#cherellesappleton

[cksappleton]

Those dreams where you reach out, grab, punch and the action doesn’t connect. The sensation of standing outside of yourself and watching yourself at a distance.

Pic: An experiment/ work in progress (A Show Of Hands series), 2014-2020, scanned found image. 

[makedonttake]

In Process 003 - Cherelle Sappleton - Visual Artist⠀ ⠀⠀ Cherelle / @cksappleton is a visual artist living and working in London. Her practice centres on photographic media, with an interest in feminist agendas and performance, utilising abstraction and surrealist aesthetics.⠀ - - - ⠀ See link in bio for full post with more images and mini interview. ⠀ - - - ⠀ Are there any quotes that you think of often or live your life by? Or, what is a great piece of advice that helped you in your life or art making?⠀ ⠀ I got introduced to Nichrein Buddhism via my sister a little while ago and although I don’t ‘practice’, the teaching that stuck with me is the idea that you ‘turn poison into medicine’ the message being that all of the challenges, problems or tragedies in one’s life are an opportunity to learn and improve yourself. It’s not easy but if you live by that you can basically conquer anything and everything as problems are not problems anymore or something outside of your control, they are an opportunity, a route to self improvement and prosperity. ⠀ ⠀ #oliverholms #cherellesappleton #contemporaryphotography⠀ #inprogress #inprocess #oliverholmsinprocess #studiovisit #artist #artistsoninstagram #artistatwork #contemporaryart #contemporarypainting #creativity #documentary #fujifilm #contemporaryphotography #documentaryphotography #xh1 #xt2 #wip #workinprogress #residency #painter #portrait #artistportrait #visualart #feministart #femaleartist #creativeinspiration #creative https://ift.tt/2wUDMGl

[cksappleton]

Applied pressure with one’s lips Atop another's mouth

Asymmetric so as to plant right corner puckered high

Taking preference Skin prepares receiving a glancing touch

Yet to be titled, Cherelle Sappleton, 2020

[cksappleton]

Proximity-“from Middle French proximité "nearness" (14c.), from Latin proximitatem (nominative proximitas) "nearness, vicinity," from proximus "nearest, next; most direct; adjoining," figuratively "latest, most recent; next, following; most faithful," superlative of prope "near"”

A word that keeps returning so I thought I’d stick it here. Thinking about the closeness between bodies- how with the presence of some particular people can make your skin hum just being near them- becoming electrictrified in their presence. And contrastingly how you can be far from someone and feel them near/ all around you- a connection felt as if touching through planes of consciousness. 

[cksappleton]

A major reason why I turned away from using my own body in my work and then also reducing and abstracting images of bodies I use in the collages I make was to escape the constraints and assumptions placed upon women bodies- the female body acting as shorthand for sex. In a step towards total abstraction, I embarked on a series called ‘A Show of Hands’,( 2014-ongoing) some of which is currently on show with other works of mine @exeterphoneix. The series began as an experiment which became an important way to explore the power of a touch, tactility and the power of non-verbal communication which is so natural to us all that is so often overlooked, relegated to the sidelines over verbal and written methods of communication. It seems a fitting  time to revisit and explore this work further now we are in a time where we are so aware of the surfaces we touch, encouraged to wash our hands regularly and keep our distance from each other- no more hugging friends or incidental touches to indicate kinship and connection.

Pic: work in progress (A Show Of Hands series), 2014-2020, scanned found image. 

[cksappleton]

So a continuous thread exists within my work, the sensual visually articulated in a number ways sometimes sexually suggestive, other erotic or tactile and so definitions and descriptions become really important to me here as the novelty of what is seen as ‘sexy’ is often something linked to monetised/ capitalist endeavour such as advertising rather than authentic or intimate expression. And so because I am a working-class woman of colour and because I know well how women’s bodies are codified and commodified as sexual objects, creating work that speaks to sensuality and the erotic has to be done so carefully and framed sensitively so that it is not just relegated to titillating content. But its something I need to talk about more as I have been reluctant to disclose this aspect of my work for fear of being vilified for - I still feel the stigma attached to women who openly claim their sensuality and I must top better for, as in the words of Audre Lorde, “the erotic is not a question of only what we do; it is a question of how acutely and fully we can feel in the doing. Once we know the extent to which we are capable of feeling that sense of satisfaction and completion, we can then observe which of our various life endeavours bring us closest to that fullness.”

Pic: work in progress (A Show Of Hands series), 2014-2020, scanned found image. 

[cksappleton]

I’m starting this blog as a way to collect my thoughts for a new project I’m developing which involves digitally collages printed on silk, found images, sound and aromas. The multidisciplinary project will be a collection of artworks loosely relating to the erotic, as discussed and explored by Audre Lorde in her essay, ‘Uses of the Erotic’- exploring the chaotic, the sensual, sensorial and visceral.

Pic: Cherelle Sappleton, detail of Hieroglyphic Being III, 2019, digitally printed silk 133 x 395cm commissioned by Sutton House (National Trust), photographed by Ollie Harrop.

[cksappleton]

Untitled, 2016, Gif

[cksappleton]

Cradle; to hold, bear weight, support.

Pic: An experiment/ work in progress (A Show Of Hands series), 2014-2020, scanned found image. 

[cksappleton]

Words by Cherelle Sappleton, 2020

[cksappleton]

Talking about touch, sensuality and surface, I move onto the use of fabric within my practice and the particular properties I look for as the choices have been perceived as incidental but they are very deliberate and instinctive.  Firstly, leather and leatherette- I use these two very different fabrics it as shorthand for skin as it and the presence of the bodies surface; the leatherette features more prominently not least for ethical reasons but also financial as leather is so expensive although I’d like to explore using more natural/ sustainable materials with similar properties in the future. With latex, it’s associations with sexuality, fetish, erotica and in some cases ‘deviant’ sexual practises, it's ubiquity within the S & M community makes it an obvious choice and signifier; Silk is a new addition to my practice and one that I am so happy to have been able to experiment with last year. Silk’s association with luxury, of (use of undergarments or sleepwear denoting a closeness to the body, in addition to its liquid and shimmering nature, makes it such an inviting and seductive material. It’s physical properties add a sensuality that invites touch and speaks of,  slippery movement and malleability which ties in with my preoccupation with unfixing definitions/categories of identity.

When I installed my current show @exeterphonix which opened in Feb of this year, I was able to place the work pictured along with objects from the A Show Of Hands series which lead me to think about combining them or creating a new body of work which used aspects of each together with sound and lastly, scent. I want to create an immersive experience which builds upon my thinking of vision as involving the whole-body create work which the viewers senses are stimulated creating visceral responses.

Pic: Cherelle Sappleton, detail of Hieroglyphic Being III, 2019, digitally printed silk 133 x 395cm commissioned by Sutton House (National Trust), photographed by Ollie Harrop.

[cksappleton]

Thinking about this new project (the reason why I started this blog) and the stuff that's been rebounding within my mind for the past couple of years, it seems more important than ever to write many thoughts down. So here goes... The sensual has been a big part of my life from a young age- in a way that is far deeper than childish crushes and burgeoning teenage sexuality. I’ve been aware of the drive within myself since 7 or 8 and is a vital part of me which I celebrate and cultivate. The sensual goes beyond sex and into most aspects of my life- my enjoyment of music, the textures that are present in the collages I make, how I am with lovers, small things in daily life which I hold dear and mere sensations, my sense of smell and lots of other things. I learnt to explore it in part, physically whilst studying acting and performance practising techniques developed by dramaturgist, Grotowski and Meyerhold guided by my tutor and director Gareth Somers. Thinking about using the bodies inherent intelligence to drive and emotion rather than the other way round as in naturalist techniques. Using the body as a highly attuned tool with its own knowledge waiting to be unlocked, used and nurtured.

From those beginnings in practical exercises and exploration, I brought together my interest with the body as material not just in the physical realm but in the visual. I became fascinated in using the body as a vehicle for transformation psychologically as well as physically. I delved deeper into work by the surrealists, learning from Hoch, Maholy Nagy, Magritte, Dali, Verushka and others who tried to see bodies ( and photography) in new ways to unlock the physiological and subconscious. It is this link with the photographed body and its tether to the ‘real’ and ‘true’ along with its potential to be abstracted/isolated/reworked that stuck with me and that I have been exploring as a life long endeavour. 

Pic: work in progress (A Show Of Hands series), 2014-2020, scanned found image. 

[cksappleton]

An unrealised work from my A Show Of Hands series, 2014-ongoing. I’m looking into developing this in combination with other aspects of my practice plus some new. The journey so far has lead me to Audre Lorde’s ‘Uses Of The Erotic’, mythology surrounding the (biblical) figure of Lillith and Dante’s Inferno.

Pic: work in progress (A Show Of Hands series), 2014-2020, scanned found image.