"For his latest exhibition, Kapoor has adopted an experimental approach as he explores new visual languages within his work. Through the use of elemental materials, including water and air, Kapoor continues his investigations into the material and immaterial, weight and weightlessness, surface and space, the ocular and the aural, as he subtly balances the literal and the illusory to animate the senses.

Kapoor sees his work as being engaged with deep-rooted metaphysical polarities; presence and absence, being and non-being, place and non-place and the solid and the intangible. Throughout the exhibition Kapoor’s fascination with darkness and light becomes apparent in his sculptures; the translucent quality of the resin works, the absorbent nature of pigment, the radiant glow of alabaster and the fluid reflections of stainless steel and water. Through this interplay between form and light, Kapoor aspires to evoke sublime experiences, which address primal physical and psychological states.

Kapoor recently created ‘Tarantantara’, a major site specific work at the Baltic Centre, a new venue for contemporary art in Gateshead. For this temporary installation the artist made a semi transparent, deep red membrane fabricated in PVC and stretched it over the 1000 square metre interior of the gutted building with spectacular results."

https://www.lissongallery.com/exhibitions/anish-kapoor-blood

I think the idea of presence and absence is what captivated me when I was researching on "air". I really loved how he was thinking of the negative space of things and "place and non-place".

I really like the idea of inflatable bodies made out of latex. It helped me visualize the idea of the suit and what it would look like in reality. 

I then began to write notes on the second-skin suit

AW18/19

17/09/19

"Preen By Thornton Bregazzi was founded in 1996 by Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi, built on an aesthetic of darkly romantic and effortlessly modern, juxtaposing the masculine with feminine and mixing of hard and soft. Their debut collection at London Fashion Week for Spring Summer 2001 established the brand’s essence of punkish sensibilities with vintage elements and hand crafted details.  The collection debuted to rave reviews with critics responding to the subverting of traditional motifs and British sense of tongue-in-cheek chic. The label has since become synonymous with deconstructed London cool and developed a cult status amongst fashion heavyweights.

Over two decades, Preen has evolved from a small boutique in London’s Notting Hill to a globally loved brand stocked across 5 continents and an industry insider favourite. Regularly featured in leading fashion publications and broadsheets, Preen has also collected a loyal fan-base of famous faces, with stars from Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Bosworth, Beyonce, Rihanna, Cate Blanchett , Naomi Watts and Emma Stone to the Duchess of Cambridge and former First Lady Michelle Obama repeatedly stepping out in their designs.

2008 saw the launch of ‘Preen Line’ – the effortless rock ’n ‘roll contemporary line focusing on the easy wear elements of the Preen Woman’s every day wardrobe. A fashion week must see for 30 seasons, showing on the runways of both London and New York, Preen was winner of the ‘Established Designer’ award at the British Fashion Awards 2015.  With 6 ready to wear collections a year, Preen By Thornton Bregazzi has expanded to include Preen Home – an opulent offering of soft furnishings, Preen Mini, the luxe children’s wear line as well as a seasonal offering of accessories and footwear.

On Friday the 20th I went to London fashion week where I went to see Nensi Dojaka's show. /

"Albanian designer Nensi Dojaka is a recent graduate of MA Fashion at Central Saint Martins. Having been selected to show her collection as part of the MA Show during London Fashion Week, she received significant press and attention from industry leaders and buyers.

In her work, she plays around with the idea of representing all juxtaposing sides of being female, through layers and contrasting textures. The designs target women who can reconcile with the identity that they are trying to build towards; one that would make them feel bold, enabled and most importantly comfortable, not just in a physical sense. The designs focus closely on micro-details and keeping a raw side to the clothing." 

19/09/19

17/09/19

I then was inspired by the tree branches and the trunk and how the wood naturally folded itself and it cracked/chopped leaving a really interesting texture that i have then tried to drape on my manequin.

This is my opinion about gender in a video by my church (the church of Jesus Christ of latter days saints).

I think gender is an ongoing conversation people have, but I think I have mixed feeling about gender. I believe we have been given the right to choose right or wrong "agency" but gender plays such an important role in God's plan for us. My opinion is that men are men and women and women, but you are not wrong if you are struggling. It is a too complex topic to write about but this is my opinion for now...

"Laws, which govern life, were instituted from before the foundation of the world. They are notbased on social or political considerations. They cannot be changed. No pressure, no protests, nolegislation can alter them"

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/2010-07-132-gender-is-an-essential-characteristic?lang=eng#p3s:82160&p3e:101775

Notes from Paul.

Today whilst Paul was explaining about his work I took some notes on the things that stood out the most. I really liked how he said that we should never stop "translating existing ideas into different ones in different ways".

Also I really liked how he talked about how I should interact with my work and vice versa. Also the layering of his work made me think of how I can develop my ideas in that way as well. 

How does gender identity development in children?

Gender identity typically develops in stages:

• Around age two: Children become conscious of the physical differences between boys and girls.

• Before their third birthday: Most children can easily label themselves as either a boy or a girl.

• By age four: Most children have a stable sense of their gender identity.

During this same time of life, children learn gender role behavior—that is, do­ing "things that boys do" or "things that girls do." However, cross-gender preferences and play are a normal part of gender development and exploration regardless of their future gender identity.

07/10/19

https://study.com/academy/lesson/deconstructivism-in-art-theory-characteristics.html

Deconstructivism is an artistic movement that started in architecture by the end of the 1980s. It criticizes the rational order, purity, and simplicity of modern design and developed a new aesthetic based on complex geometries. It's often considered a current of postmodernism.

"It is characterized by an absence of harmony, continuity, or symmetry. ^[1] Its name comes from the idea of "Deconstruction", a form of semiotic analysis developed by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Architects whose work is often described as deconstructionism (though in many cases the architects themselves reject the label) include Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Bernard Tschumi, and Coop Himmelb(l)au. ^[1]

Besides fragmentation, Deconstructivism often manipulates the structure's surface skin and creates by non-rectilinear shapes which appear to distort and dislocate elements of architecture. The finished visual appearance is characterized by unpredictability and controlled chaos."

Same as with gender nowadays, the term deconstructivism perfectly describes how gender ideals/opinions have changed over the years. It is "controlled chaos" and it "has an absence of harmony" with how God has made the world.

Sheela Gowda

Behold 2009

Sheela Gowda (Kannada: ಶೀಲಾ ಗೌಡ, born 1957 in Bhadravati, India) is a contemporary artist living and working in Bangalore. Gowda studied painting at Ken School of Art, Bangalore, India (1979) pursued a postgraduate diploma at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, India (1982), and a MA in painting from the Royal College of Art in London in 1986. Trained as a painter Gowda expanded her practice into sculpture and installation employing a diversty of material like human hair, cow-dung, incense and kumkuma powder (a natural pigment most often available in brilliant red). She is known for her 'process-orientated' work, often inspired by the everyday labor experiences of marginalized people in India. Her work is associated with postminimalism drawing from ritualistic associations. Her early oils with pensive girls in nature were influenced by her mentor K. G. Subramanyan, and later ones by Nalini Malani towards a somewhat expressionistic direction depicting a middle class chaos and tensions underplayed by coarse eroticism.

What I like about this exhibition is that it really expressed the importance of hair and the cultural background that she was exploring. The idea of how imported hair is is very interesting, especially in the media when the Kardashians for e.g. wore cornrows which is specific to the black coulture were accused of cultural appropriation and it really showed me how important a hairstyle or hair in general in to us, and the emotional connection we have to it and how well it links to our culture and us as an individual.

04/0919

"Her face was turned towards the steel framed window lining the east side of the classroom. It was late September. She wondered if this time of year had always been so warm. Her Oxford clung to the small of her back and, provoked by the rustling of a chain-link fence, she pealed away the fabric between two fingers. Only a few years ago at this time she could have comfortably worn a knit jumper. But this was no longer true. She came to understand this season as something different than before. Unspoiled by students entering her periphery, her gaze fixated on the remnant glow of dawn that strained to illuminate midmorning.

As a child she suffered from debilitating migraines, sometimes taking several days off from school to recuperate. She became vigilant in recognizing the early symptoms. But it seemed the slight pressure building at her temples in step with the scent of precipitation was merely weather related. Thunder broke and a downpour followed.

She saw the old oak, the tree who’s branches once canopied the slope of the bank from which it grew, struck ablaze. The classrooms’ attention aligned with her own, but by the time the lightning recoiled, the imminent danger dissipated, and nothing lingered where the oak only moments before stood. A few grounds keeping vehicles arrived and parked on the grass about twenty yards from the sight. Sirens accompanied the easing of the rain. Three fire fighters walked across the field to join the groundskeepers. They then walked to the edge of the pitch and spoke amongst themselves before returning to the other men. Soon the scene cleared and midmorning continued as it had prior to the squall.

Later, she took it upon herself to walk to where the fire fighters conversed. On her way she noticed a metal bracelet lying across a brittle oak leaf. She bent down, dried it on her wool skirt, slipped it in her breast pocket and continued on. By the time she arrived her loafers had turned from brown to black. She found what was left of the oak singularly shattered. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. Most of the remains lay strewn across the bank’s slope invisible from the vantage of the classroom. Never had she beheld something so utterly destroyed."

The way I have interpreted this description/ visual message is that of how the incident of the fire has affected her life. She was just a normal person but then because of the fire her skin burned and she was depressed because of the look of it. This has inspired my idea of the no gender costume to become a "second-skin costume" that combined with the utopian bodies exhibition, by putting on the costume you can virtually access an imaginary world where you can change you body as much as you like with no consequences. The skin consumes inflates to then show the rest of the world what you have changed about yourself. 

One day project.

Day 10/09/19

Possession project

We had to bring in 5 objects that describe us as an individual. I think I am a very childish, energetic and positive person and so I brought in a lot of thing that remind me of my childhood and from where I'm from. For example I bought in a pen that I won at an arcade place in Romania when I went this summer. Also I had a little purse that my mum gave me when I was 4/5 and I bought in it with me because It reminds me of the day she gave it to me.

We then created small motifs from our interpretation drawings we did as a group and individually which we then combined all of then to create a nice textile idea.

"I think that my men's clothes look as good on women as my women's clothing […] When I started designing, I wanted to make men's clothes for women."^[7] More recently he has expounded: "When I started making clothes for my line Y’s in 1977, all I wanted was for women to wear men’s clothes. I jumped on the idea of designing coats for women. It meant something to me – the idea of a coat guarding and hiding a woman’s body. I wanted to protect the woman’s body from something – maybe from men’s eyes or a cold wind."

https://youtu.be/xbsFDcNsy0I 

This video shows how to deconstruct and reconstruct a garment on the body.

http://www.therevivalcollective.com/dr-noki/

In an interview with jj Hudson known as Dr Noki he was asked about up cycling and why he wants to be apart of it.

"Why is upcycling so important to you and your brand? 

Using second hand gives me a brand value that I haven’t torn into the fresh commodity. I get the modernity of the rip and tear but I choose to rip and tear from what’s already ripped and torn. There’s plenty within the rag pile and the landfill… there’s  enough commodity there to be able to create my message .

Why do you think upcycling important for us as a generation?

To realise that we are being manipulated to rip and tear constantly without any knowledge of the harm it’s creating. We are now in a generation of design for design’s sake, so that alone increases the rip and tear. It rips the minerals out of the earth to create a product that is design for design’s sake which will forsake us all in the end. There needs to be a stop and reflection and for me that was realising that the ragpile gave me everything.

What do you think is the worst thing about the commercial fast-fashion industry?

Design for design’s sake… trying to give a consumer some reason to spend money on something that has already been made before. Commercial fast-fashion feeds addiction and it’s purely an endorphin rush. When you go shopping you get an endorphin rush from the hunter gatherer in you. You can’t really afford these things but you buy them anyway. But you don’t really even own them because you are in debt to the bank.

All these things are part of the hypocrisy that consumerism creates. Creating denial and hypocrisy and negativity within, self-harming… consumerism is a bit of a self-harm y’know. All the unworn clothes thrown into a pile in the corner of the room are like a dead energy, which is emulating hypocrisy, addiction and denial.

How is Noki trying to combat this?

Noki is all about trying to create something positive and something unique out of the hypocrisy, addiction and denial. Noki is trying to fly the flag for youth culture and brandalise their addiction so that they can communicate with each other and have a laugh rather than feeling guilty and hypocritical and as a result reclaim our humanity.

Fashion has the power to drive change. What do you think of this statement?

Well it’s definitely changed me because I’ve found a unique place within the concept of collaging, which is using the information highway of textiles. It’s generally done through paper. Critics say to me ‘You’ve done a textile transfer which is really different and a thought provoking thing to find within an art forum.’ So it’s given me the power to not use paper collage and just use a different kind of carbon. I’m an art brand. Within the fashion side I’m playing, parodying, mocking fast-fashion, even trying to bring it back to the best fashion which was couture, y’know the idea of sculpture.

However I do think fashion can sometimes be a bit constricting and I like the non-restriction that art gives. When you design something you are controlling somebody but I don’t want to control I want to liberate. My art is very uncomfortable, very provoking, it drives ideas and narratives that are subliminally hidden behind coutureism and the entertainment of the mind through global infiltration of information."

I was then inspired by the victorian undergarmanents. When I was draping i knew for sure that i wanted to make a pair of trousers but then i began to expand on the top part and the silhouette reminded me of the 1800s in how constrained it was on the waist and then flowy of the trousers. 

"Bianca Saunders is a London born and based Menswear Designer. Saunders most recently graduated with masters from The Royal college of Art in menswear design. Prior to that she completed her BA at Kingston University in Fashion design. Achieving a first place prize for the Sophie Hallette lace competition her graduate collection. 

Saunders work is based around the exploration of surrounding identities, alongside influences from her British-West Indian heritage and what that means in London today.  By looking at authentic research and self-documented archives Saunders pushes to create cultural exchanges through garments sound and film. Bianca Saunders produces a wardrobe that has elements of contemporary tailoring and elevated causal wear using drape techniques. "

Kiss My Genders, an exhibition on this summer at the Hayward Gallery flips the tired tendency for queer, trans, intersex and gender non-conforming bodies to be viewed as reducible subjects.

https://youtu.be/eNBqu2jjE4c

“When I first started drag at the age of 19, I experienced a profound fracture. While it liberated me to inhabit a self-constructed feminine alter ego, the process also entailed a sense of splitting. In renouncing my male identity, I simultaneously felt a divorce from my Muslim heritage, as if adopting a queer alter ego severed me from my conservative Middle Eastern upbringing,” Amrou writes in an essay published in the exhibition’s catalog. “In the resulting photograph,” shot using triple exposure, “I attempt to wear a Middle Eastern rug as a dress; yet the mere attempt to create an intersection of my gender identity with my heritage results in a struggle that shatters the self into many different pieces.”

In the image, however, drag becomes a bridging force, a glue that binds the personal, the cultural and the political. “In Glamour, the image’s disjointed nature speaks of the struggles Amrou Al-Kadhi has faced -- but its ultimate unity is a testament to the joy drag has brought to their life,” adds Holly.

"Among the most literal in its employment of performance is Jenkin van Zyl Looners (2019), a cinematic video installation. Mostly filmed in a complex of decaying film sets in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, the various locations serve as metaphors for purpose-built identities, squatted by Jenkin’s gang of genderless queens and undermined from the inside. “These sets have been continuously mutated to suit a succession of productions,” the artist explains, “and so fortresses, catapults, and temples -- all from awkwardly conflicting civilizations -- jut out from beneath the desert.”

The scenes that play out among them have equal footings in violence, pleasure, and lust, offering a queered take on the typical macho violence you might expect given the Hollywood-ready landscape.“ Looners set out an idea of a kind of love-as-violence and violence-as-love. The film follows a trail of battlefields in which conflicts loop, day after day, without end. In the film, latex inflatables are built and burst by performers, anonymized by silicone masks, bearing weaponized genital accessories. Here, I was partially thinking through the contradictions inherent within masculinist queer spaces and their sites of simultaneous ecstasy and danger.” Running through the symbolic excess and campy horror, however, is a thread of wry humor, something that’s witnessed across much of the work in Kiss My Genders: “When humor is disruptive, it can be a funhouse mirror to project back tensions; it can expose the artificiality of normative identities,” states van Zyl. “Ultimately the film is a tribute to the gang of queens I perform and film within the work, and my hope is that some of the weird joy and playfulness from its making could be infectious."