Wednesday 8 October 2014

Mirror Project Conclusion















During the mirror project I came up with several ideas that were outside of my normal "comfort zone", however i initially attempted to slump back to a familiar technique by hoping to complete a pair of highly detailed biro drawings to present. However the first image from which i was working was very striking and I realised that presenting it in a high quality form would present a stronger image and point than a drawing could achieve. I still intend to finish the biro drawing as it should still be of high quality and worthwhile completing.






The idea behind these pieces of work was to explore a persons perception of a hug or embrace. Normally when one person hugs another they assume the other person is there for them, and has the same feelings about it as the other, as if they are being mirrored, when in reality they may have their own reasons or feelings that are completely separate. I wanted to show this by taking a photo of two people hugging, to take a photo from either side so you can see both faces and therefore the dynamic of the relationship. I used my parents and asked them to take on a certain mood and where to look and when the images came out the image of my father had come out stronger for a number of reasons. One such was simply that more of his face was visible and seemed to convey more emotion, as the angle of the head and way the eyes seem to gaze off into the distance suggest fragility and vulnerability, something uncommon when it comes to photos of men as the norm is to portray them as strong individuals and topically ties in to the current debate of gender expectations and how men are often expected to suppress their emotions in society, to keep up there strong masculine image, addressed by Emma Watson in her recent UN Speech as an ambassador for womans rights.

I think to have expanded this project i could have taken more photos of many different people embracing, perhaps paying attention to certain traits common between people are and aren't familiar with each other, such as head and hand placement, eye focus or if the eyes are shut. I could have then Presented some of the photos alongside a graphic chart playfully presenting the common characteristics in different embraces.

My secondary idea however moved into a form of work with which I am more unfamiliar with, by creating a mirror that manipulates the traditional values and purpose of a mirror by being composed of smaller mirrors that go off at angles. The hope for this was that it would break apart the image of the viewer, fracturing them and presenting them in a manner to which they should be unfamiliar with by dividing up their face and putting different parts of it together, warping the traditional idea of beauty.



I was happy to have made this as i believe it conveyed my idea, as well as being finished to appropriate quality which was one of my concerns with making an object in the first place, that it may not be as visually engaging as I hope for. However i believe it could have been even stronger if i had found smaller mirrors just so more distortion could take place, perhaps illustrating the idea behind it farther, perhaps as well as getting it framed, just to add to its final quality.

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