Emily Hutton @emilyhutton-blog1 - Tumblr Blog

My final exhibition piece for 'Conceal and Reveal' into 'Paris in the Park'

After selecting my tree for the Paris in the Park exhibition I experimented with different positions for my instillations. I liked the idea of separating the coloured masks to the clear masks and having a strip of human nationalities down the middle. Thinking about the British weather, I wanted all my work to be waterproof. This encouraged me to think about different covers and protection for the emulsion prints. Looking into forensic scenes, the plastic bags enabled my work to be protected and pinned to the tree easily. Under my clear heads I created acetate quotes about different races an nationalities. I liked how it encouraged people to think about my project and look closely at the hidden meaning.

For the final 6 images I decided to collage some X-ray skulls onto the faces. I was happy with some of my designs however some of the X-rays were dark and didn't show up as clear on the face.

I then began to create small Lino prints on some of the faces. This again related to the idea of equality and differences between all nationalities.

As opposed to just creating heads and masks, I wanted my original idea of human nationalities to be clear to the viewer. Unfortunately as I don't know a large number of people with different race and nationalities, I decided to use images from the internet to create my designs. I created small emulsion prints from my images onto grey board and chose a variety to create biro pen skull drawings. On each of the faces the biro skull was drawn on a different part/section; this was to show that everyone has the same structure however slightly different.

Continuing my experimentation with clear masks, I found the most effective plastic to use was cellophane. It captured the facial features nicely and looked effective in the natural light.

While experimenting with different materials, I decided to go back to my first method with the glue gun. As opposed to just making clear masks, I found different coloured glue sticks which allowed me to create multicoloured faces. I loved the idea of the colours suggesting that we live in a multicoloured world and a multi cultured society.

After applying the heat to the different kinds of masks I produced I decided to test different ways of melting the plastic. I placed the cardboard mask and plastic inside the oven and left it to melt. I found that the thicker the plastic was, it didn't melt to the shape of the face; whereas if the plastic was too thin, it melted too much.

As opposed to just creating clear heads, I liked the idea of containing sections of colour inside. This created a different effect and reacted to the light in different ways. This mask was made with two layers of plastic heated with the heat gun. The acrylic paint was sprayed inside the two layers.

After making many different masks I placed them outside to see how they reacted and looked with the natural light.

From the biro skull drawing I created, I decided to experiment and test different ways I could use it to conceal someone's identity. Firstly I printed my drawing onto acetate and projected it onto three of my classmates faces. Due to the different face shapes, the projection was hard to align. My second experiment was by using photoshop, this allowed me to adjust the shape of the skull without distorting the image.

I began to think about different materials that I could use that would be waterproof. This led me to experimenting with wax and how it looked in the shape of a human face. Although the cast was waterproof and created an amazing effect, unfortunately it was too flimsy and fragile and wouldn't be able to stand the typical British weather.

Due to the "Paris in the Park" exhibition being outside, I began to think about the different materials I could use that would be suitable in different weather conditions. Interested in the idea of creating transparent masks, I liked the idea of concealing things behind them. I experimented with different kinds of plastics to see how they reacted to heat. I found that depending on the thickness of the plastic, the heat would cause them to rip and create holes. I then experimented with clingfilm, however the finished result was too flimsy and weak.

Referring back to my original idea of concealing the skull structure; I drew a human skull in black biro to show that everyone is the same on the inside. Concealing and taking away a humans identity, each individuals skull is the same and cannot be easily identified. Researching into the different human nationalities, I have found that no matter how different everyone looks, we all contain the same structure.

I created three different coloured masks to see how light would pass through. The middle mask was created with an X-ray of a skull blended into the tissue paper. I loved how the image wasn't obvious at first glance but could be seen from different angles.

After visiting Paris I began to think about the relationship between the work I produced based around concealing animal skull structures. I began thinking about the different human nationalities as opposed to the animals, concealing their identity to show equality between all humans. I created tissue paper masks to hide the features, skin tone and gender of humans and this created a base for the beginnings of my "Paris in the Park" project.

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Emily Hutton