Lucy Walsh

During Level 5, my work was concerned with gender stereotypes and the absurdity of gender roles in relation to jobs, for example it is not considered normal for women to go in to a job which is heavily 'DIY' such as plumbing, electrical related or building work. I was inspired by this traditional and outdated view and I wanted to protest this through my artwork. I went on to create a photo book, full of images of my dad who posed wearing his full PPE uniform whilst holding a bright pink hammer. 

Going forward, I am definitely going to continue to explore the theme of gender conformity as I feel like I can delve much deeper in to issues like this. 

Some ideas/plans of action going forward:

edit photos and touch up some images of dad modelling

recreate the photo book but instead turn it into a comical industrial magazine

take some new imagery, in a different environment maybe?

go down to the print workshop, screen print the photoshopped images 

learn how to book bind in the workshop?

Continue with my pom-poms and knitting from last year, and eventually create a large scale tool out of pom-poms?

Although I am really enjoying this particular theme and I do want to expand on my ideas and pieces of art, I can't help but still be inspired by other areas of feminism and experiences women face day-to-day. I have recently just purchased a few books; Girl on Girl by Charlotte Jansen so I’m excited to read this and widen my knowledge. I have also bought the following:

The Beauty Myth - Naomi Wolf

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman - Mary Wollstonecraft

The Second Sex - Simone de Beauvoir

So my book finally arrived, better late than never! And I am so pleased with the outcome. Admittedly, I don’t think it has the same affect as creating my own, I did originally want to go down to the book binding workshop and learn the skill of creating my own however since this wasn’t actually possible, I’m more than chuffed that I thought of this alternative. I decided to create a photo book for my work on masculine vs feminine after my 1-2-1 with Laura. She helped me realise that I needed to ‘close’ this project almost and bring everything together and since we couldn’t do our own exhibition in the studios I wanted something that would exhibit all of my photography in one uniformed and organised place. A photo book was the best option. I think this was successful because it looks professional, complimenting my photography! I also felt that I was wasting my photographs by not exhibiting them all, I took hundreds and chose the best images to document on my tumblr but the others almost went to waste so the book was a brilliant idea of exhibiting them all together. Overall, happy days! A part of me almost wants to carry on with this but we’ll see!

Laura was kind enough to post me a copy of 'how to be a craftiest' written by Sarah Corbett. I am excited to get in to this book and gain a wider understanding surrounding craftivism since it could be something that I will be interested in in terms of my own work. I wasn't aware of this book previously so this will help to inform my current ideas or even inspire my future artworks!

A Craftivist's Manifesto

After my 1-2-1 with Laura, it made me think that I could push my feminine vs masculine work further - whilst still continuing with my ideas of the awareness project. I have decided to create my own photo book to document the tools I created and my dad as a model as a way of exhibiting my work. I thought by doing this it would tie the loose ends and also it is a lovely way of documenting it all together as it shows the progression of my work. I don't think I am finished with this project yet, and I feel like it will always be something I can come back to if I want to. Laura mentioned how the ideas in my work throughout the year all link together in some way and you can see how they have developed on to the next project. I ordered this book this morning, so I am hoping it will arrive by tomorrow or Monday and I will document this here on my blog. Obviously in an ideal world, I would have loved to go down to the book-binding workshop but this just hasn't been possible for me working remotely due to the pandemic, but nonetheless I am really happy with this alternative and I am looking forward to receiving this book!

.!.I came across this website when researching into effective campaigns and it has taught me that advertisements need to be shocking to a certain degree. This is what people call "shockvertising" - ads made to shock their way into your memory by way of gruesome violence, over-the-top sexuality, or other taboo-shredding imagery. Below are some campaigns which I thought were extremely powerful:

1. Serve made a heavily sexualized ad confronting statutory rape. "You Need Help," and "It's Wrong." (USA, 2008)

This image is so powerful and makes me feel uncomfortable because of the use of a young girls head on a fully grown females body. It makes me feel uneasy but at the same time expresses such a strong message about rape culture and paedophilia. In the right image background it has a strong message saying "IF YOU SEE A CHILD AS ANYTHING MORE IT'S WRONG".

2. UN Women uses actual Google auto-completes to show how widespread misogyny is. "Women Need To Be Seen As Equal." (International, 2013)

3. Crisis Relief Singapore won the Cannes Lion advertising award for its commentary of social media slacktivism. "Liking isn't helping." (Singapore, 2013)

4. Thai Health boldly illustrates the connection between sleepiness and accidents. "Don't Drive Sleepy." (Thailand, 2010)

My mum tagged me in a post on Facebook and to say I was in awe, was an understatement.

Toshiko Horiuchi is a Japanese textile artist based in Bridgetown, Canada. She is best known for her work with large-scale textile structures, especially "textile playgrounds" for children, brightly colored net-like structures of crocheted and knotted nylon.

This piece is called, "crochet play sculpture ‘Knitted Wonder Space 2’ at Hakone Open Air Museum". She created this using 650kg of nylon and she knitted the entire web BY HAND. The structure, shape and form of ‘Knitted Wonder Space 2’ intentionally encourages children to physically move their way through the web. Children are not learning through looking, as is often the case in art museum, instead they are learning in an embodied and sensory-driven way. Children physically move, swing, climb, roll and dangle their way through the web. The yarn itself creates unique opportunities for children’s learning through tactile play. For example, the wool can be moved, pulled, climbed and jumped on in a unique way. Its soft and malleable properties mean it can also be stretched and pulled in unique ways. As they jump, roll and laugh their way through the nylon structure, they are also learning about concepts such as gravity, weight, measurement, height and texture so it is educational to an extent.

Toshiko had an interview with arch daily and said:

“All children can play together. They do not have to be athletic, but can still use their whole bodies for fun – laughing, giggling and screaming. They have a great time together. Often older children help smaller children. They try to dazzle each other with their ingenious and acrobatic feats.

Children need to cope with risk. They enjoy a challenge but by nature are very careful. Presented with a play structure which does not challenge them, they quickly grow bored… and then break them. If you give them a challenging play environment, designed so children can assess risk, they will not get hurt. Our structures encourage children to challenge themselves but with many routes and options. There is no program of play. There are always alternatives. Each child plays at the level he or she is comfortable with. From forty years’ experience, I have learned a little about children’s psychology.

Some groups of children come regularly to play on their own; their play is fantastic. They know what they are capable of and then stretch just a little further, becoming more and more adept. Some of their manoeuvres are heart-stopping to a bystander – but they know what they are doing. Often it is parents who are the problem. They seem to have forgotten what it was like to be a child.”