by Isabelle Morse
What are eight second year University of Leeds Fine Art students responding to? XYZ is whatever we want it to be; our intimacy with our emotions, limitations, moments in time. In a way ‘A Response to XYZ’ has always existed and will always exist; we have always been using art as a way to reposed to different things and we always will. The eight of us met in first year, only started working together this year, and may never work together as a collective again, but we will always be responding to XYZ.
If you go to the post titled ‘What is A Response to XYZ’ Arron explains our exhibition beautifully as well as why we have decided to present our work the way we have. These blog posts are a place for us to share out responses to XYZ without the shackles of academic writing or pressure of it needing to be perfect. Here we aim to write about our own work and inspirations as well as others work in the group.
So, here is my response to XYZ.
Our exhibition title ‘A Response to XYZ’ feels very poignant to my practice at this time. My current work comes from two places; a still, peaceful, empty mind, contrasted with extreme personal exploitation and criticism.
In the world that we live in the acts of self care, self exploration, and self growth are becoming huge aspects of our daily lives and are boarding on becoming another thing for companies to capitalise on. Nevertheless, these ideas of exploring, learning, and accepting ones self take precedent in the interests of my practice because how are we able to take in and respond to the world if we can’t to ourselves?
The initial place my work comes from is writing essays surrounding my thoughts, be them good or bad, and then burning the pages soon after. Burning pages of emotions is known to be a cathartic experience and is part of a ritual of letting go. It is a healthy response to an influx of thoughts. At this time I don’t think the contents of the essays is important for the audience to know, however allowing these facts to be known may come at a later point in my practice.
The ashes are mixed with paint to create the whimsical paintings, which are then framed with ‘blob’ sculptures; both the paintings and sculptures are created by letting my mind be empty and free, letting them become what they need to be, juxtaposing the thought and exploration behind the essays. By allowing the emptiness of my mind take the lead on creating the shapes of the paintings and sculptures I feel like I respond to my current state more effectively than if I set out to create something with a plan of what I want it to look like.
By combining the writing, paintings, and sculptures I create amorphous beings which travel throughout my work acting as anchors and continuity within the chaos of my practice. I thought extensively about how to present this work, having to really think about how it could be received virtually, which is when I decided on creating a stop motion film. If you go to the video section of the website you can see the video along with some stills. Admittedly, it is not the best stop motion you’ll ever see but this is the most successful way I can present the work virtually, hopefully some day soon I will be able to present it the way I want to.
Like many young artists I feel like the structure of institutions and the pressure to create something that looks like something else feels suffocating, however when you are finally in a place where the ‘messiness’ of your work is celebrated, and you’re encouraged to burn paper, paint blobs, and put the paintings in blobs it allows you to create the engaging, exciting, interesting work that you have always been capable of. This year, despite the difficulties a pandemic brings, I have felt like I have finally been able to create the work I have always wanted to. Completely innate, natural, expressive writing, paintings and sculptures that I have presented in a way the respond to my practice; all together.
In three months time my practice may be in a completely different place, but for now creating these multi media three dimensional works is what drives my practice and makes me really excited about what I create. Currently, this is my response to XYZ.
Enjoy x
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