You’re not the girl with long hair, oval eyes, luscious lips and perfect teeth.
You don’t look like the girl on the magazine cover or runway,
Hell, you might even be straighter than an arrow.
But you’re the most beautiful.
The way you love hard, laugh with abandon, push your glasses back to your face, wipe the sweat off your forehead, the way that crown dances on your head.
Sure, you’re a queen,
Of hearts, of love, freedom, beauty, wisdom.
Your huge heart is large enough to hug all the children of the world.
you refuse to be undermined and wield your sword in the fight for truth.
This is my last blog entry and one day before I am due to fly out to Thailand and ultimately travel through Myanmar. I am planning to gather a broad range of primary sources for a further experimentation with the newly initiated process.
I have edited a number of documentary recordings of various stages of the washing process. The creative potential is definitively there and I will continue to question the metaphorical meaning of the uncertainty of the washing process.
A video and a GIF below, document the process of my work and thinking. There is also an intriguing dialogue between the resistance of the fragile image and the brutal and violent machine intervention.
I have just started the next phase of the long planned process of experimentation with machine intervention. I have alternated individual washing cycles with the overprinting and refreshing of the image. When the ink was dry, I used the washing machine again and programmed different lengths and temperatures to maximise the effect of uncertainty and unpredictability. Cold washes had minimal impact on the image. The screen-printed text started, however, to become softer and softer. Therefore, it appeared to be more ambiguous and difficult to decipher. The surface of the painting itself, became damaged and populated with watery holes and creases. This change to the texture and integrity of the piece has started to create an impact on the dynamics of the painting.
My plan is to continue with this process in order to find out, how far it can be stretched. What I would like to establish is the limit of uncertainty. How far can this process be taken to before the inevitable becomes the obvious, predictable and very certain. I am fascinated by a dialogue and interdependence between both contradictory perspectives and the testing of the boundaries.
I have managed to record several interesting images depicting this new to me method of working.
Final proposal for my submission to the Interim Exhibition.
This portrait is hypnotically hovering behind the text – emerging from the writing and vanishing again. The model is looking down with pride and confidence. She is emerging through the messages and remains deadpan – a distant observer.
The video instigates a sense of a dialogue between provocations and her responses to them. Despite the attention, she remains undisturbed.
The piece tries to question the presumption within our prejudice and allows us to understand the contradictory point of view – the opposite perspective. Therefore, forcing us to confront and reflect on our own behaviour in the context of making judgements without thinking and appropriate analysis. We simply devalue the status of a person from a different culture. Labelling and categorising removes individuality and creates a climate for a lack of our responsibility towards them.
The patterns and colours echo the culture of her native Nigeria. They are vibrant and dynamic, reflecting the power of pure Chroma highlighted by the tropical sun.
Earlier versions during the developmental stages were jumpy. I felt that the portrait did not interact well with the messages.
This is a smoother and more refined version in Premier. However, there is a jump at the end, which makes the looping disjointed.
I am very excited to have started working on an alternative direction of my project. My new piece is a portrait of Pearl Twink, a girl I met in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.
The concept for this piece is to instigate a dialogue between my reflections on her definitively uncertain life, and interweave them with her responses to my provocative statements. The plan is to use a range of processes, including painting and screen printing. This will be possibly extended and developed through video and Gifs. The narrative element continues to be very important. It reinforces the ambiguity of the message I am trying to communicate and questions it’s place in the broader contexts.
The previously overused blasting process will be now replaced by a machine intervention. I will experiment with using a variety of washing powders, temperatures and lengths of cycles to remove the under image and the overprinting layers of text.
All my new work will be created on unprimed and unstreatched canvases. Currently, I am using Calico and synthetics. However, during my forthcoming trip to Burma, I intend to collect a variety of materials and appropriate, locally produced fabrics, to increase the element of authenticity of my project.
I have already started to develop an under image. It is still a recognisable portrait of Pearl Twink. This part of the process is associated with deep reflections. My thoughts are jotted down all over the piece as rough notes and the most important content is just below the image.
Subsequently, I have refined this text and its content. I wanted for my message to be more provocative as well as form a discussion between her ideas and my judgements.
A copy of the refined text is below. I have also experimented with different ways of making the text less readable and partly invisible.
Subsequently, I was faced with a dilemma: should I use a handwritten text on top of the under image or develop a typographic silk screen?
The screen idea has worked very well and the inking process was very fulfilling. I felt that this process has began to work as I had intended.
Additionally, the overprinting has started to take shape and created fine details and a sense of layering.
The message containing Pearl Twink’s response is also ready to be transferred onto a silk screen. As soon as this is done, I will initiate the overprinting process, which will be subsequently washed off by experimenting with machine intervention.
This is intended to reinforce the element of uncertainty and waiting in anticipation; worries and anxieties of what will happen during the ‘washing’ cycle. There is no stopping it whilst the process is started. All I can do is to wait to see the result and assess the accidental value of my risky approach. The potential of loosing it all is real!
As an alternative idea, I am also considering to develop an animation, or perhaps, a video piece, and include the flashing and alternating of individual stages of the overprinting process and the messages.
I could not resist to record the last attempt of blasting the ink off to reveal the content of the screen and its message.
I am really excited about some recent developments in terms of my painting practice. I have worked on my recent canvas with a great range of colour layers and washes. The glazing of the underpainting, which is in turn blasted off with a jet of water, creates a sensation of unusual depth to the work.
i am hoping to achieve a greater complexity of the surface quality. I am also experimenting with a juxtaposition of hyper realistic portrayal and random and accidental marks created by the jet of water. However, this process is more than just a mere accident. I am also slowly learning how to control the nozzle of the pressure washer in order to achieve an effect, which i particularly desire.
In technical terms, I have also extended on my typical use of brushes and started to include working with sponges and cloth.
I have spend most of the day experimenting with the established process of continuously over-printing and blasting the newly applied colour layer away with a strong jet of water.
While documenting the work progress, I have started to alternate the use of video material and photography of relevant stages and refinements.
The screen developed for this image is based on pomegranate. This fruit is a national symbol of Azerbaijan. It is also associated with wealth and prosperity. Most Azeris regard pomegranate as a culturally and historically established object of desire.
i particularly like the ambiguity of the composition of pomegranate seeds. The screen is mysterious and non-descriptive. This lack of exactness and visual identity make it more uncertain and, perhaps even nervous,
My creative intentions were to make images, which are more ambiguous and undefined by avoiding using realistic colours. I have experienced a lot of trouble trying to photograph these paintings. I had to bounce the light of a screen to avoids unnecessary reflections and other visual disturbances. The idea was also to reject the use of Photoshop as a tool for enhancing images. I wanted to get photographs, which are untouched and unchanged – a la prima.
What is really important to me is the use of accidents, which are wholly unpredictable. It is also about visualising anxiety and uncertainty of “things going wrong” and simply destroying my own work before giving it a chance to appear and develop. I am fascinated by the layers of paint and ink, and the accidental tears breaking up on the surface. Punhane has started to develop references to images of Madonna, or perhaps, coffin portraiture and paintings executed in encaustic..
The next stage will be to leave this piece to dry and than, prime its surface with diluted PVA in order to be able to restart the entire process again.
I have manipulated the video to alter its format. Most of the experimentation was undertaken with Adobe Premiere Pro CC2018 to achieve two main objectives:
make the video shorter (under 60 seconds) in order to be able to share it on Instagram.
the second, more important goal was to remove some of the unnecessary content, which has diluted and clouded the key message in the voice recording.
Additionally, I utilised a range of transitions and other editing effects in order to make the overall piece more holistic and cohesive. The other quality improvement was to alter the tonation of the video footage. My creative intention was to make it much warmer and introduce a sensation of ageing. This echoes the greatest fear of Punhane – she is terrified of getting old.
My final proposal has just been shared online and I am nervously awaiting commentary.
The painting itself will be revisited and developed further next week. I am in the process of thinking the progress through, while trying to refine the idea and enhance painterly qualities of the piece. I have just developed a new screen with an image of a cross section of a pomegranate. I took this image at a market in Baku. This is the official national symbol of Azerbaijan. It was also Punhane’s favourite fruit. I will be using the highly decorative and organised pattern of seeds while overprinting the piece with a range of layers, starting with vibrant crimsons and moving through the colour spectrum towards deep blues, while printing with Prussian Blue based colours.
I am moderating in Northern Ireland next week, but the plan is to take my work to the second stage of blasting it with a water jet.
My creative intention is to use the voice recording below to contextualise the piece, which I am currently trying to develop and refine. There is a degree of hesitance, which is apparent throughout the talk. The essence of what Punhane is trying to truly communicate is contained in the last sentence, as follows:
“I am a bit worried about being alone and getting old…”
I have started with the painterly process, while preparing an under painting for a new piece. The inspiration has come from my experiences in Azerbaijan, especially in the capital Called Baku.
The image below is of a young Azeri girl, who was my guide around the “Land of Fire”. We have spent a fair amount of time together, while exploring the local culture and became friends.
On the last day of my visit, I managed to interview Punhane. She gradually opened up and revealed her secrets to me. She was very nervous and hesitant. I recorded her short monologue, which appraises her uncertainties and anxieties.
I questioned the concept of happiness. This somehow upset her. She abruptly responded – “I have already told you – at the end”.
Ultimately, the recording will accompany and support the digitised version of a more refined version of this work.
HYPNOTIC REPETITION 