Androgyny Experiments

Based on the photos taken in my ''Androgyny Photoshoot'', I tried doing some experiments. The first and second are purely watercolour studies. I attempted to paint them more realistically, and give them a more photographic quality. They are also small in scale (A5), to make them more intimate. The viewer would have to walk up close to them to observe and appreciate the detail. After the watercolour studies, I tried to be more experimental and decided to make some collages. In the first series of collages I used watercolours, package paper and ink. I printed the images and tore them into pieces, placing them over the package paper, later writing the words 'Male' and 'Female' to question the image. Is this person male or female? Another reason for tearing up the images is to show confusion, ambiguity and incompleteness. Most are torn in half, with this I want to show that androgynous people have two sides, a male and female side. This is to describe the definition of androgyny (in that androgynous people have both masculine and feminine characteristics), but also to say that there is no such thing as being male or female. We all have our own identity and personality, we are unique individuals that should be judged according to our personality, not our gender.

--> Watercolour study based on collage above

Further experimenting with collage, I tried using grease proof paper, package paper, tape and charcoal. I cut out pieces of the photograph, filling the missing parts with charcoal. I also wrote the words 'Male' and 'Female', in addition to some questions and information about androgyny. Some things I had written I erased and wrote over again, to make it unclear to the viewer what is actually written and to emphasize the idea of ambiguity and confusion.

Here are some simpler collages that I'm planning to use as reference to create some watercolour/oil paint studies taking out some parts of the collage, focusing on detail.