BFA Textiles 3A4A: Cathryn Project 3

WEEK 9

After this class discussion in week 8 I felt that I had a lot of possible directions that I could take my work, it was now a matter of choosing a topic of exploration that inspired me. With this assignment I wanted to keep exploring and revising my material practice awhile continuing to take risks.
After reflecting on the class discussion I made the decision to address the idea of a memorial from the perspective of a disaster; a nuclear disaster.
For a sociology subject that I am studding I have had to conduct academic research into the stories behind the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. My research into the field of study has exceeded past class requirements as I have formed a personal interest into the events of the disaster and the reality of what lies in the after mass of a nuclear disaster.
Through my research I have become more aware of the idea of the ‘silent killer’ and the ‘hidden victim’ as I have read personal accounts from ethnographers and families within the affected region.
What type of memorial is this?
This is a cultural memorial but also a significant reminder for the world of the negative possibilities of nuclear power.
What type of issues dose it raise?
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster has addressed political, social and environmental issues.
I want this work to remain personal and have the idea of social awareness embedded into my memorial artwork. Nuclear power is continuously an area of debate and I want my work to embody an awareness of the difficulties and not so straight forward answers to nuclear energy. Unfortunately there will also remain a ‘he said’ ‘she said’ mentality surrounding Chernobyl.
Research starting point:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/anthropology/sites/www.sas.upenn.edu.anthropology/files/sarcophagus.pdf
Adriana Petryna, Sarcophagus: Chernobyl in Historical light. Cultural Anthropology, vol.10, no. 2, Anthropologies of the body (May, 1995), pp 196-220
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/656333
What I love about this reading is Petryna addresses the issue of the Chernobyl disaster with personal interest and history but also because she focuses not on scientific facts but the true life stories of family’s pre and post incident. Her writing touches on the physical and mental changes that the body has undergone as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.
Artist Inspiration:
With this artwork for the first time I felt that I would be able construct large hangings. The ability to construct large hangings has been something that I have wanted to do for the past few years but previously I have never felt it appropriate. For this assignment however I feel I could portray beautiful imager through implementing this form of installation. An installation possibility could be to have people work through and immerse themselves in the hangings.
I felt that the work of Magdalena Abakanowicz could lend itself to my art making practice for this assignment. I feel her works could be inspirational as they work with textiles as a sculptural form and due to that fact that she represents the masses as part of her conceptual concern.
http://www.abakanowicz.art.pl/about/-about.php this is the link to her artist information section on her website.
I was particularly interested in her abakans and ropes works; I love there visual presence, organic nature, there scale and there structural form.

WEEK 10

This week provided new avenue of though as I explored possibly ways I could interpret the Chernobyl nuclear disaster as a memorial.

One thing that I needed to consider was that the nuclear problem in Chernobyl was not a result of war and a bomb but it was an accident.

Human error was the cause of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster so I could not focus on the iconic image of the ‘atomic cloud’ or the blackness of the sky as imagery as the nuclear affects of Chernobyl were different. In Chernobyl the nuclear disaster was a silent killer, people were not aware of what was happening to there bodies nor could notice a change in the air.

What was noticeably however was the void inside the power plant where one of the reactors use to be. What could be seen is an area of destruction as the explosion that occurred destroyed buildings within the nuclear power plant.

Chernobyl today is still an area that is uninhabited with buildings and near by towns still left deserted. Life that used to surround the power plant has been permanently evacuated. What is left behind are buildings that are eroding and falling down. Nature has occupied the new place within Chernobyl as plants and tress grown around that fallen buildings and show the only form of life.

This led me to question how I could represent Chernobyl as a form of memorial for this assignment. I still wanted to work with the idea of large hangings but what imagery or symbolic material would I use that would tie my work back to the Chernobyl disaster.

Through conducting further research and looking at images I have decided to work with the idea of a ‘deserted city’. I wont to work with images of Chernobyl before the disaster, after the disaster and now. My plan is to interpret the images and work mapping the area of Chernobyl.

This type of mapping can include the mapping of buildings, roads, facades, landmarks, geography, areal and satellite images. I intend to make drawings of these images focusing on key part rather then the whole image. I want to collate my interpretive drawings and reform them to create new images. These new images will be stitched onto my hangings.

I am still determining the colour scheme of my hangings and the materials I will use for my hangings. Originally I like to work with white material and add colour to the work. I intent to contract dark colours of the destruction with earthy tones of the new life. This is evident through plant life within the area of Chernobyl.

Key websites:

http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/04/chernobyl-25-years-later-then-and-now/

http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/01/chernobyl-25-years-later/

WEEK 11

Last week marked a truing point for this assignment as I was able to find an avenue of exploration within the ideas of memorials that interested me. I found a topic that was relevant to my interests; Chernobyl disaster and instead of working with the traditional idea of resurrecting monuments in the act of remembering I turned to focus of geographic images and landscape.

After last week’s discoveries I turned my focus to visual images as the stimulus for my memorial. My research into Chernobyl has resulted in what I now call a three phase process; before disaster, the disaster and post disaster. I intend to work with these three phases highlighting the original structure of the power plant, the fear of radiation that came as a result and finally the new life forming around the vacated area of destruction.

Through my hangings I intend to draw on these different phases through subtle imagery and eco dye hot bundling. Examples of my inspirational imagery can be found within the attached pictures. Unfortunately my drawings did not show up on photos.

Eco Dyeing

For my eco dyeing I am planning on creating colours that are natural earthy tones with a mix of dark downs, blacks and rusted oranges. I want these colours to complement to the appropriate phases that I have created for my memorial.

Phase 1 (the top): Chernobyl; earthy tones, small about of vibrancy

Phase 2 (the middle): disaster; blacks, browns, rusted oranges no bright colours

Phase 3 (the bottom): new life; a mix of earthy tones with the darker shades. This shows the regrowth of trees and shrubs that have begun forming in the ruins of Chernobyl.

Note: Examples of these colours can be found as part of my images.

Unlike some of the works by India Flint I do not want strong object outlines but rather a mesh of colour that smudges into the next. I feel if the objects are too obvious it will detract from the memorial and place my work more within Australian landscape with the obvious flora and fauna.

I am planning on achieving my colours through hot bundling and working across all three phases within one singular piece.

Week 12 presentation

For the presentation next week I will have one finished wall hanging for the class to see and respond with. My intention behind this is to see what is working and what elements need to be still pushed further. This will allow me ample time to mend the problems and continue to push my initial idea further for the final submission.

For the final submission I intend to have at least two hangings, both with different stitched images.