For the manifesto project I worked with Maryam and Lauren in appropriating from everyday life; when creating our anti-manifesto zines we used words and phrases or imagery that were readily available to us. Many of the phrases incorporated came from around the studio (stuck on the walls from the drawing workshops), e.g. ‘Feople’, ‘Satappy,’ ‘Kaleidoscope,’ ‘Bloody Vegan,’ etc, and from conversations whilst creating them, e.g. ‘She started doodling on his face’ and ‘Why do my nostrils flair so much all the time?’
Appropriation is very relevant to the work here as rejection of the notion of set rules of the manifesto meant that we wanted our work to seem more random and the content to be varied and somewhat confusing. The sources from which we appropriated – magazines, books, studio space and conversations – are varied and allowed us to collect different types of inspiration. One zine solely appropriates images of hands from magazines and newspapers, cutting into images to remove only the hands. I like the idea that some of the references are obscure, so whilst some viewers of the zines may understand the references (e.g. those in the same studio), others may not understand the origins.
Although the idea of appropriation can seem somewhat daunting, after thinking about it I realise that lots of my work is based on appropriation, drawing from other artistic ideas and styles. Directly appropriating other people’s work can feel risky, as changing the original meaning or context too much or also just taking from their work and not changing it enough can lead to negative responses and issues in terms of copyright infringements. However, as mainly only words and not paintings/sculptures, etc. were drawn from I feel as though those that we appropriated from were less sentimental about us taking their phrases, especially as they were only created in quick exercises. Although sometimes it can be flattering for people to want to appropriate your work, different artists will take it differently. Annoyance from artists is often caused by direct ‘copying’ (e.g. adding to an image) without crediting the initial artist.
