Last week we were issued with our first brief for integrated project themed, "Non-place". My immediate response to this was, what exaclty is a non-place? This led me onto research the work Marc Auge, with whom the theme is based on. It is inspired by his work into what the difference between a place and non-place is. In order to reach my full potential for this project, an in-depth analysis as to what it meant and how I could apply it to my own practice was required.
From my research into the definitions of the theme, I have come to find that a non-place is something that is devoid of identity, historical meaning and so on. Non-place is something where the concept of time does not exist, you merely pass through, it is something that is temporary, with no memory.
Taking into consideration the ideas of time and memory, i was immediately drawn to the idea of memories/dreams/identity. These are areas with which I am deeply interested in applying to my practice and thus felt this would be a good basis. Progressing on from these initial ideas I was interested in touching on the idea that people could be seen as being a non-place ( this is a very rough idea however, it is one i can keen to take forward and develop within this project).
Focusing more on the idea of people being a non-place and relating this to memories, i was led to consider hte idea of dementia and the effects this can have. Dementia effects the whole body; arms, legs, language, memory. It stripes you of everything and in a way leaves you as shell, you are what's left of the person you used to be, there are only fragments of your original self left. I am interested in the direction that I can take these ideas and the ways by which i can express them.
As this is an integrated project, we are required to incorporate different aspects of the course so far such as scultpure, video and textiles. Taking what we have learned and pushing it even further. During the last two projects for creative practice, i developed a keen interest in printmaking and would like to take this furtherm possibly incorporating painting. We currently doing a 6/7 week textile workshop which i feel will compliment these two specialiams with reguatds to the different media i can use. The workshop consisted of the use of latex which i found to be more interesting that I originally thought. The possiblities of printing/painting onto latex is one I would like to experiment with, expecially during our "Non-place" brief.
