I have been experimenting and trying a plethora of different things, working with different placements of the sheets, and trying to get the space the way I felt worked well with the pieces.
First, I got all the sheets into the space and started placing them into the corners and manipulating the fabric to create these folds in the sheets, which then accentuated the rolls on the images. The reason why I decided to fold each sheet was that I was playing around with the idea of Robert Morris’ work named ‘anti-form’ and how he looks at how felt material folds naturally. I wanted to bring this element in as I too am using fabric, so in a way, the fabric can act as the idea of the body whilst also, on some of the fabric, is the images of the body. As I have previously mentioned in another blog, I collected all these fabrics from other women which allowed me to connect more with other women whilst also being about my own journey. I feel it's important to incorporate them as well as it's an international issue. By the end of all my experimentation, I found that creating an immersive room allowed it to connect even more with the audience, it draws the audience to want to spend time quite literally surrounded by the work, involved in the work, instead of just looking at it. My idea when creating the immersive room was to also remove the masculine effect of the room, with the hard lines and industrial setting being covered by my work, the sheets draping from the ceilings and the walls, whilst using blank fabrics to cover the tight corners, making the room feel unstructured, a room has corners, harsh angular corners in fact, and this one doesn’t. I want to make sure they feel included in some way with the subject, anyone can struggle with issues like I have covered, like myself, so I want everyone to feel a sense of safety with the space. Speaking of safety, the environment I have built is meant to create a feeling of acceptance, liberation and calm and comfort, a place where there is no judgment. Harking back to people's childhoods of building forts, creating that safe space for you to spend time in. I have decided to incorporate a bulging effect with the fabric on the wall, sticking with my Robert Morris influence, however adding my own take by using stuffing and massive balloons in various places behind the fabric pieces on the wall. I also added fabric hanging from the ceiling, draping down. I've filled these with stuffing and balloons to give them a heavy, weighted effect whilst it's also a metaphor for carrying the weight of negative comments and negativity towards one's body.
One of the things I love about this piece is how unique each setup is. For example, should I enter an open call or a residency with this piece of work, each time it's installed, It will look entirely different from the last. This is a metaphor I really love, as It highlights that each body is different similar to the way this piece is displayed differently each time.
For me I feel like this piece of work is my magnum opus in essence I've incorporated every single practise or technique I've been working on over the last few years from installation work, printmaking, photography, sculpture and aspects of painting.
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