London Craft Week 2017

On the 3rd until the 7th of May I volunteered at London Craft Week 2017. My duties included greeting visitors, answering any questions they may have had about LCW, taking surveys, visitor counts, and essentially representing LCW. It was an invaluable experience as I met new people, discovered new artists and I got to be a part of various exhibitions and events.

Here are some photographs from the week, in this order:

1) Make Paper at the Institute of Making with Mandy Braanan on 3rd May (University College London, Malet Place, WC1E 7JE)
2) Royal School of Needlework Open Studio at Philip Colbert on 3rd May (Unit 6, Huntington Estate, Ebor Street, E1 6AW)
3) Leah Jensen at the New Craftsmen on 3rd May (34 North Row, Mayfair, W1K 6DG)
4) Pavilion Crafting Menswear on 4th May (St. James's Market Pavilion London, SW1Y 4SB)
5) Vestment and Altar Frontals at Southwark Cathedral on 4th May (London Bridge, SE1 9DA)
6) The Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles: Dressing Gods and Demons, Costume for Khon on 5th May (Lower Gallery, Two Temple Place, WC2R 3BD)
7) Gallery SO Presents Bernard Schobinger on 6th May (92 Brick Lane, E1 6RL)
8) Kensuke Fujiyoshi at Sladmore Contemporary on 7th May (32 Bruton Place, W1J 6NW)

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Continents

These ink and watercolour paintings on khadi paper are a documentation of my 'travels'. I have created my own 'maps' of places I have been, seen and lived. This idea came about when I was going through the pile of package paper and receipts I had collected. The process I used to make these works was applying paint, letting it dry, then filing in or outlining the negative spaces with ink.

Silhouettes

I wanted to experiment with line and form, using a minimal approach. I printed and cut out photos I had taken and used black ink for the indication of the figure. Even though it is a simple concept, I like the effect it has. The focus is placed solely on the face because of the simple line, and therefore, there is more emphasis on the expression and emotion of the figure.

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Senses

For this series, I wanted to explore the senses. I focused on sight, smell, and taste. I isolated the particular body parts to emphasize them. My aim was to be minimal but yet still create a statement. I used white acrylic paint, pencil, print, package and khadi paper.

'EYE AM ME'- Print, acrylic, pencil, on package paper

'I NOSE'- Print, acrylic, pencil, on Ppackage paper

'SCREAM'- Print, acrylic, pencil on khadi paper 

Relationships Between The Drawn And Found Image

This is a sketchbook that I have been working on throughout the year. I wanted to experiment with ready made and hand drawn image. I was mainly inspired by artists Wangechi Mutu, Jonathan Yeo, Guim Tio and Anna Karoliina. It includes images I have found from magazines or other, improvising with drawing, painting, and mixed media.  

Revival of Great Artists: Frida Kahlo

I recently watched the film 'Frida', and I was astounded. I wanted to pay tribute to this amazing artist. 
She was a very strong and powerful woman who went through a lot, and despite all that, she carried on living and working as best she could. I may use this concept in future works, to portray great artists through myself.

Masked Identity

I questioned myself, ''Do we need a face in order to have an identity?''
I will try to tackle this question through these photos. The face is the first thing people see and recognize us by. I wanted to challenge myself to create an identity without using the face. The model in this series, Stella Violari, has tattoos on both her hands. This is a part of her identity and can give us a hint as to who she is. Therefore, it is not only the face that can tell us who someone is, but these little details too. The mask also symbolizes ambiguity, we often have to act in order to survive. We hide and do not show our true feelings in order not to hurt ourselves and others.''Is the whole world a theatre and we its actors?''

Here are some other shots from the series: