a small porcelain doll
baby doll with clothing
creepy oversized troll doll
two similar dolls next to one another
another baby dollWhat was most interesting about the new set of prints is the shadows they cast. Because the object cast a shadow to the side, the prints have a very eery and surrealist quality to them. I think that it is interesting to do these photograms of the toys because it is a way of memorializing childhood; of putting importance into these objects that we forget about, but which have so impacted our development.
I also was able to do a full size print which turned out like this:
I really like how this turned out; I quite like the two pieces separately; there is a sort of disembodied quality to them. The scale, however, is my favorite part. I think they are very impactful on a large scale. Doing this print makes me think about issues of scale and number of bodies and the form the bodies take. How they interact and if there are two bodies vs. four vs. more. There is a lot of potential here and I am excited to see how I can push this. There are certain variables that I simply cannot control, so that adds an entirely new element of surprise. Things like water drips and other things are not things I can control, but they impact the piece very much. This weekend, I am going to try some of the fabric pieces and see how those go. I am excited to see how the fabric reacts and what the color quality will be. I will be in Cincinnati until Saturday, but I will still have some time to get these pieces rolling (before the all student show? fingers crossed....)
Hey Jenna,
ReplyDeleteWe just talked last week so I don't have much more to say. I think the large scale is very strong, but think about the digital process. If you go that route you can scan dolls and enlarge them to human size. It also brings up questions about your process. You'll need to be able to say why these should be cyanotypes. We talked about the kid-science connotations, but there's also a connection between cyanotype and printing on fabric which could be significant. It's definitely one of the more domestic photographic processes.
It seemed like everyone was really into the hair in these images, so think more about how hair could be a symbol in the work. Lots of old lockets paired a photograph with a lock of hair because they both were traces of the individual. There are a lot of superstitions, motherly advice, and racial identity that gets attached to hair. Maybe think about your own family and if there are any stories or memories tied to hair.