‘YOU SET OUT. AND I, NOT DEATH.

DROVE THE CAR.’

My chosen image is a frame from my film ‘Dysmorphia’. Some could say over my studies in art I have been “obsessed” by the idea of identity. My practice so far has mainly been influenced by the idea of identity as I believe it’s such a personal topic within my own life which greatly affects my thoughts on a day to day basis. This pushed me to create the film dysmorphia which shows the shifting identity of subject to subject, their likenesses being twisted and contorted until a gradual resemblance is made. My idea is to challenge the idea of identity, to ask the question what makes me, me and you, you? The simple change of a single feature can completely change someone’s appearance showing how fragile our idea of exterior identity.

The use of chalk and charcoal as a medium adds an entirely new element to the work. The fragility almost ethereal quality of the marks, fading into a black background brings up a deeper question of identity, the idea of the soul and what that means to be human. The ghostly imprint of the chalk and the featureless face could suggest this idea, that behind our outer appearance is a deeper, even spiritual, element inside everyone.

The words are an extract from the poem ‘Isis’ by Ted Hughes. It describes his own unhealthy obsession, that eventually ends in tragedy.

Bibliography-

Hughes, T., 1999. Birthday letters. London: Faber and Faber.