Evaluation final piece outcome

The project we did is called equisite corpse where we were asked to produce a multi disciplinary final outcome.
How I was inspire I first started off by searching other artworks on my pinterest page to give me some inspiration ideas. So after that I began to do my map, writing down ideas. When that was done I went back to my ideas and chose two myths. I chose the Greek myths about hero's and monsters and the African Harlem Renaissance. At the end I decided to choose the Harlem-renaissance which involved movement. I wanted to create something that have the feeling of emotions and look quite scary So after, I began to research into artists who I thought could inspire me. Picasso, He is a cubism artists who was inspired by African masks and uses shapes within his work were he places them randomly to create abstractional pieces that could be some time hard to tell what is going on with in the piece. Wangechi Mutu, the works she create are inspired by Africa where women are treated unfairly. She uses collages and watercolours within her art pieces. Maurizio Anzeri, he is a textile artists who is influenced by his personal experience, the way other cultures see bodies as graphic. His use of using threads to produce pieces that are extraordinary beautiful and different makes me to decided to use his techniques through out my experiments. Kang Seon Jun,  his use of techniques of slow shutter speed he used in some of his photographs he took to create disturbing images inspired me and start to give me the idea of what I wanted my final piece to be.

Then started to do rough stretches of my ideas, adding colours and notes then chose one idea from the seven stretches containing a woman wearing a mask and drew it more clearly with colours added. Then went to a dancing studio and took images of dancers moving. Taking images of them moving was a really big challenge because some of the images were a bit blur and they are not really clear because if the light reflecting in the room. But I decided that I could do the next photo in a darkroom.  So to get movements from the dancers they were put into groups were they came up with few dancing movements. In their groups they performed the movements but making sure to pause at each moves so I could get a clear shot. Later on, the next day, I collected a wooden mask from home and booked the studio. I asked a friend if my to help me wear it. The cernma was set to bulb for the slow shutter speed. This technique was from a workshop I did and decided to further more. Some of the images came out well while others did not. After taking the photos I decided I did not want any vivid backgrounds,  I wanted a dark background because I wanted my final piece to look gloomy.

Later on, reading about these artists, seeing their works and the experiment of the mask photos,  I decided that I should make an African mask. So I searched into various African masks and their meanings.  I found one mask which attracted me after my research which is called Yohure. This particular is not meant to be worn by women as people fear that the super natural powers of the Yu sports may have on them. Only men are meant to wear this mask. Then I came up with a idea of a woman wearing my mask I made doing different type of movement to make her look possess and creepy.
Next, began to make the mask out of  latex using a plastic doll face as a help guide. The use of the material was very light because I wanted the model who will wear it to be comfortable plus I did not want the mask to be too heavy. Although the latex was easy to form shapes however it took quite a long time to dry. When I added the acrylic paint on it, it the mask was looking like Chinese masks instead of an African mask. Plus because I did not put too much layers of latex it kept on rippling in places. On the other hand, although acrylic paints dry quickly it did not absorb into the latex very well as I have to keep adding layers and layers.  Using the paint brush to draw straight lines on the mask was difficult because my hand could shake as the mask was extremely weak and the brush was too soft.

When it was made I showed it to the teacher who told me that I copied someone else mask so I decided to redraw my design taking inspiration from Picasso, his use of shapes and bold lines. After I moved to doing the mask with paper marche. This time I added more layers making the mask look more like my new design. Using this material was again easy I was able to mainplaute the papers to the shapes I wanted however it was rippling easily as it was wet but the material dries really quickly. Plus it is very light. Then I moved to making the mask out of cardboard which was a lot better. Again layers were added in some area to make some features stand out well. The material was strong but yet very light which is what I wanted. Later, used acrylic paints to colour the mask. Next I took my own images and images from magazine and began to work into them with white gel pen, collage new papers and threads to see what materials could be the best to further. Then got large images which are my own taken pictures and worked into them with fur which was quite hard to handle under a sewing machining because it kept on getting caught on the needle. Threads and fabric were also used
 I have decided to use Red because I wanted show passion, seductive, violence,  danger, anger and adventure within the mask when model gets possess by the spirit. Black was used to show the power, death, evil and mystery within the mask and for the model wearing it.
After the mask was made, I did not like it very much because it was not looking professional finish so I went to a dance studio to get someone to wear it for the photo. However I could not get any so I went to the drama studio and booked an appointment with a drama student.The next day, we were in the studio were again I set the cernma to bulb. Doing the shot I experiment with the different background. Did not like the image on the white background because the mask was not showing and the photos was not looking gloomy and creepy. I wanted people when they see it to look shock confuse. So I decided to do the photos on black background. It makes the mask stand out really well with the movement of the model poses. Again when the images were taken, I was not happy with the outcome although they look good but I wanted to get out of my comfort area and challenge myself more so I decided to stitch into some of the slow shutter speed pictures I did since I stitch into them. Then I chose two picture and printed it out A5 on a matt paper. This paper was difficult to work with because it was easy to have marks on them and I dried my best not to have any marks on when sewing. The picture at the right side were felt machine. The lines are bold continuing lots of curved lines. The sizes are out of scales giving both the mask and the model's face,balance. There are pointed squares looking like teeth. The place of features are juxtaposition. However to me the finish piece of this image at the left side look quite neat to me, I do not really like it. It does not look like the way I work. It is not abstract enough for me. I only used limited colours for this picture because I did not want too much colours clashing against each other making it difficult to see the mask features and the model.But the colours are balancing each other very well.
The image at the right is more abstract. Dark colours were again used as I stated earlier I did not want my piece to have a happy atmosphere. The image at the right is more abstract. It looks messy and the swirl of threads with the one square eye and large mouth makes this mask look creepy and remind me of a skull. It is distorted and quite exaggerated. Vivid colours were used on the right image but I made sure that a lot of the red was used as it was the main colours I wanted. Hints of sky blue and white were used to give out different tones so that the face and the mask could be seen clearly. Then I printed three in A4. These three are quite disturbing and very creepy. I like how the hands are creating interesting scary movements. These photos makes me quite scared reminding me of horror film. I feel uncomfortable looking at them but yet again the idea of the model covering her face with the mask makes you wonder what she is hiding from and why her body is moving effortlessly in different awarkard movements If I could do this again maybe I could try depltuaing it on illustration with layers to see what it could look like.