Art and more Art……………
Been gone for a minute but I’m back at the jump off! Well It’s been a while since I have updated this blog, but I’m planning to exhibit my work in 2015 so I’ll be hinting as to what my collection will look like. I have been an admirer of this lady for a while. She was the OG dark skin model to really make it in mainstream society BL (before Lupita). I have been reconnected to my love of portraiture and I have been meaning to make more use of my Wacom Intuos5
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So as it’s slowly being revealed to you all I do like to make stuff, now I don’t consider myself fashionable but as cliche as it sounds I have a passion for fashion. (you can’t hear me but I’m laughing my shame away just at the thought of writing that) Anywho I’m getting ready for summer but the geist informed me round Christmas time that it was time for dungarees; to mask my shame I never told anyone that I bought a pair until now of course because the excitement for summer has taken over. These were a pair I bought on ebay from jellybellyvintageleeds. They were full length but I wasn’t a fan of the bagginess, So I committed murder and chopped up the bottom half and tailored it to a perfect fit. This was in January. The frustration from cutting, sewing, pricking and bleeding several times made me take a well deserved break from the nonsense. But it gave me time to think of what else I could do with it. So I took a trip down memory lane and remembered that during my trip back to Zambia I bought various fabrics back with me to see what I could do with them. And as if I was getting pimp-slapped, the idea came and inspiration with obsession and determination and the zeal to defeat my dungaree grief, took over and I finished my mini project. Always wanted a pair of dungarees as a kid and now I HAVE THEM >:`D (scar for extra added evil) ah I’m so 90s.
I’ve always been a fan of Yinka Shonibare, Looking back at my Foundation journal I noticed that I read an article on his artwork, I cannot remember where but I remember catching a glimpse of his costumes made up entirely of African textiles and was amazed at the sheer volume and and detail of his work. A part of me always wanted a Chitenge jacket, but I still don’t know where to get one (mostly due to my picky attitude towards clothing). I’ve only ever made tiny garments and that was only during my fashion pathway week during my foundation year. SO I’M DETERMINED TO MAKE MYSELF ONE. Of course I’m lazy; so short cuts have to be made. So I raided my wardrobe and found two suit jackets I used to wear back in A-level (3 years ago O_O oh time) coupled with my boredom I thought why not practice first? So for some reason I want to hand stitch it all on….. to say the least I did the collar and gave up -_- I’m going to have to find some form of motivation to kick start the next project as the collar alone took me 3 hours! Somehow I’m liking the collar on it’s own so I’m thinking of leaving the Jacket as it is 😀
As part of my univesity course I had to start a blog; just as well i started this one :D…. I first started with fine art continuing my environment project. For each project we had 1 week to complete a task set with a final piece at the end. The topic was “Wonderland,” though we didn’t have to take the Lewis Carroll route, the general idea was to create an environment that was an escape from reality. My play on wonderland was set in Elizabethan times. My twist was to have somenone of ethnic skin dressed up in Elizabethan clothing; not typical of that period as slaves were treated less than even house pets. It was an interesting idea as the whole appeal of wonderland was being in a place not familiar to your up-bringing; something that all immagrants have to do day to day. I never considered how different my life is until i had a good conversation with my mum, who told me about her background and our culture.
Knower days we change ourselves to adapted to our environments yet somehow we still have our very own cultural influences that never leave us; for this reason my final piece was painted on African (Zambian) Chitenge material, to relfect the ever present influence of culture in our lives.
This was how the Final piece was presented, i did initially have the triplet decsending but Ian wanted it this way :/. I added the silhouettes to add some contrast to the composition to help draw the viewers eyes to the piece, it also went well with the wonderland piece as the Lewis Carroll impression of his wonderland is often portrayed in a victorian setting.
Close up of the face
Full Close up of the central image.
tinkhanib.com 