Stitching into photographs

As stitching into paper was something that I began to do from the start, I began to start looking into the idea of stitching into photographs. I wanted to stitch into the images of children's mouths. Unfortunately there are a number of restrictions when it comes to the photography of children for obvious reasons. I decided to find photographs of children's faces, and re-photograph them. I then scanned them in to the computer and cropped them all to the same square size. I first printed them out on glossy paper and stitched into their mouths using coloured thread.

I wanted the images to be unsettling, contrasting against the bright thread. However the glossy paper and the quality of the photographs didn't work and didn't capture the effect I wanted. After talking to my tutor, I rescanned them in and faded the opacity by more than 50%. I also used a nice water colour paper to print them onto. this did give a better effect.

Silkscreen

I decided to create silkscreens using bitmap of the photographs that I took of the toys wrapped in wire. I chose bright pastel colours for the background, to represent youth and innocence. On tope of this I screened the images of the shoe and the doll. I edited them on photoshop before screening them to give them a contrasting/eerie look when put of top of the pastel block colour.

Photography

I wanted to create images that focused on the destruction of children's innocence as a result of slavery. I began to stick with the imagery of toys that I first started looking at while researching the marionette. I began to wrap these toys tightly with wire - a process which I was inspired to start by researching the Irish artist Bill Penney.

More Sketchbook Work - Paisley

I began looking at the paisley print as it originates from India - where a vast majority of sweatshops are present. Child slaves are very popular within the stitching of garments as their hands are very small and can create intricate detail. The paisley print, also has the same shape as a drop - blood drop or a tear drop? Both of these visual images fit well into the unhappiness of stitching such patterns.

Coffee bean Puppet

Still using the idea of a marionette as a metaphor for the control and enforcement associated with slavery, I decided to make a 3-D marionette puppet. So out of wire, papermache, and lots of glue, I made a little man with moveable limbs. I then painted him in black paint and glue on lots of coffee beans. I chose coffee beans as I have already been looking at the coffee bean slave trade. I made this coffee bean puppet for photography purposes, as I did not want the puppet itself to be the finished piece. I wanted the image to look like a childrens toy, discarded and not being played with. I wanted the viewer to realise on closer look that he was actually made from coffee beans. I wanted this to be a metaphor for child slave labour, how these children work all day instead of having a childhood, how the coffee bean trade has taken over and they themselves have lost their identity and how a destruction of innocence is present in the work.

Lino Cuts

I decided to create a lino cut. I wanted the image to be of a hand as this is what I have been looking at a lot recently in regard to my subject matter of modern day child slavery. I am also looking at the idea of a marionette as a metaphor for the control and enforcement that is central to slavery. The marionette handle controls every movement that the marionette makes - this is very similar to slavery as the slave never has a say is his/her actions and its only up to the slave owner commands. The marionette is also a childrens toy, so this carried my message of child slavery.

So for this print I cut a marionette handle with strings attached to a hand. The hand is reaching out for help as it being control.

I did get rather carried away when cutting into the lino, and if I had to do it again, I would have created more tonal qualities/layers etc.

 

After this, I drew an image of a fist wrapped in barbed wire in my sketchbook.

I liked this drawing, and the barbed wire detail wrapping around, which is representing the pain and trapped feeling inflicted onto the victims of slavery.

 

I then created a 3 colour lino cut of this hand but I would have preferred a lot more of the detail and now think that an etching would have created a more desired look.

 

Editing Photographs of Childrens hands.