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Reflection

From this project I have learnt that when collaborating it is important that you communicate well and put in the effort to show up to workshops,events, meeting etc - the success of a collaboration is reliant on the people involved being involved. I have also realised how important it is to make connections with people, something I need to improve upon. As someone who does not know what they want to do after graduating (like most I’m sure) I found it very inspiring meeting the creatives at the mill who are pursuing their artistic endeavors in more alternative ways and almost building their own community and collective, I was also very inspired by attending Morry’s visiting speaker’s talk and hearing how he founded the mill and came from a non traditional artistic background. I do all of my work alone and enjoy having that control over every aspect because because of this project going into work in the future I am interested in seeking out creatives to produce work with, different to my own and also seeing if anybody would be interested in working on my videos/ performances with me as they could bring a new level to it. Thea and I talked at the exhibition about perhaps doing more casual performances in the future, ones in public spaces and not necessarily on a stage in front of lights, we want to play around with the everyday. 

Although I have attended meetings and workshops and helped set up etc I feel as though I could have been a lot more engaged with the project, I am disappointed in myself for not really doing the most with this opportunity. But that is not to say I didn’t contribute, I have just not as much as I would have liked to. And that is something I need to improve upon once more. I must get out of my head a bit. Which I can do just by talking and being open to people and discussion instead of shying away. I also think I could have taken what ideas i did have even further and conducted better research - for example my mail art I could have made individual collages and paintings to send out to everyone or even better create my own absurdist recipes to post to everyone to try out (why am I only now thinking of this??) , doing mini pop up performances with thea in public spaces leading up to the exhibition to try things out and experiment, I also regret not reaching out to ruby to collaborate on some sound pieces - I could have sent her a recording of me reciting the poem I sent to Rozz for example.  

I have communicated ideas in conversation with my peers in person and online, when planning a collaboration such as mine as Thea’s jelly games we would message back and forth beforehand trying to figure out what it was we wanted to do. I would send Thea pictures of my jelly moulds and give advice on which jelly would be best for throwing. 

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After gluing it back together I realised there was one tiny piece that I hadn’t stuck in (bottom picture) so when trying to join the two halves together the mould wouldn’t shut and fit into itself so for now I won’t be making jelly with it. Until I either wrap it up in tape or make the pieces out of clay to fit into the gaps. 

For now I am quite pleased with it just as an object, I did consider maybe painting over the lines in bright colours or something jelly textured like my own version of Kintsugi but I decided i liked the simplicity of the lines by themselves. 

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I bought a new jelly mould a few weeks ago and was very excited to use it but I was stupid enough to film myself with it on my head and then it fell and smashed into pieces

I've decided to glue it back together again and see if I can make jelly with it

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What my poem I sent to Rozz sounds like when spoken 

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Last week I performed at a cabaret event doing a lip sync to ‘O superman’ by Laurie Anderson that then went into ‘Born in Xixax’ by Nina Hagen. I’m still waiting on my friend to send me the video they recorded so unfortunately these two pictures are all I have for now. 

I practiced my performance almost every night for a few weeks and will be doing it again on June 6th for a queer performance night called Creatures of Catharsis, hosted by Tea.  

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Unfortunately these are all the photos that I have from the exhibition as my phone ran out of memory and wouldn’t allow me to take anymore no matter how much I deleted. 

I experienced some troubles with my equipment, my tv wouldn’t turn on so I thought it might need a remote and went back to uni to rent one out only to return and realise it just wouldn’t turn one. I tried using a tv the mill already had but there was no lead for it unfortunately, luckily for me Amber was kind enough to lend me her laptop instead. 

I really enjoyed watching thea and matilda’s painting game and playing mine and Thea’s jelly one. Our aim with the game was to engage with people and be playful, get people working together like we have been doing throughout this project. When discussing beforehand with Thea what we wanted to do I found her perspective and ideas really helpful to see as although we have similar interests the way she goes about doing things can be quite different and she brought to my attention things I never would have thought of by myself. 

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My masterpiece!

I had the idea for using the horrible lip gags when I saw a drag race contestant use them as part of her outfit, I thought it would be interesting seeing how they limit my speech when I say grace and also how difficult and disgusting they would make eating. 

I did rent out a clip on mic for this video but after trying to get it work for a long time I had to do without unfortunately.

I am pleased with my video as I have accomplished what I set out to do, people reacted well to it at the exhibition, many of them telling me how disgusted they were which is exactly what I want. 

If I were to improve this I would probably film again with a mic that works but I think that’s all I would change, I chose the location of my own kitchen as I wanted it to be realistic and everything look normal and then you have the horrible unsettling lips disturbing it all. 

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Because of my work with Georgia I was contacted by a 3rd year fashion student called Jemma who had seen pictures of my previous shoot and really liked my work. She asked if I would be willing to do the makeup for an upcoming shoot of hers, the meaning of which was peoples obsession with taking photo’s of construction sites and so she wanted me to work with lots of lines similar to her garments. 

I arrived at the shoot by 10:30 and did the makeup of three models with some help from Jemma as she did not have much time and wanted me to paint all of their arms and legs in lines also. That is one thing I have found by collaborating on shoots with people is that they severely underestimate how long makeup can take and will expect me to be able to paint three models in half an hour or so. On my previous shoot with Georgia someone made a comment about me taking a long time (which I did not considering there was only one of me painting four people and I am no trained professional and am doing this for free) which irked me a bit. I do enjoy working with people on shoots but I do wish they took into account the timing of everything. 

Doing all these shoots has prompted me to put myself out there as a makeup artist because people are always in need of them it seems and I eventually would like to make some kind of money from it. I also want to do it as a way of making connections and meeting people. 

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For my video I had the idea of sitting down to say grace before eating, this is something I have photoshopped before, editing my own jellies into existing stock image photos of people saying grace. 

In my primary school we had to say the lord’s prayer all the time, it was never taught to us so it was something you just picked up over time but because of this when I was in year 6 our teacher noticed we didn’t actually know it properly (I heard differently to what was the actual words) and made us learn it for home work. The prayer and its rhythm is ingrained in my brain and so I wanted to work with that, ‘Gweddi’r Argwlydd (top picture) is the lord’s prayer in welsh which is how I learnt it and said it every day. Beneath it are lines from other prayers I found online that I liked and found funny I, I combined these along with ‘Gweddi’r Arglwydd’ and lines from the poem below that I found when researching for my essay and made my own food prayer. I also used one or two lines from my 1950′s food advertisement and medieval food poetry research.

https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Pub/ArchCant/Vol.054%20-%201941/054-01.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3MBwCMAm5TVmK24hQW_yET7ntmA4lF-bOiTDwxX_i9VY0-6gjvTd1rVf0

I played around with word placement for a while before settling on the lines in the bottom picture 

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After doing my shoot with Saorise I was contacted by Georgia a 3rd year student at the school of art (I’m not too sure what she studies exactly) asking if I would be able to do four make up looks for an upcoming shoot of hers. We communicated for a few days beforehand, she would send me pictures of her inspiration and makeup looks she had seen and liked, I would ask questions making sure I was aware of what she envisioned. 

The shoot was on a saturday and I was there from around 1 until 3 o’clock and did make up on all four models. I had a lot of fun playing around with the looks and getting to know everyone on the shoot, Georgia also expressed how pleased she was with my work and I told her to get in touch if she ever needed a makeup artist again. I always enjoy collaborating with other creatives on shoots and seeing their vision come together through everyone’s work. 

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Monster Chetwynd

I have been having difficulty trying to find artists who do performances that engage playfully with their audience, I know they are out there maybe I am looking wrong. But I did remember Monster Chetwynd who although does very costumey productions which I said I wanted to try not to do, her work is collaborative and is playful. The ways she puts her performances together isn’t necessarily conventional, and neither is the way her costumes are constructed - they are often made quickly and cheaply,  using any material that might be one hand. Chetwynd’s work and performances would not be able to happen if it were not for the many performers and helpers involved, some of which are her own friends and family. There is a huge emphasis on collective development and this greatly informs Chetweynd’s work. 

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I have an idea to do a saying grace piece and was doing some research online on different prayers said before eating when I found this strange video 

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I was contacted by a 3rd year Fashion Art Direction student asking if I would collaborate with her on an upcoming shoot that would involve me creating three different makeup looks. Saoirse and I have worked together a few times before and I always enjoy it, we messaged for a while beforehand discussing her vision and meaning behind the shoot - she sent over mood and colour boards she’d created in order to give me an idea of what kind of makeup she wanted. I always find this very helpful. 

The shoot lasted from around 11 until 1 in the photography studio and I had fun working with her again, Saoirse is very good at communicating her ideas with me and is always very clear with what she wants. 

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While in Stockholm I visited Bergrummet, a toy museum inside a rocky hill , it was probably one of the best museums I have been to, I could have stayed there forever. The museum was a display of one mans private collection of over 40,000 toys that was once kept inside a castle just outside Stockholm. The dates of the toys ranged with the oldest from 14th century all the way up to present day. Not only were the toys themselves beautiful and  insane but the attention to detail and imagination of their displays was incredible. I was so captivated by everything. The clown and babies on swings were inside a huge wooden carousel case alongside many other circus themed toys, the top of the case moved like an actual carousel and music would play as one by ones the toys displayed inside would start to dance and rotate, it was so beautiful to watch. 

As someone who loves toys and has brought quite a few of my own childhood toys with me to Manchester I was so inspired and captivated by my visit here. Toys are for everyone.  

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Before going away to Sweden I knew while there I wanted to experiment some more with my writing and collaborate with people in the group through the post. After reaching out to the group Rozz and Matilda got back to me to collaborate, I planned on sending them a postcard each and encouraged them to react to it or add/change it somehow. The two cards I chose are of the Swedish royal family as I thought they were particularly horrible for the eye and that they all looked like the same face. For one card I responded to our workshop with Daniel selecting my favourite lines from our written exquisite corpses and compiled them together to make a new story - 

‘You look just like my cat, she’s dead

Wild dreams of flakes

Sacred beasts in the machine

Her mum would would fight your mum for 20 quid

At a take that reunion 

I am a mausoleum, walkers crisps give me the ghost

I want to swim in jelly and all I can hear is my name pronounced differently’

I really enjoyed doing the written exquisite corpses and loved reading everyone's imaginative sentences, I’ve been doing a lot of writing by rearranging existing texts or mashing different ones together. I’m interested in new stories being made just by placing things together differently. This card I posted to Matilda. 

For the other card I wrote a poem in Swedish, Welsh and English as I wanted to play around with the languages different sounds. My boyfriend is Swedish (hence my visit) and I’ve been trying to learn the language for a few months now using duolingo, the Swedish used in my poem are words and phrases that I have been learning on the app. I have difficulty wrapping my mouth around the pronunciations sometimes as nordic languages are quite different to any other I have learnt - I have to move and shape my mouth in alien ways to me. A song by Isy Suttie was also an inspiration for my poem, her song is about her trying to learn Welsh for her boyfriend and his gran. The front of the card has a large number of the royal family on it, I was slightly disturbed by how all similar they look, even non biological members of the family, ones who had married in, they all still have the same face and all are dressed in their Swedish blue. And so that’s what I wrote about. 

‘Dyma ni i gyd

Män och kvinnor 

Proudly don eich svenskt blå

And clutch your bebis tightly for nhw yw’r dyfodol

What a royal sight to behold!

Ond, something isn’t iawn here

All around me are familiar faces

The same one drosodd a throsodd 

Slowly melting over time.��

The two bottom photos are Matilda’s and Rozz’s reaction pieces. 

I know I could have done more in terms of making it more collaborative and I am annoyed at myself for not. 

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Moderna Museet

I visited the modern art museum in Stockholm and really liked the work of Swedish artist Gunilla Palmstierna-Weiss (bottom three pictures), she is known primarily as a stage designer and her sketches and sculptures were on display. I didn’t realise they were costume and stage designs are first and just loved them for what they are. You could see the influence of Bauhaus in her work and her drawings express and absurdism with humour. 

 Also on display was the work of Sharon Hayes (the very top) that utilities the power of the spoken word and addresses social and political issues. I did not like this exhibition, to be honest I was bored by it, the subject matter was important and some of the ideas interesting but overall the presentation of that did not engage me. And I’m aware the presentation was toned down probably because her emphasis is on the words themselves but also some of the words bored me.