#marlene lees

[jm-reflectivejournal]

Group Presentation: Joshua Mutton & Marlene Lees | Talking about the theme of ‘Power’

JM-So what is power? It became clear that we all had different approaches to exploring the theme of power. However as a group we wanted the exhibition to be relevant, something that would be engaging. The exhibition had a clear focus and we wanted it to be real, confronting reality. Shock and discomfort were the original intentions, however as the project grew and developed the delivery of our ideas became more subtle. ML-Josh and Ryan both focussed on oppression and about the abuse of power especially in modern day slavery. Oppression: a prolonged cruel or unjust treatment of exercised authority Modern day slavery exemplifies this theme, when people a forced into labor when the power is either taken from them or was never something that they possessed. The very nature of slavery means that someone has ownership and power over another person. So often in developing nations such as India people don't have the education or resources to reinstate their power as a human being. JM-This works to the advantage of politicians, in maintaining their power. Politics is instilled on society through the persona of a politician. Marlene is challenging this persona and in turn getting to grips with the politics itself. Meredith takes a different approach to the theme of political power by portraying a man who has imposed his power in a dictatorship. Idi Amin enforced his polices on a vulnerable and uneducated society. He demonstrated his power by driving fear into the population of Uganda. ML-Within society oppression is also felt through sexism, men are typically physically more powerful than women and therefore have the advantage. Gender roles are a controversial topic and stem from the physical dominance that males have. Women are therefore perceived as subordinate to men and Molly explores this power conflict between the male and female in certain cultures. Megan looks at power through Jewish and Christian cultures and how those religions effect women.

[jm-reflectivejournal]

EXHIBITION WEEK!

It’s here the week of the exhibition easter is over and we now have two days to prepare absolutely everything for the exhibition. including the group and individual presentations.

On the morning of installation we all met and decided exactly where we were going to exhibit our work for some of us this was the first time we had seen other people’s work in the flesh and I think that it was a moment that really showed us what the atmosphere and direction of the exhibition was headed. We decided that Ryan’s and my pieces worked really well together as they were both back and white and both focussed on slavery and the [power of nations, money and branding. Ryan’s work involved him using black thread to to sew portraits of slaves making Nike products, due to the similarities in media we chose to also include Molly’s work in this part of the exhibition as she had also used thread to sew a woman in a veil and showed the treatment of women in the middle east. As we moved further down the corridor we wanted to continue using the theme of female injustice and therefore it was logical to use Megan’s work which focussed on women’s role in politics and religion. Due to her work being the only sculpture in the exhibition we also felt it fitting that it would be in the middle, nestled between the 2D works. Then finally str the end of the corridor we had Marlene and Meredith’s works both painters and both looked at politics one UK politics and one looked at Idi Amin and his brutality in Uganda in the 1900′s. Meredith’s work although primarily 2D was actually 3D after installation this marked a clear end of the exhibition before the lockers at the far end of the corridor. I think the way in which we all worked together and all had  the same clear concise vision as to what our exhibition was supposed to be and represent. Power, what is it, how do people have it, and how is it distributed. 

We then all helped each other put up the exhibition starting with the one that would take the longest and that was mine. We all pitched in to put up all 50 A3 sheets of my work carefully measuring and levelling the individual sheets, we then worked our way down the corridor. unfortunately on the installation we were not able to put up Meredith’s large paintings or Megan’s sculpture due to it still being wet. We did however all help on the following Monday (the day before the presentations) after setting up we went over who was saying what for the presentations and Marlene and I were given possibly the biggest topic and that is the topic of explaining what power was and who represented what type of power within their work presented in the exhibition.