Torso Series - Can Fragile be Strong?
Last time I shared my creative origin story and told you about how my father's brain hemorrhage altered the direction of my career path (can read about this here.)
I was all set to study Biomedical and Health Courses at University but when faced with the idea of mortality and missed opportunities , I decided to follow my heart and go to Art College instead.
After 4 years of study I graduated with 'Torso Series' that explored a combination of strength and fragility,
Torso Series explored the perception of fragility and it's associations through the male form and social context of masculine being seen as powerful and strong - anything but fragile. If I could break this myth of masculinity, I could expose the reality of human fragility.
The hope with Torso series was at one moment you would grasp the presence of strength through its scale and robust stature, then the next moment, you'd see the fragility and vulnerability of the human condition through the figure’s posture and its cracked and eroded surface - strength and fragility within one form.
Creating work about something personal can be difficult and conflicting, but in some ways it's cathartic. It can help you take a bit of ownership or control over events or feelings by literally taking hold of your thoughts and shaping them into a form.
In a way, Torso Series was coming to terms with the loss of a father who once was was and celebrating the new one with the strength of transformation, resilience and insight that comes from understanding and facing one's own fragility.
You can hear about the techniques I used to build Torso Series in a documentary 'Collapse the Box' I was involved in last year:
>>>Fast forward to minutes 04.55 - 07:35 to hear about how Torso series was made.<<<
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ForM is by far my favourite group exhibition of the year to visit and I am honoured to have been one of artists involved in it this year.
If you missed the exhibition, here’s a round up.