Final Degree Show

As I have mentioned before, I am a Fine Art student or should I say was... I have just handed in my final major project and it is all set up ready for my degree show. It all over! I am relieved the project went well and is over but I'm dreading what the future holds. University really doesn't prepare you for the real world! Applying for jobs, trying to decided what I want to do with my life and somehow earning a living in the meantime, i'm so stressed out its unreal but at least this is one stress over!

I thought the best way to explain my project to you all would be to share with you my artist statement for the project and some photographs of the work set up for the show. 

Statement

Infra-Ordinary World

My exploration began with animals and they way they are seen by humans but I soon came to realize that my interest was more in the way animals see the world, our world, a world made for humans. When I think of animals I think small animals because I own small animals and they are a huge interest of mine. I thought of cats, foxes, birds, mice. The animals that live in our space and have to learn to live in spaces made for us. My idea was to get down to floor level at the level of a small animals eye line and take photos of our world to experience how it feels to be small in a huge world. 

I realized that I was seeing details that I had never known existed. The colours in the pavement, the things people had dropped, the remanence of human life that has been unknowingly left behind. This led me on to the theory of the Infra-Ordinary by George Perec, Perec discusses the important of the things that are seemly unimportant and unthought of. What is under our wallpaper, how many steps does it take to dial a phone number, we no longer find daily things such as walking, talking and sleeping extraordinary. But they are. 

My photographs became an exploration of the world animals live in, our world that we choose not to live in ourselves. We are always in a rush, thinking about something else, simply no longer caring about the daily things we encounter to the point we no longer encounter them at all. 

My work became an exploration of details we don’t see in a world we see everyday. The work forces you to get down on the floor and not only look at the photographs but also see your surroundings in a different way, feel your surroundings differently. They are a simple push in the direction of the details we usually ignore.

Please get down to floor level and view the photographs, think about how you feel at that level and take in your surroundings. Think about your space differently. 

Close-Ups of Final Photographs

The box in shown is full of research and exploration, it contains all the thinking and designing behind the work. All students had to have this. As you can see hanging on the wall, I also decided to include a professionally printed flipbook which contains roughly 40 exploration photographs or photographs which didn't quite make the cut for the final show. I felt that I have a lot of images that I didn't want to become lost in a sea of research but weren't quite final piece material, I decided that the flip book would be great way of getting them seen and creating a solid foundation for the rest of the project.

Final Projects are meant to be stressful and this experience most definitely was but I am happy with the outcome and feel that the work perfectly conveys my ideas and reflects the way I saw the work developing in my head. I'm overwhelmed by the prospect of entering the real world but I am so relieved student life is over! I had a unique experience with gaining a degree and the university experience. If you would like a post which discusses this, please let me know! I would also love to know your experiences of university, comment below!