Final Statement | What is Human? |
Art and design often explore relationships between humans and non-humans, the environment and ecology. How can contemporary art and design propose new possibilities for imagining the ‘human’ and the environment?
For my poster, I wanted to unpack the possibilities of what it looks like to be ‘human’ and challenge people’s perceptions of what defines a human? I wanted to challenge not just what we know, but how we know it. Is it through pre-dispositional associations with what a hetro-normal media or is it generations upon generations of gender routines morphed into our now ‘reality’? What happened to our human senses connecting with nature; we’ve lost connection to our world right in front of us.
Much like Debora Kelly’s ‘Bodies Of Work’ where she literally brings together animals and humans, forming one. Her work highlights the beauty of each individual ‘body’ be that, flower, insect, human, plant or animal, whilst at the same time creates them into one signified figure. Like Debora Kelly, for my poster, I focused on visual communication and chose not to use any text to let the images and materials speak for them selves.
I chose paper bark as the backing of my poster to develop the connection between human and the environment. By centralising the main content on my work, it enables the viewer’s eyes to ponder around the raw edge of the bark, where the simple, yet explicit beauty of years and growth lay so naturally. I decided to use a make-up product to apply the paint to my bark, staying on the ‘no art materials’ flow. I photoshoped animals with humans features and humans with animal features drawing the two together as one. I focused on creating a connection of a transcendental reality between humans and non-humans. By stepping away form standardised art materials it completely changed my perception and opened up a whole other world of experimental possibilities.
