Rethink. Refund. Reboot. exhibition piece and statement

Time-lapses of me creating the NON ESSENTIAL clown look on my face: https://youtu.be/PRrkiDUsLp0

Second attempt: https://youtu.be/ofEzy0CN_J0

These are the two time-lapses I ended up creating because after I had completed the first one on Saturday 20/03 and did the photoshoot on my own in my room I discovered that all the photos were blurry and I needed to redo it all. So on Sunday 21/03 I did the entire face paint again and this time I learnt from some mistakes I had made the day before so it wasn't all bad that I had to redo it all. I paid more attention to detail and only used body paint when creating the second look rather than using Acrylic paint for the white because when it had dried it was cracking and pulling on my skin. I also got my housemate to take the photos for me to focus the camera correctly.

Overall I am glad I took the time to do it all again because the quality of the photos from the second shoot was miles better than the first shoot and this was important because I was going to be cutting my body out and collaging it on top of the news paper article and didn't want the edges to look odd.

The final piece that I created for the exhibition:

Apparently, I'm not essential, March 2021, Photoshop, post-its, body paint, photography, A1

There are definitely a few areas in this piece where I could have paid more attention to detail such as the colouring of the writing in the article in the bottom right corner. I must have accidentally applied a layer mask onto the entire image rather than just the layer of my figure. However, quite by chance it is the box in which I am being silly so maybe I could get away with the colour scheme representing the outlook on life that making fun of things brings you. It doesn't change what it says but it makes it softer and draws your attention to it because it differs from the other boxes.

I also could have taken more time when cutting out the shadows to make sure I was getting a smooth and clean edge that didn't look badly photoshopped. I am however proud of the photoshopping on the post-its. Top left and bottom right have post-it's added onto the original photo of me and the other two I am wearing the post-its in the original photograph. Although I didn't manage to match the yellow of the post-it's when I was wearing them I still like the pairing of the colouring going in diagonals across the image. It links the Essential box and the silly face as if to confront the viewer and taunt them. It also links the bottom left image where I am elongating my torso and the middle finger pose in the top left. These were an attempt to show my anger and connect it to the loss of identity by losing the face in the image and making the circus tent more apparent, restricting me by cutting my arms off but representing me in a pose that exudes strength and stability.

The final statement that will be printed in the Zine:

I am a creative from London with both English and French roots. I value and embrace the paradox of strengths that both cultures bring me; They allow me to stand up for what I believe in and not be scared to fight for a better world. The creativity that stems from my neurodiverse mind allows me to ignore social norms and make art that confronts the viewer.

I use my body in my art to reclaim its strength and beauty for my own narrative. I focus on feeling through my creative process and allow my art to heal me. It is an incredibly vulnerable way to create work, but this guarantees a level of authenticity. I feel like a clown spending so much money studying Fine Art at university only to be told that I should retrain for a career in cyber.  

I branded my body like the Extinction Rebellion protesters. The Post-Its provide an element of humour to counter the censorship of the female nipple that sexualises my body; using humour to cope with difficult situations is how I have survived this pandemic. I was inspired by the article depicted in the background of this collage. Capitalism does not value the creative arts because it does not focus on the mental health of the humans it exploits. We are treated like machines in a society built for profit and the detrimental effect on our mental health is undeniable. In this time of crisis and isolation, the role of art becomes more central to our lives, whether we realise it or not. We can easily take for granted the grand buffet of media that is available to us, leading to the irony of saying artists are non-essential using a graphic created by one.