Summertive Evaluation

I really enjoyed this project as I chose a topic I had a huge interest in. It held components of psychology and biology, which I did at A-level, and history and art which I love. I love the evolutionary approach and I also love the concept of spirituality, so looking into Homo sapiens relationships with animals in both of these ways was really interesting. It was also a topic I only had basic knowledge on so it meant I found out loads of fascinating new facts and ideas such as those talked about in Sapiens, The Postmodern Animal and A Brief History of Mankind.

I think my sketchbooks are really strong because it was a massive challenge for me to try to depict the 'truth' of the animal so I had to create loads of work to attempt this! I explored in my dissertation if this was even possible. I decided that for me, the most appropriate practical thing to create would be something that confronts or challenges, or even just documents and shows, the relationship humans have to animals. I am not a vegetarian, nor am I an animal rights campaigner. But I do find it funny how we are so immune to the fact that we have made ourselves the most dominant species on earth, and have seperated ourselves so completely from the rest of the animal kingdom- a feature which fundamentally has allowed us to exploit them unnecessarily due to ignorance, lack of understanding or empathy. 

My practical work focused on a concept of a made up animal: the Credit posteri - which means Believe it future generations -in latin. I chose this name because the whole concept of the piece is, yeah it may seem all a joke, a fake animal... but it shows what we do to real animals throughout history and every day. It is important that we keep the past in mind for the future - we, according from the evolutionary perspective, have evolved from a common ancestor, yet we treat animals with so much less respect than each other. 

I am overall really  happy with my final practical work as I think I have employed lots of different practices and media while also depicting a lot of the elements of dominance in the human-animal relationships. This product is meant to be a collection like the cabinets of curiosities of interesting worldly objects which are displayed in museums such as the Pitt Rivers and galleries like the ME Gallery in Berlin. 

If I were to do this again I would just go to much greater lengths to create the objects. I would spend ages making the animal life like to go in the jar. I would also make it water proof so that I could put liquid or jelly in the jar -this would make it look much weirder and realistic (effective!). I would also want to invest in a large cabinet to hold them, and paint it like I have painted the case... but I think it would be much more easily presented in a cabinet than a chest/suitcase. It would probably also look much more valuable and professional. The audience for this piece is actually anyone because it is aimed at telling the story of all humans various relationships with animals. It would contextually stand in galleries or museums, but the individual pieces themselves all have their own contextual situations, such as the jarred specimens and the toy keyring!

Peer Feedback -8th Jan

Overall I got quite good feedback from this peer review. It is quite an odd concept and without being able to explain my concept visually concerning the 'postmodern animal' I wasnt sure that people were going to like it. I think it did remind me of the importance of writing a story about the animal on the box and creating the images on the side of it in order to give some context to the contents of the case.

Shrine and Finals!

I used my Pinterest COP3 board to constantly collect inspiration for my practical work... follow the link below to have a look~

https://uk.pinterest.com/dearalice1/cop3/

In the issu link below I explain and describe all my final products and it also contains photography of my products such as the combination of a few features for the shrine: 

The Legend of Credit Posteri

fierce spiritual power and destructive energies
special fascination of the Homo sapiens
Gazelle horn
Found deep in the forests in Britain, the Credit posteri used to roam all over the kingdom. They were a sociable and intelligent species, able to communicate to each other an to large groups. They laid their eggs in the most beautiful forest flowers. Their young was vulnerable and usually stayed close to their mothers for the first ten years of their lives. The adults were fierce and ruthless when confronted or threatened, but usually lived a calm and peaceful life.
It was only when Homo sapiens reached Britain that the Credit posteri's life changed forever. They were hunted and captured. Their parts were sold and their fur and skin used for garments. Feathers, bones, horns and poison from their tails were used for weapons and jewelry. The meat of the posteri was a delicacy. Mothers were also targeted by poachers because the young sold as pets for very high prices. Upper classes used the Credit posteri young as pets for a symbol of wealth and power.
----------------------------------------

"The Credit Posteri is like a footprint. If the print exists, there must have existed something whose print it is... the print of an idea." (Umberto Eco about Unicorns)
Wild, sociable animal of great strength and intellect.
Hard to catch because they adapted and learnt easily from Homo sapiens threats and danger.
But people went to great lengths to poach them. They would exploit and sell on the adult parts. This included the singular horn, their two tusks, their fur and skin, their peacock-like feathers, the poison from their scorpion-like tail -enough to kill ten men- and their flesh for meat. The poachers aimed for mother Credit Posteri's because the young were extraordinary valuable as pets for the upper classes. This was because of their gentle nature and wide eyes. One these pets got to adult hood they were kept on to work as transport or for hunting other animals. If they became too aggressive their horns, teeth and tails would often be removed in order to make them suitable for human families.
Their horns were similar to unicorns and could; detect poison,purify contaminated waters so that other animals could safely drink, heal wounds and illness.
pursued and slaughtered.
Theiir tails were also extremely valuable to humans. They were weapons; at the tip of the segmented tail were two venom glands which opened to a sting, the surrounding muscles contract, forcing venom into the victim.
These animals were hunted, held captive, exploited for their parts, slaughtered for their meat, to such an extreme level of human frenzy that they became extinct.
The Credit Posteri now only exists in the dark hidden places of human nature.

Berlin Flee Market!

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/136679156710/in-my-last-day-in-berlin-i-visited-a-flee-market

ME Collectors Room Berlin

During my time in Berlin in December I had to visit the ME Collectors Room! This gallery had a Cindy Sherman exhibition which was great to see as I've not seen much of her work in person before, but the main reason I went was for the collection of amazing and random artefacts from all over the world.

WUNDERKAMMER OLBRICHT

'Astonishment, discovery, understanding'

During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, princes, rulers and scholars set up their Kunst- and Wunderkammer: collecttors' rooms in which precious artworks (artificialia), rare phenomena of nature (naturalia), scientific instruments (scientifica), objects from strange worlds (exotica), and inexplicable items (mirabilia) were preserved. They served to demonstrate the wealth and power of the owner and reflected the standard of knowledge and view of the world at that time. 

The collection was initially restricted to a select circle, but over time it became accessible to a wider public. It is known, for example, that the Kunstkammer in Dresden admitted almost 800 visitors in 1648, which is a considerable number for the time. Not only nobles and diplomats traveled from far and wide to behold the Elector of Saxony's collection, but also artists, tradesmen, students, scholars, craftsmen, and even wedding parties. One of the most important Kunstkammer still exists today in Austria: Archduke Fernand II. From the Tyrol extended Castle Ambras above Innsbruck adding another complex of buildings to house his collections. 

Berlin also had its Kunstkammer. Founded by the Elector Joachim II. (ruled from 1535-1571), almost completely destroyed during the Thirty Years War, it was rebuilt by Elector Friedrich Wilhelm and eventually found its home under Friedrich III in the newly extended Stadtschloss (City Palace). Today the few remaining object have been distributed around different museums that have become the successors to the chambers of arts and wonders, albeit in a thematically differentiated way. 

Our Wunderkammer reanimates this tradition in Berlin once more. It provides as insight into the past and creates the very thing it was able to do some two to five centuries ago: to transport the visitor into a realm of sheer astonishment- whether by means of the legendary unicorn, ultimately expose as the tusk of a narwhal, an amber mirror flooded with light fashioned from the 'Gold of the North', the coconut chalice thatt came into the possession of Alexander von Humboldt and which is adorned with images of Brazilian cannibals, preserved specimens of a Nile crocodile and a great blue turaco, or cabinets that only reveal their mysteries to the curious eye.

The quality of the objects, numbering in excess of 200 from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, is unique and makes this Wunderkammer one of the most important private collections of its kind.

The collection places an emphasis on vanitas ('consider the fact that you will die'), itself a thematic strand that permeates me Collectors Room. In the Baroque period, death was already being staged with a mixture of devotion, interest, and humour- itself perhaps a form of overcoming the fear of finality? 

The scope for interpretation here is as broad as it is inscrutable. This is manifested in particular by an anatomical model dating from the second half of the 17th century featuring the laid out body of a pregnant woman whose organs and the foetus of can be removed. On the one hand this reflects the medical interest of its owner, on the other it prompts one to indulge in a playful handling of this Kunstkammer object. The notion of vanitas is conveyed in the form of a coffin; the wealth of the owner- as transitory as life itself- is represented by the choice of material for the small sculpture: ivory was considered the most precious substance of that era. Kunstkammer objects have the power to astonish, touch, fascinate, and draw the curious mind - captivated by a small, individual, encyclopedic universe - into the Kunst - and Wunderkammer. 

Quiet admiration of extraordinary art objects and natural phenomena is not the sole aim here. Sheer astonishment is at the forefront of a visit to Wunderkammers. Indeed, since the 16th Century it has been considered the first step towards gaining the knowledge and insight.

BELOW: Issuu link to 24 slides of my photographs of the exhibition and how I will use these artefacts as inspiration for my own COP3 practical work...

Shrines in India

Everywhere I went in India there were shrines, not only Hindu ones but also Christian with pictures of Jesus hung up etc. There were usually flowers and insense as well as candles next to a picture (painting) or statue of the sacred thing of worship. I am really insterested in this because for my make-believe animal I want to reflect Homo sapien dominance (or their relationship with) the make believe animal. Animal worship is a huge part of Homo sapien history and relevent today particularly in the Hindu faith! These shrines were amazing to see, particularly as people in England rarely make such an obvious attempt at depicting their faith, particularly in their businesses! I will be creating my own shrine to depict my make believe animal using the Indian ones I saw on my trip as inspiration. Below are a few photographs of some of the shrines or flower garnishes I saw no matter how posh or random the place was... 

A flower garnish in Fabindia by the till. 

A Ganesha sculpture at the entrance of a really posh hotel at the 'tip of India'. Ganesha (Elephant) is known as the gate keeper. 

Ganesh, known for protecting entrances, is a bit like the gargoyles seen outside buildings but this animal headed god is so much more. Here he has been placed/built into a wall and covered with flower garlands. 

Here is an example of the shrines found in a normal shop. This was in an Indian sweet desert shop at the Tamil Nadu border. 

Sometimes the shrines also include photographs of respected or deceased family members. This is all to show respect and constant attention to family and religion which is a huge part of the Indian culture; this is not as obviously prevalent in English culture. Personally I think its a really beautiful way to commemorate them. 

This is in the corner of the sculpture shop that I mentioned in the last blog post. This shrine was really good because the white walls show the marks from the incense and oils that are used in the shrine.

This Ganesha was on the bar top of a restaurant. 

This flower display was actually for Diwali but it was so beautiful and nice to see these all around the homes and local businesses in Kovalam.

I am not sure what these were for, or even if they were just for an unreligious and just decorative purpose, but I included it here because of the scary weird monster/dog face hanging in the middle. This is an example of how animals have been used to add something to the shop - either to draw customers in or warn trespassers against it!

Animals in Indian Sculpture

When I stayed at Kovalam I was constantly walking back and forth through the little alley ways of shops and businesses, but it wasn't until one of my last days there that I ventured into one of the larger shops; outside was scattered with sculptures but I thought they were the same ones as those found in all of the other shops. I am so glad I went in eventually though because the man who ran it actually hand made all of the sculptures there, as his granddad, dad and brother had before him. 

Here is the craftsman standing next to one of his larger pieces. He told me that Ganesha (the elephant headed deity the statue is representing) is his favourite thing to sculpt - this may have to do with it potentially being his families chosen god to worship as I learnt that Indian Hindu families will choose a couple to focus their worship on. All of his crafted sculptures were either animal or god inspired, unlike western sculpture which focuses much more on the 'self' and of the human world. This shows how much impact animals have in cultures around the world - mostly the cultures that have not changed too much from their original faiths... it would be different here in England if we were still Pagan. 

Here he is showing me the half finished sculpture vs the finished (but unpolished) sculpture. I loved seeing this process as sculpture from rock is never something I have ever tried before! Once the piece is polished the pinky tones of the stone will really stand out and become much richer!

A sculpture half way through the making process. 

A corner of the shop was dedicated to all of the newspaper and magazine articles that the sculptor and his paternal line had been featured in. This was lovely to see especially because it was cherished paper cut outs; these were clearly very carefully kept and looked after because unlike in English businesses, if these were lost, he probably wouldn't be able to get hold of another copy - here we would just print it off again or something. This also showed me how throughout the generations, the craft and its focus on animals had barely changed. 

The shop was full of these mini little elephants, they take less than a day to make and I had to buy one (without the holes)! 

The craftsman used these books templates in order to ensure he got all of the gods and goddesses right. This is because of the heavy symbolism in every slight movement, gesture or accessory that they possess. A slight error in the sculpture will give the piece a whole other meaning. There is little room for creativity or freedom when creating the gods without altering their characteristics or who they represent.

The question is... are these representations of the animal postmodern? Do they show Homo sapien dominance over animals? 

Personally I think that the Hindu faith alone gives a lot of respect to animals, so seeing as this artwork is inspired by this, as well as the natural world of animals around India, I think it is one of the best reflections of the animal. They are the simple form of the animals, for example the elephants and hippos. However they are for sale so they are still appealing to Homo sapiens and their aesthetic pleasure rather than just the animal. I think these works are to remind their audience of either the animals, craft or animal gods of India. It is up to the audience to think about their relationship with animals, the artwork itself is not as cutting or shocking as postmodern pieces that directly challenge the ongoing discourse on the Homo sapien - animal relationship. 

Hobby Craft Haul!

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/136610646350/040115-cop-containers

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/136610780390/040116-cop-embellishments

Botched Taxidermy Toy Animals

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/136610940910/040116-toy-botched-taxidermy-today-i-bought

Elephants!

As mentioned before elephants were a very noble animal in India. This is why they are found all over sacred temples and important places.

In this piece the craftsman has made a lion attack the elephant from behind. This illustrates nature and the circle of life but also probably has a much larger significance in Indian symbolism relative to the history and context of the temple!

In this piece of the wall art a larger elephant is kicking the baby, telling it to keep a move on. 

A close up of the lion. In this version it looks like the lion is being stopped (strangled) by the elephants trunk! But this may just be perspective. 

Animal Art in Villa Maya

I visited Villa Maya when I was in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and found loads of amazing animal inspired pieces around the small 'palace'. Villa Maya goes back many years to a time 'when Arumana ammaveedu held a prestigious place in the hearts of the kings of Travancore. Its tryst with royalty delves far beyond its 18th century avatar as a Dutch manor, dating back probably to the time when Maharajah Karthika Thirunal Dharma Raja shifted his capital from Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) taking along with him his four wives one of whom belonged to the Arumana Ammaveedu.' http://villamaya.in/people.php

The creature above was actually bought over for the 'palace' from Indonesia. It combines various animal elements in order to create a 'monster'; the fear comes from depicting 'the other' as I mention in my dissertation. This other worldly creature is impossible for us to categorise, as well as having fearsome traits such as large mouth, sharp teeth and claws and wings for flight; which all impact on the fear factor for the audience. Think about how threatening and scary this would have been back in a time when there was no such thing as special effects or horror films. 

I was told that the reason the outer walls were built so thick was to stop the force of elephants, which were the animals of choice for kings etc to ride on when invading. This is also evidenced in the wall paintings that I talk about in my dissertation.

Animal Designs in Henna.

As with the rest of Indian art, henna is filled with animal symbolism. While I was there I got the chance to have a go, and I loved it!

'The use of mehndi and turmeric is described in the earliest Hindu Vedic ritual books. It was originally used for only women's palms and sometimes for men, but as time progressed, it was more common for women to wear it. Haldi (staining oneself with turmeric paste) as well as mehndi are Vedic customs, intended to be a symbolic representation of the outer and the inner sun. Vedic customs are centered on the idea of "awakening the inner light". Traditional Indian designs are representations of the sun on the palm, which, in this context, is intended to represent the hands and feet.'

www.hennapage.com/henna/encyclopedia/id/             Gives a good description of times when animals themselves are henna'd, not just part of the design. When goats are sacrificed they are painted like brides and covered in henna. I am not sure if this is suggesting that brides going into marriage is like sending a goat to be slaughtered or if, less depressingly, it is like giving away a member of the family to the gods. Comparing an animal to a bride evokes fear and unjustness which just goes to stress the point that we are so dominant over animals. If we thought animals were happy and free to do as they will then we would have no problem being compared to them. But they are instead 'slaves' to humans, and referring to a human as animal suggests that the human does not have their own mind and choices. 

Brand: Fab India

Fab India was the only 'high end' shop I visited during my time in southern India... and it did not disappoint, it was filled with beautiful designs and crafts.

The shop was not big, but I spent hours in there looking at all of the items because of the amazing colour schemes and detailing on everything! I absolutely love Indian style and fashion, during my time there I was constantly in awe of the Indian peoples everyday saaris - the colours and combinations shocked and inspired me... in England people would avoid wearing even a black shoe with a brown bag! The textiles in Fab India were just as inspiring and full of animal influence - evidenced in the photographs from my sneaky picture taking at Fabindia below...

http://www.fabindia.com/

Animal Gods all over the place!

In India I found animal deities everywhere! It didn't make researching them very hard at all! Personal shrines were in every shop and most of the artwork and sculptures included animals or part animal gods, even door knockers and clothes were covered in animals- in my eyes they seemed to be the artists prime source of inspiration!

Inspiration at the Ashram and Temples of India!

During my time in south India I visited an ashram. I had no prior knowledge that these existed but visiting them proved really interesting and relevant to my Context of Practice topic on Homo sapiens relationship with animals.

What is an ashram?
The term ashram often denotes a locus of Hindu cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction. The one I visited was dedicated to yoga and it had been created to imbue a sense of peace but also purpose for the residents. Staying from 2 weeks to up to over a year, the people in the ashram are not allowed money, must do their duties (given jobs or chores around the ashram) and are only allowed one day out the ashram every week.

Scattered around the ashram garden were colourful statues of the Hindu gods, and all over the walls and, especially impressive, the ceilings were detailed paintings of the animal deities.

Homo sapiens relationship with animals in this setting was one of guidance, inspiration and reassurance. They were there to tell stories; something for the residents to learn from. The guy that was giving me a tour round was from Canada and was only just beginning to learn all the different stories of the gods and goddesses. He explained how he knew which gods were which in the art, often this was due to the colour and the situation the individual was painted in; not just their form.

This trip really helped me to see the importance of religious art in giving people something to pin the stories and their own interpretations on; it gave them a point of reference and visual reminders throughout the ashram. It also bought them to life; the huge overbearing portraits bought an intensity and power to the god as if they were watching over the ashram and keeping an eye on all the people in it.

This is really good for my project as I wanted to explore animal worship by Homo sapiens in my practical work for my imagined animal project! I plan to make a little shrine for my make believe animal, this will include statues or little sculptures of the animal, candles and flowers just like the ones I have seen all over India. I want to make mine outside in a tree as well like in one of the temples I visited which was dedicated to worshipers praying for children; little home made wooden cots and material dolls hung from the branches of the tree.

In this particular temple there was also incredible amounts of visual forms of animal worship. Unfortunately for me and my project photographs were prohibited... yet this is totally understandable as it is an incredibly sacred place and even though I am not Hindu, I was completely overwhelmed by the atmosphere inside the temple. There was a cow sculpture which seemed about 3 stories high, there were individual room-like shrines for specific gods and goddesses- the sculptures in these particularly were cared for as the living; clothes, incense and flowers refreshed regularly. This showed me how 'alive' these works of art were to the worshipers. These artworks are the only tactile and physical thing to worship (apart from sacred sights like the giant 'real' footprint of a god that I saw at the golden tip of India and some may recall this as an artwork - although not worshipers!). The use of animal in the sculptures (in the gods) bought an even greater awe- we are so used to being dominant over animals, that seeing a larger than life animal sculpture with queues of Homo sapiens worshiping and praying too, and also 'donating'/paying to see was incredible and powerful. The entire temple was incredible and unlike anything I have ever witnessed before. Everything about it was designed for impact or beauty. The dark candle light in huge empty spaces was almost creepy if it hadnt been for the beautiful shrines.