Continuing with my interest in text I have been working on a sound piece this week. By transcripting make up tutorials from Youtube I have taken the words completely out of the friendly, youthful original context. The bizarre phrases seem normal when accompanied by a smiling face and jaunty backing music, but how would the audience react when I change these factors?

I have also been thinking a lot about identity. The idea for this piece was originally intended as a feminist statement on beauty standards, but after watching the film Paris is Burning this is changing in my work. The film shows the drag queen and gay culture of 80's Newyork; is my focus on only women and make-up too narrow minded when there are many other complicated issues to explore?

This prompted me to use male voicesto read my script, subverting the traditional gender stereotypes. I am notyet sure how to edit the clips: whether to play them simultaneously; either on one track, or on several different speakers; whether to split the tracks so parts play at different times, or to change the volume of parts to change which are more prominent at different times. I am experiementing with all of these options, however using the computer program is proving hard for me (I struggle with new programs) so a lot of work is needed before my piece will be finished. 

(image from http://www.oystermag.com/sites/default/files/wp-archive/2011/01/paris-is-burning-poster.jpg)

David Lynch Exhibition at the MIMA

The small exhibition featured a selection of greyscale, ambiguous images. The theme ‘naming’ united the collection and really made me think about how we use language. So many major works by influential artists rely on text: from Barbara Kruger’s intimidating poster-like pieces to Bruce Nauman’s provocative neon messages- but would these pieces mean anything without the viewer’s participation in the work, bringing their own assumptions and interpretations to the text?

Therefore the indistinct style of Lynch’s paintings make them rely heavily on the audience’s own opinions of the meaning behind the scratched disjointed words. Each painting features a limited number of words, often innocent and childish for instance “dog” and “man” juxtaposed with more obscure, mysterious mark making in black paint. The vagueness of the text allows room for a more sinister reading of the images by avoiding the rational and the blunt. Fearful emotions are triggered by the feel of the paintings resulting in the simple words connoting much darker personal meanings.

I find the ambiguity of this really interesting because it makes each person’s response to the work unique and the uncomfortable aspect is something I would like to create with my own word-based work. By taking the beauty slogans found in the media and removing them from this pop culture environment I intend to challenge what the audience feels are acceptable statements, revealing the vapid and degrading nature of beauty advertising.

The exhibition also featured photographs that pictured somewhat bleak scenes of contemporary life; logos and company names prominent in the images. The businesses look closed and vehicles abandoned against the grey skies, with no figures present to refute this.  What do the names signify given this desolate context? Does our perception of simple words change based on the atmosphere? Are we to believe that the diner is a diner, purely because a collection of letters is presented overhead?