AS 2: FINAL WORK ^^ ‘Contortion’
The concept of distortion is defined as something being pulled or twisted out of shape, creating a misleading, flas account or impression; misrepresented, fabricated, exaggerations, falsehoods, lies. The series ‘Contortion’ distorts the figure demonstrating how the fashion and modeling industry together warp society’s perceptions regarding what is beautiful or perfect and what is needed materially to attain this image.
As women grow and change through adolescence, images of perfect ideas are constantly put forward through fashion advertisements in shops, magazines, billboards and posters, TV shows, movies, music videos, and celebrity news, not to mention to current day and age where fake ideals of the perfect body, wardrobe, face, hairstyle and essentially life are exhibited on social media.
For my final work I have combined experiment #6 with the process of experiment #5 to create a work which reveals the effects the modeling industry has on young women. These effects include a warped idea of beauty and health which has resulted in a range of body issues including eating disorders, causing people to become ‘emaciated or made to shrink or downsize’ (E-flux Journal #32 - Hito Steyerl), as well as contributing to depression, anxiety and overall low self esteem. Moreover the fashion industry has a similar impact as society consumes fashion products for their own material gain. Causing the brands we showcase on our bodies to indicate our worth and contribute to our identities. The concept of fast fashion allows individuals to constantly create and change their false personas with material objects, switching in and out of new identities with trends.
The process of experimentation began by exploring how the photocopier could create glitches in my original line drawings of figures from magazines. By moving the page on the photocopier while it was scanning the image, I was left with these warped line drawings of figures which has a different outcome each time.
Focusing on this distortion I wanted to further emphasise women are ignorant and unaware of the fictitious nature of the photographs we see magazines. I attempted reveal this by painting figures eyes in the line drawings, demonstrating that even if we are aware of the impact we still turn a blind eye and continue to let these industries wrap young women’s perceptions of beauty and health.
To accentuate the impact the fashion industry has on young women, I looked at taking a literal form of brands advertising (shopping bags) and drew one of the distorted catwalk images onto the bag. I was impressed with the outcome of this and would love to eventually take it further as a work by collecting more high end label bags and drawing the figures onto them.
Another way this idea could be further explored is by creating screen prints of the distorted images on calico or canvas fabric, transforming the 2D paperwork into tote bags. The assortment of designer labels could also be transferred onto the bags. Additionally, if the tote bags were sod and worn by members of society an awareness of these issues would be communicated which is the first step to changing these industries false ideals.
To create the paper works in the series ‘Contortion’ i utilized the process of photographic transfer. To do this I used 3 of the warped photocopies and transferred each on separate pieces of A3 paper which each had a collage underlay of high end fashion labels. The eucalyptus transfer method could be a metaphorical representation of models being all the same, each with the same body type. While the slight defects in the transfer created flaws in the glitched figures, referencing newsprint media which is a form of fashion advertisement.
Collage was also a process i used to form the ‘Contortion’ series, cutting labels from high end fashion advertisements in magazines such as ELLE, Vogue and Cosmopolitan. The repetition of labels exposes how women are constantly presented with fake ideals, showcasing that if you wear this dress you will look like this, if you wear these heels you will have a boyfriend, if you own these sunglasses you will be happy.
Steyerl, H. (2012). The Spam of the Earth: Withdrawal from Representation. E-flux, [online] (Journal #32). Available at: http://www.e-flux.com/journal/32/68260/the-spam-of-the-earth-withdrawal-from-representation/ [Accessed 19 Sep. 2017].
YasMinaStylez - The Southern Fashionista. (2017). YasMinaStylez - The Southern Fashionista. [online] Available at: https://yasminastylez.com/ [Accessed 13 Sep. 2017].
Found magazine images Vogue; July 2015 and ELLE Australia; December 2014
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