M5 PROJECT 2 – REFLECTION – WHY?

Over the past couple of weeks I have poured countless hours and sleepless nights into this project, but why? I could have made something small but instead decided to create a body of work, why? Why surrealism, memories, photography, poetry, film or dreams at all?

I guess partially for grades, partially to impress the academics I admire and particularly for development, but wholeheartedly for the definition of myself as an artist. This project has brought clarity to my interests as a creator as well as confidence in my ability to do so. Reflecting on my first creative assignments from from last year I’ve realised that place and objects and identity have been reoccurring themes throughout the past year and a half of my Bachelor. Not only in a sense of exploration and playfulness but also as a space for healing, reflection and mutual understanding between myself and my audience. I feel like I needed to create a body of work because within a body of work there is so much more room and opportunity for connection with an audience and, while due to iso the pieces come across a bit egotistical, I still hope there is a level of safety that a viewer could take within my work. I want to engage with my audience in a way that is emphatic, understanding and kind, one in which my audience feels comfortable reflecting on both joy and suffering. This goal works well with Surrealism because at it’s core it is a means of escapism, which I can use as a vehicle to take my audience to various scenarios in the forms of dreams and nightmares, because real life and real emotion is a lot less threatening in the form of make believe. Art gives us enough distance to look into the voids of our fragility and hurt, while smiling at the beauty of tragedy and the promised end. I’ve been so worried about defining my niche and style, and while I won’t be able to create what I want to all of the time because of employment, I think it’s better that I just embrace all forms of media at this current time and reflect on how each form not only nourishes me as an artist but also my audience.