For my major project, I continued to engage in the same research topic, that being “Can creative acts be rebellious when rebellion has become canonized in art, design and media histories? What would a contemporary creative rebellion look like?”. After feedback from assessment 1, I was told to have a look at Sarah Goffman’s works, as my experiments of henna on inanimate and mundane objects were reminiscent of her designs. Most of Goffman’s works are concerned with the aesthetic qualities of discarded mass produced objects. In ‘Plastic Parts’ (2009), Goffman appropriates the aesthetics of traditional Chinese Blue and White porcelain painting and applies it onto recycled plastic containers, challenging material concerns and experimenting with the presumptions of linear design evolution. Inspired by Goffman’s creative rebellion of participating in untraditional and unconventional practice methods to convey an important message, I began conducting my own experiments and discovering my own message.
Following on from the first assessment, I continued to look at the same concept, which was using henna as a material, removing it from its traditional context and placing it onto mundane objects, removing historical significance. All my experiments were a collective progress that essentially enabled me to perfect my technique of using henna for the final work.
For experiment one, I began scribbling in my visual art book a few designs with a henna cone. Upon doing this, I discovered that it was quite different and the technique involved me not scraping and touching the paper with the cone, but rather letting the henna paste fall into place, preventing smudges and stains.
For my second experiment, I engaged with more intricate designs. Using my friends hand as a canvas, I performed a very intricate and long henna design that I was inspired by from one of the henna pages I follow on Instagram, ‘Henna by Payal’. Her designs showcased unique and beautiful sophistication, created using a small and thin henna cone. It was through her technique that I really started to pay attention to the application of henna.
Initiating my third experiment, I began to explore further in depth the actual meaning of the henna designs that are most commonly used to decorate the hands of brides on their wedding day. I wanted to approach my final work from a more cultural aesthetic and this would’ve enabled me to move a step forward in that direction. Like Goffman, I recycled a plastic object, this being a small plate and I attempted to make it an aesthetic piece, removing henna from its cultural context and placing it onto a mundane object. After two design attempts and judging from the final work, I didn’t really like how it looked on the cheap transparent material. Analysing the final look, I came to discover that the transparency distracted the design itself and didn’t make it stand out to its fullest, and so for my next experiment I was going to try a new material.
For my fourth and final experiment, I tried a different material to resolve the problem of having the designs be distracted. Making my mundane object two small white glass plates, I performed two thin and simple but intricate designs using the henna cone. Taking into acknowledgement the techniques I learnt from the previous experiments and inspiration from other henna artists, the final two plates were of their finest standard. The white solid background, really did the henna design justice and it appeared stronger. After receiving feedback from friends and family, it was then decided that these two were going to be part of my final work.
Inspired by Phil Perkin’s digital artwork of an abstract mandala collage, I decided to make my final work a collage of the two plates I designed, to showcase my designs and the aesthetic quality of it. After taking a quality photo which really portrayed that sharpness of each stroke of henna, I took to Photoshop to edit the lighting/brightness, making sure it was well contrasted against the henna and ensuring it stood out. Using Adobe Spark, I created a pattern, placing one image after the other and alternating the pattern on the second row. I then removed the border that divided the pictures so that it looked like one big canvas and not a collage. I thoroughly found the final piece to look aesthetic, as all the elements came together really well, this being the lines, space, colour/brightness, repetition and balance.
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