reflection.
this is a mess of a confessional
When I first heard of this project, I was nervous. I’m a very introverted person, with about 30 times more layers than Shrek and the onion put together. I can speak comfortably with a person - after I’ve been exposed to them, daily, for about a year. Asking someone for an interview, not to mention, someone I admire, was not just a challenging concept. Taking on two folio subjects in VCE was a challenging concept. This felt like it was beyond the scope of my ability. Rationally, it’s not that hard. You send someone an email, make sure it’s not terribly offensive, and wait for a response. The worst thing that will happen is that you get no response. Right?
So, I procrastinated. And procrastinated. If my list belonged to someone with exactly the same interests and personality traits, except with the social confidence of an average person, the person at the top of my list would have been Tablo. A “Korean-Canadian rapper, record producer, songwriter, author, and entrepreneur” - as set out by Wikipedia. His lyrics, with their combination of hard-hitting social commentary, delicacy, and bi-lingual puns, got me to listen to rap, which is a genre I’m otherwise not interested in. The cover art for all of his albums, as well his band’s, Epik High, really impressed me as well. But. A K-Pop star has no time for me.
But that wasn’t my only problem. I compiled a list of creatives, from artists I studied in VCE to art-bloggers, to my favourite writers, to the people who designed their book covers. And other than Tablo, they were all equal to each other. And I found that I couldn’t think of any questions I wanted to ask any one of them. If I could speak with any of them in person, I’m sure I’d just be speechless with admiration, or worse, spewing praises. But with a person I don’t know, I have no idea what to ask them. Admiration is awesome, there’s nothing wrong admiration - but admiration is not love, even if they can co-exist. What usually separates admiration from love is understanding.
I contacted two artists after cold sweats, Miho Hirano and Moonassi. Miho Hirano is a Japanese fine artist who creates ethereal oil-paintings of women and nature. From her website, she seems to have only recently graduated, and is not very well-known. I couldn’t find any interviews. However, I made good progress with researching interviews and crafting questions for the Korean artist Moonassi. The handle means “Nobody” or “Mr. Nobody.” The artist, whose name is Daehyun Kim, creates small black-and-white ink drawings of everyday situations, represented by people with impenetrable Buddha faces. His ideas about loneliness, being, and the mundane, really draw me. I received no response from either.
I decided, with the time I had left, that I should interview a friend. I chose (reaped, as tribute) one of my best friends, who I’ve known for 10 years. We became glued at the hip during VCE and are still very close. (As I am writing this, I am still digesting the KFC we had during a 1-hour dinner catch-up.) I decided that since I couldn’t interview a creative I admire, I would interview a creative that I love (and admire, but his ego doesn’t need to know that.) It would be A Work of Love™.
The item would be a dress (or a top-skirt set as it turned out), to reflect his fashion design work. Black had to be in there, somewhere. His work in Studio Art was sometimes desolate and morbid. My initial concept was a dress with a large enough skirt to display various pockets, and myriad trinkets and patch-worked hearts, maybe. He later suggested to me I simply sew the paper (with the questions) onto the dress. Although I’m a complete amateur at sewing and pattern-making, I was able to give it a go because of his encouragement. Our really long talks have also inspired me, so I felt that this was appropriate. The final version of the product is meant to be an exhibition-style portrait of the artist. The eyes are meant to wander from one question to another, to an image, to a ribbon. I chose cartridge paper and pencil for a ‘working’ effect, complimented by dress-making pins, and also to reflect the sketches he likes to make. Although the design of the dress itself was limited by lack of a zipper or buttonhole-sewing skills, it still works as a canvas. And unfortunately, it will only fit either me, or someone with exactly the same measurements as me. But the black-and-white and the modern crop are all him. The long skirt and petticoat are from my love of pin-up fashion. But together, it’s a bit of us both and how we’ve influenced each other.
Ultimately, I wasn’t able to overcome the challenge set by this assignment. If I managed my time a bit better, I might have been able to beat one of my biggest inner demons. However, it has reinforced, for me, the idea that I should push myself and improve. I think it still works as a first step, and a motivator to try better next time. For now, a work of love and a 10-year-long friendship is all I’ve got.
