Inspiration: Artist Rosanna Jones's work questions ideas of beauty in regards to how a person feels internally compared to how a person is perceived by the outside world.
Each composition is a mix of paints layered on top of a digital photo collage. Jones works with a palette of pastels that blend with the subject’s body. The striking colours and milky white skin merge together in a blur of alluring disfigurement.
I picked skin as my inspiration for this course because of all the context it carries, the mystery it holds, and all the stories it has the power to tell. I focussed my research on skin deformities, healing wounds, pigmentation and dead skin cells with an aim to show beauty that is otherwise ignored or even shamed. In its organic form they possess aspects that stand out of the norm. Acceptance and equality of skin colour has perpetuated centuries of war, destruction and inequality, so to see it as an inspiration for art can provide a platform that celebrates and accepts this diversity. We live in an age where even after all the struggles for equality, acceptance is a mere word beyond our realm. We speak of equality and that no one should be left behind, but if our words are limited to just words and have no consequence, it is all in vain.
Skin is prone to so many changes and with time and exposure to the environment around, diversity in terms of colour as well as textures are not uncommon. The significant beauty that skin carries is in its peculiarities.
Left: Inspiration (Model-Winnie Harlow) Right: Surface Exploration (Materials: Acrylic Paints, Tissues)
Left: Inspiration Right: Surface Exploration using Watercolours and Acrylic Gold dust
Left: Inspiration Right: Surface Exploration made using Cotton cord, tissues and watercolours.
Left: Inspiration Right: Surface Exploration done using Felt and acrylic paints.
Left: Inspiration Right: Watercolour Surface Exploration
Left: Inspiration Right: Watercolours and Acrylic Gold dust
Left: Inspiration Right: Oil Pastels on Acrylic
Watercolour explorations based on the healing of wounds and scab formations
Quilted Samples for the Final woven surface.
Inspiration: Pruney Fingers
Final Sample Warp: Quilt | Ombre dyed Warp
Slit my wrists,
I bleed red just like you,
I bleed red just like you,
But you only see
My dark skin,
My dark skin,
My skin life,
these pores are my breath,
these pores are my breath,
My skin comfort,
No one will hold me as tight as my skin,
No one will hold me as tight as my skin,
My skin home,
I refuse to change it,
I refuse to change it,
My skin me,
Let me love me.
Let me love me.
-Corinne Kahi.
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