28.05.2020 - Contextual Study reflection and Artist Statement

The contextual study was a struggle. I really felt so overwhelmed by it, I had so many ideas and was trying to cover so much. After a much needed discussion with a tutor I felt I was in a place where I could make some sense of it.

After it was finished I genuinely felt proud of it, I don't know if it is suitable for the submission but I do know it is written in my voice and expresses my practice and the things that have influenced it. Fingers crossed.

When it came to writing my statement for the exhibition it felt natural to revisit the study and utilise some of the descriptions from it. Below is the long version of my statement. for the catalogue it was reduced to 150 words.

Statement

Through my practice, I have found my voice and the many forms it can take. My work expresses the sensuality that is denied in societal conversations; it is touch that is prohibited for being too provocative, the language that is too sensual. Positioning tactility, that is taken for granted, and the sensual aspects of language, that is often muted, together to provide an encounter that questions their manipulation and consumption. Layering language into an overwhelm and packaging up the physical works to mirror the expectations and regulations that are placed on the female artists and many other women by those in positions of dominance.

My work is asking you to lose yourself in a moment, to experience the sensation of contact and material, to not think but to feel; to imagine. I am aware that there is a split in my practice, multiple truths, and by combining them something more potent has emerged, questioning…

I feel that my practice is quiet and unassuming, and I’m okay with that; it's easily overlooked as many women are. The agency is alive in the desire to share the work and subtly knock down the layers of women's suppression inherent in art theory and critique. Word by word, layer by layer, building a body of work, a catalogue, a tome of tablets; paper and performance that allow self-expression and the opening of opportunities for other women to allow freedom into their lives. Art and language combined are the tools to break boundaries, open eyes and change thinking; quietly and unassumingly. A ladder of language and material to climb out of the suppression, so large that it can not be ignored.

20.04.2020 - 24.05.2020 - After the Group Crit - Google keep notes

Notes from Google Keep:

22.04.2020-

We had a group crit and I offered up a possible sample page for my exhibition. I used a language piece I have been playing with for the past few months. It was initially submitted as a journal post (I think) in MA2, but just a typed piece, I wrote it out and explored how it would sound for this critique. See link below:

https://katievw.com/no-show-ma-fine-art-katie-venner-woodbridge

Now, let's not beat around the bush, this crit did not go to plan. My book format is housed on Issu, which means when it opens you get the Issu site and all their adverts etc, very distracting. I also included two audio files (also below) and had them BOTH on auto play and loop. this was too much and took away the control from the audience.

I was pleased with the feedback gathered from the critique however, regarding the content. The handwritten style of the poem gave it some personality and the layered audio was described as 'rich'. As the piece is read in the layered version certain words come in and out of frame, there is some coherency in the audio, but it wanes which draws the listener in.

25.04.2020 - Exhibition thoughts after the crit:

For the exhibition I want to present a book of the language pieces I have been working on over the duration of the MA3 year, and along side that I will present an audio file that will be my performance of the pieces. I have yet to decide whether I will perform the whole document or just a select few. I also need to decide on the order of the pieces.

As I have worked through the pieces a narrative has occured, the pieces are written about process during process. They can then be categorised as 'before, during, after' and also by their specific materials.

I have read a lot of poetry books over the past few months, contemporary poetry such as Wilder's Nocturnal, Rupi Kaur's Milk and Honey and Micheal Faudet's Dirty Pretty things, have a distinct style of presentation. They are defined by the partitions, these set the scene for the viewer.

Considering that style of the language works and how the context clearly changes the meaning, these sections are important, I feel, to open the works to readers who may require the guidance to digest the content. Not all audience members will have encountered the materials. The texts will be written in the material to give a visual nod to the references made by the artists for those without the tactile knowledge to grasp on to.

The language pieces clearly work to sexualise an inanimate object/material. In On Modern Poetry: From theory to Total Criticism, Robert rowland Smith addresses the object in poetry in a specific chapter. However I was left wanting more as he only discussed the use of urn and boxes etc, objects that have a funereal connotation and about the objectification on women. I would like to question how appropriate is it to discuss something that can’t talk back in such a manner? Sexualising is made ‘dirty’ and sin, and yet, women under go this inappropriateness regularly. My language works deliberately discuss the 'mess, dirt, dust' to get under the skin of the audience.

04.05.2020

Concentrate on contextual study

remember to write statement for exhibition

Add to PPP

Edit language pieces - speak first and edit after hearing

13.05.2020 - Exhibition Plans:

So the exhibition hasn’t gone to plan and everyone is quite upset about that. I was unsure of what I was going to exhibit in the Civic Center and decided I would make an illustrated booklet of my poetry pieces and then on the wall behind them I was going to enlarge some of the tiles, one or two of the pieces but really extra large. I have already scanned them in at a ridiculously high DPI so that they could be printed oversize and have the paper piece hang in the background.

Now that the exhibition is online that is unnecessary, I don’t need to fill the space with a visual thing to draw people in. Because we are using the website the book will be in an ebook format and it will still be illustrated and it will still be laid out as intended.

My concerns with the new format of the exhibition are regarding how many pieces to put up? What is considered a 'body of work'? I am considering the creation of a video from a section of poetry writing and audio submit or as a separate file with the audio files to be submitted as well like an album or EP of language works. How much noise can one voice make? Do I want it to be noise?

The issue is with the audio and whether we have the bandwidth on the server to have the audio on. It is an integral part of the work, so for it to not be present in the exhibition would be a problem.

In the process of designing the book for the final piece I am torn between how 'designed' I want it to be. I am hoping to achieve a professional looking publication that really emphasises the texture of the physical pieces.

With regard to the handwritten pieces, these make me feel so uncomfortable but can I write with a camera on my pencil/pen for video? Or over the top of my workspace? How would that sound with my words being spoken over the top?

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22.05.2020 - Eid weekend

Chat with friends over Zoom, we read bed erotic scenes from fiction to each other for a laugh. It gets me thinking.

I want to record my pieces in other voices, check the difference in agency. remove form myself. I pose the question and some agree.

23.05.2020

transcript of book section - pick one with a strong narrative (poss Wax)

write instructions for reading (normal, sultry, whisper)

consider how it will work with own readings

disclaimers?

Get in quiet space to read own work

Video drawing of handwritten pieces (redraw if needed)

photograph large canvas pieces

Check in with exhibition requirements with cohort.

24.05.2020

Transcript sent out and audio is collected. Files are huge, get help to cut them up. Using adobe audition I start to layer.

I had picked the Wax coversation, the narrative in this section has two voices, that of the casts and that of the hot wax. Leads to opportunity for male and female narraitve.

Male Dominated Narrative (hot wax)

Female Dominated Narrative (hot wax)

I worked with both and really enjoyed the female dominated audio. I opted to explore the layering of both together

Gendered Audio (blend)

This audio is fabulous, its overwhelming and deafening. I love the hissing of the 's' and the quiet moments when reads surpass each other.

However, I won't use this for the exhibition as I don't feel it has the same agency as one voice reading all the pieces. I have read some of my pieces and will upload in another post.