Author: Mia

I am quite happy with the end result of my sculpture, I love how tactile the pieces come across and all the moments within them. One thing I really like about the works is the instillation and space, the orderly linear nature of frames and how they work together almost as a stack from some angles while moving around the piece. My favourite aspect is the light and the opportunity for shadows and change depending on location and surroundings.

Throughout the sculpture brief I feel as if my ideas have been slightly muddled, just from the surprising amount of inspiration and different thought paths I was constantly thinking of. I would have liked more time to explore different pathways within these ideas. I loved working hands on in the workshops, learning to weld, bend and cut metal. To melt and pour wax and much more, these components of the course are some of the things that I was most excited about, perhaps because of the uncertainty of the outcome and the interesting moments produced within that. I love how working with sculpture and instillation practically forces so many ideas to flow and would like to continue looking into my previous ‘tangents’ within this brief such as anthropomorphism and possibly steer towards a more certain outcome. Overall I have really enjoyed working within a sculptural aspect and have learned a-lot about how open and versatile sculpture is as a whole.

Preservation. Freezing an object in time.

Preservation of what is usually not

Really focusing on the preservation of objects that would usually be overlooked. What makes something worthy enough to preserve, to have care poured into it. Overlooked industrial materials in contrast with the softer malleable wax, suggesting an almost bodily component that is re-enforced by the subtle nature of the tubes shadow throughout the wax.

The shadow and light components of the instillation animating the work and adding the moving elements. Allowing natural as well as artificial light through, changing with each variation.

Space extremely important with the instillation of the works. Widely spread allowing room for the viewer to walk around them, bend down and examine. As you would a specimen.

Link for light and shadow movement video for final concept.

https://youtube.com/shorts/HwO8auR7600

Light illuminating the wax inside the frames, casting interesting light and shadows, especially movement through the moving light source. The light picks up the subtitles within the wax’s natural cracking and parts of the tube previously more hidden by wax layers. How the cold light through the warm tone wax casts beautiful golden light through the frames enhanced by the shadows – frames almost appear embryo- like, harbouring something extremely delicate but in this case not.

Supporting final sculptures – Will have ice cube melting into tray, talking about the fragile finality of preservation and use value, juxtaposed to the extreme finality of the resin incasement. Preserving these surfaces and caring for overlooked objects.

Different preservation techniques. When does something become a product and what can be considered a product?.

Testing different placements and configurations – realising I love the look of natural light coming through the frames.

The idea of a comparison to an embryo or egg sack came up whilst playing with instillations, while the wax was hardening it formed interesting moments which became almost bodily to me, when light was aloud through the wax I was strangely reminded of embryos – linking in with the scientific care and preservation. Reminding me of similar visibility. contained.

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 PHILO-Notes,”Communist Manifesto: Key Concepts”, July 11 2022, video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxSYVBm8CoQ

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Process of wax melting and setting

Exploring different instillation methods and variations of frames. Looking at different frames and fillings. Seeing how light and movement can effect the instillation, incorporating movement by making the viewer move to look into the frames and see into the wax. Experimenting with shadow movement.

Hatoum challenges the movements of surrealism and minimalism, making works which often explore conflicts and contradictions of our world and societal structures. Developing ideas around race and sculpture, Often using gridding and geometrical symbols to reference systems of control, working with the familiar but uncanny.

Many of Hatoum’s works make use of industrial fabricated forms, using assemblage and often found materials, she also often includes sensory elements such as sound. I was especially drawn to her work ‘Light Sentence’ 1992.

Light sentence consists of wire mesh lockers stacked in a quite confined room, a slow moving motorised light bulb slowly ascends and descends. the light source going through the wire boxes casts a dramatic gridded shadow all over the walls of the small room, which is gently yet effectively animated by the movement of the light source.

The shadows projects create architectural shapes that engulf and imprison the viewer, looking at justice carried out by light in a weightless way. The change of the shadows depending on the light sources position in its cycle is very interesting to me and something I would like to look into for my own works. The movement of the light when closest to the wire changes the shadows making them bigger and therefor menacing.

The use of shadows within sculpture and instillation gives an extreme feeling of movement to a piece especially if animated, almost an inverse of the object itself. Using a shadow which is an ever changing element, depending on light and position, to animate a piece in a different way, also how the viewers shadows are integrated into the art.