Research Week
I went home at the weekend and had a rummage through our old books to see if there might be anything interesting and relevant to my project. My mum has always been really into spirituality, the supernatural, and dreams, so I was able to gather a couple of books on those topics. I don't know what impact these books will have on my research and practice however they seem interesting enough, I may gather some interesting ideas to do with symbolism to help with my film and dolls house ideas.
Here is a wee page of notes I took which is all about the different meanings for colours and positions of objects:
This week I also stumbled across the work by an artist called Mike Nelson.
'I, Imposter' - Installation, Venice Bienale (2011)
I love how his work is sort of like a dream experience - spooky rooms, endless corners and turns like a labyrinth. It is very similar to the motif of a haunted house in a gothic story. This installation alters your perception of reality, the objects and debris seems to have no human explanation, its hard to understand what the material even is or what its purpose was. This work gives me a lot of inspiration for my dolls house idea, I want to incorporate this sort of sense of human absence to create a mysterious and dreamlike setting.
This week I also began watching the BBC documentary series 'Art of Persia' with Sara. Sara is a Persian woman and her work is all about giving a voice to the woman of Iran who have had no choice but to conform to the governments strict polices that more or less take away all rights of their rights. This documentary educated me on Persian history, how the Persians led a very powerful empire that was significant in the advancements in our modern world. They had freedom of speech & religion, and they were one of the first nations to create woman's rights, which is upsetting as all of these amazing contributions to the world and society were ripped away after the revolution. In fact, in Persia today, they no longer have much access to their own powerful history as after the revolution, all history books were destroyed. Even Iran's language, Farsi, was under threat as Persians were being taught/forced to speak Arabic. This documentary helped me feel even more educated and understanding as to why Sara makes the art that she does. She has the opportunity to give a voice to the woman of Persia and be a part of the change!