical metaphors of creative writing- I am going to continue 'navigating the imaginary landscape of my displacement' until a destination is reached.

However, throughout this year I intend to complement this narrative exploration with more in-depth visual experiments; focusing not only upon the linguistic formulation of text but the metaphorical situation of text placement and understanding.

I see my fascination with text and narrative structure as the encapsulation of my need for ritualistic process... the need to contemplate fantasy in reality in relation to self-realisation and understanding... a narrative journey in search of purification, cleansing, forgiveness, reconciliation, ceremony... rite of passage... manifesting into physical (and at times mundane, yet obsessive) actions which reflect these ritual considerations.
Using the visual stimulant of alphabet letters- as a means for bringing a three-dimensional installation into my narrative habits- I will use ritualistic processes particularly to allegorically and metaphorically explore topics of interest which reflect my preoccupation with ritual; and contribute to the allusion of 'wasteland' which figures predominantly in my conceptual artistic practice.

Religion and narrative discrepancy, use and misuse of the Allegorical, Apocalyptic landscape, Romanticism and the Enlightenment, Postmodern Narrative techniques, Questioning identity and social paradigms, Depression and the mental psyche, Fantasy and the Real, Unknown and the Terror of the Sublime, The Anti-Hero and ulterior motives, Loss and Replacement, Action and Consequence, Stream of consciousness and inner-monologue, the concept of Sin and Redemption, and Rite of Passage... to name a few examples, are particular themes of interest in both my practical and conceptual ideas... and will be considered within my creative writing and visual experiments throughout the year.

For once I am quite unsure of the complete direction in which my project is going, or of its end product and destination; but I am attempting to enjoy this uncertainty and work with it... journeying into the unknown regions of my displacement to discover new realisations and conceptual wanderings...