VISUAL LANGUAGE

I fear these pictures do not do this piece justice. It took so long to put every single nail into place that I only managed to finish it the day before the assessment so I had to get pictures of it before it dried. I'm hoping it'll look better in person when it's being assessed

I wanted to include some other of the accoutrements of my process for making work. The boots I used to make my 'footprints'. When they're sat by themselves, they give the same impressions as the gloves nailed to the wall. I also like how their position mirrors that of where they were for my p&e set up. The glasses are representative of my performance-like response to being asked to do a presentation. The eyes are the windows to the soul, so obscuring them is an easy way to make a stranger of oneself

I wanted to include these works from the index Workshop because though they were for the index Workshop, it was when I started embracing being 'the stranger'. I felt mighty strage smearing paint and punching the paper wearing these gloves. I bought them specifically because they were black and creepy as that aligns with my natural propensities. I thought it would look nice to nail the gloves to my wall. Because though they're relevant in that they were used in my work they also have the effect of raising questions like why are there gloves nailed to the wall, what where they used for, to whom do they belong?

A genre of music that knows its fanbase are 'strangers'. It embraces tropes and aesthetics that are usually considered taboo and disturbing by conventional standards. Lore of the antics by members of certain bands serve to deepen the strangering of the fanbase. The use of real blood and animal heads to deter those 'untrue' and dressing up in clothes that had been buried to obtain the scent of the grave

spiked leather accessories were commonplace with heavy metal bands. Black Metal artists took that idea but replaced the studs with real and sharp nails to extreme affect. These constructed accessories serve no other purpose than to declare those wearing them as strangers. They're impractical, dangerous, and look mental by conventional standards, but I've always found the creativity of that aspect of black metal fascinating

at some point during HND I decided to aim to make at least one canvas per project. Canvases are such a solid medium and when they're fully realised they have good impact. It was a natural point to get to from the other work I had been doing. Painting things black to covey darkness and the unknown and nails within a silhouette to visually represent the danger and anxiety that comes with encountering 'strangers'. This piece took a long time and hurt my fingers. And I think there was something about that that made me feel like a stranger. Working on something to the point of pain isn't usual and most would not do so

So I initially wanted to create my own 'stranger' by buying a fabric mannequin and painting it black. But unfortunately, after ordering it, it got stopped by Customs and sent back. Which was annoying because I had neither the time nor funds to just buy another. I had to think 'laterally' and decided I'd still make my 'stranger' but on a smaller scale. I crafted a wee human shape out of blue roll, tape, and a painting of a silhouette. I still want to make a big black scary mannequin, so hopefully, I might be able to in the next bit

mental illness has a way of othering a person and rendering them a stranger. It's quite sad. But there's certain visual conventions surrounding those in the throes of poor mental condition that just appeals to me so much. The repetition of certain phrases, ascribing grandiose meaning to something elsewise meaningless, deranged scribbling. love it

the drawings of some schizophrenics for example. just has this intensely eerie and uncanny quality that I just can't get enough of. They always draw these anguished expressive faces that perfectly capture the state of despair. And I feel I should mention the music project that made use of the troubled shrieking of actual mental patients