I started analysing the fundamental elements of fashion, reflecting on what is needed to make clothes and familiarising myself with the basics. From my research, I conclude that the most essential element of fashion is the body.
I then went on to question,
What is the body? How little do we observe the body? What do I think about the body?
From there, I began to conceptualise a series of photography and films that shows how I perceive the body.
The Artist Reveals the Body is inspired by questioning what I think about the body and how I see it.
“Who are you?” is a question that often comes up when I meet people. The concept is inspired by my inability to remember the faces of loved ones and the constant anxiety of not knowing who I am speaking to.
I Want to Show You Something was inspired by what I think about my body. I realised that my knowledge of my own body comes from the opinions of others and very often, I choose to believe them. The opinions of others affect the way I see my body, the way I dress and how I would present myself. With this realisation, I created a performance to show my body from an outsider’s point of view.
When Two Bodies Meet is a concept that was developed at a later stage of this project. Although the objective is to understand the body from my perspective, I would also like to introduce a second opinion about the naked self.
Can you tell us about your exhibition
Imagined Bodies
A digital exhibition displaying a series of photography and films that reveals the body by unrevealing them. Imagined Bodies takes you on a journey of understanding the body from my perspective and changing the way we see the naked self.
The Artist Reveals the Body as shapes and forms. I compare body parts with everyday objects to show how I see the body as shapes. While also acknowledging that our body is much more complicated than it looks, I made a series of films to portray the identity of objects as stills and showing the complex form of the body with movements.
Who are you? In this series of photography, I’m inviting you to experience how I see people. The idea of looking at someone and feeling a sense of familiarity and vagueness concurrently. I took portraits of my closest friends and inverted them to hide their true form, leaving you to imagine what they look like. In the films, I’m sharing clips of my social life, giving you a better understanding of seeing people from my perspective.
I Want to Show You Something is a performance documented on film between 7 participants and me, where they reacted to what I was revealing.
When Two Bodies Meet is a documentation of my first encounter with Jessica Hake. During our meeting, Jessica and I talked about nudity — how it is more than just sex. In this concept, I also portrayed the presence of clothes without the body.
Presenting a film that intertwined with a series of photography. You are advised to watch the film before viewing the photos. The film only features the dialogue between Jessica and me, letting you imagine what was happening. While the photography reveals the event, it reconnects your memory to the film and the assumptions that you had from before.
How have you found your course/time at Brighton?
I enjoyed the course and had a lovely time in Brighton for the past three years. The course is very much inclusive of every specialism in fashion — photography, film, styling, PR etc… What I really like about the course is that you are exposed to different specialisms, and it allows you to discover your strengths and dislikes. That’s how I decided to do photography for my placements and FMP.
As the course is really broad, I often find myself doing several tasks at the same time. For example, I did photography, films, graphics and set design for my FMP. That’s what I really like about our course is that you are never restricted to just one specialism because of the opportunity to learn different sets of skills during the course. Besides that, we are always supported by our tutors to be as creative as we wish.
How did you choose your course – why did you choose to study that subject?
I chose Fashion Communications because I wasn’t exactly sure what was I passionate about. I saw the list of career choices that the course promoted on the University’s website, and I was interested in most of them. So, I applied for the course as it seems to guarantee exposure to different types of skills, and it did!
What are your plans after graduation?
I’m moving to Berlin to start my freelance career as an artist. I did my placement in Berlin, and I really enjoyed living there. I had a great time last year and made some connections with industry people that I love to work with. Hence, I decided to move to Berlin after graduation.
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Find out more about BA(Hons) Fashion Communication with Business Studies
