Jenny Saville had a huge influence on the series of work that I produced in my last alternative art workshop.
I found myself looking at the work of female artists such as Cindy Sherman and Sarah Lucas because of the raw approach they take to representing the roles of women and their sexuality. Her depiction of a women’s body deconstructs the ideology built up over the years of how a woman should look. They’re nude close up’s, so there is no doubt as to the bare reality of a women’s physique.
I find Jenny Savilles work rather bewildering, not because her characters are strikingly ugly, but because this painting in particular has a level of beauty to it. The woman’s positioning and expression is subtly provocative with her bare shoulder raised in an innocent child like way. The moisture of her pouting lips is accentuated by the lighting and her eyes seem to sparkle despite the darkness of them, so they look sad, while she looks vulnerable. The reflections on the surface that she rests on adds depth to the image.
The idea of finding fairness in pain, vulnerability and what may be considered physical unsightliness is one that I find particularly interesting. It reinforces the idea that beauty can be found almost anywhere. It was an idea that I kept with my while taking the photographs. I have always disliked photographs of myself, but was encouraged to do something that took me out of my comfort zone.
I’d never produced work of, or about myself before and found the alternative art workshop to be a good opportunity. Photography was a medium that I’d also taken a real interest in, particularly after studying Cindy Sherman. Though it was more as a means of capturing the artwork, then as a medium in itself.
A running theme throughout this series of work is the pain expressed by the characters in her painting, whether it’s in their expression, or on the skins surface. Either their bodies are painfully distorted by their own obesity, or the skin looks swollen, sore and reddened.
To create this effect, I began by layering up huge amounts of old foundation on my face, and using the varying tones to create shadows, particularly around the eyes. The painterly look of the thick brushstrokes also mirrored the blotchiness of Jenny Savilles. I was surprised by the amount of dark eye shadow and lipstick it took to enhance the bruised areas around my eyes and mouth, but found that the basic editing made it work. When I darkened the image, everything seemed to fit together somehow, and I was quite pleased with the final result.
Like Saville, I wanted to be looking at the camera in order to address the reader. I feel that much of the work I had studied seemed to demand the viewer’s attention, either by showing a character that looked at the them, or simply with its shocking content. I opted for a balance of the two.
Kirsty Forsdike
Malcolm Mosley
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