I chose this theme from a personal aspect of feeling that there is something missing in each of us that is only fulfilled through the act of worship whether it be religion, God or your own personal work or passion. I decided to grab inspiration from religions I have little knowledge of so to broaden the horizon of my creative vision and knowledge of other spirituality. Although I am at the beginning stage of my research already I am finding myself soaking up as much information and visual images as I can and feel I will ultimately struggle to refine my ideas into a flowing structured development. Ideas of scultpture pieces inspired by temples, contrasting restriction of ritual verses freedom of evangelical shown in binding pieces verses flowing sheer fabrics, adornment and embellishment of offerings and sacrificial virgins, negative spacing displaying the missing piece in each of us that desire to worship etc.
16th of April
Visited the V&A museum in London to gain inspiration and knowledge of the religious through Asia, Japan, India, Italy etc. I saw statues of Buddhism and demons seen in different countries however the most inspiring piece to me was the statue you where invited to touch. I took advantage of this by closing my eyes and running my hand over the statue, felt the smooth marble stone and the intricate detail imagining the fabric manipulation that could be touch sensitive to represent this. In the Italy room the Ancient Rome statues of Christianity were simply incredible. The detail and stunning visuals of Santiago De Compostela plaster monuments made the word spectacular seem petty. Use of craftsmanship exceeded my expectations and made me really want to go to Rome. Paintings of Christ The Raphael commissioned by Pope Leo x in 1515 continued my thoughts of intricate detail needed in my garments. When it comes to worship it is clear artists take time to perfect their work and I hope to be able to portray this in my collection. This visit really helped broaden my knowledge of worship and spark ideas of materials such as metals being used, colour scheme such as gold and bronze and using materials such as boning and interfacing to create defined shapes. I really want to aim to take time on the construction of my garments so that they can display the perfection exceeded through worship.
20th April
I really want to get visual images of churches in Rome, venice and temples in Asia and India however am finding it hard to find visuals that have explanations. Finding it even harder to find information with visuals included, seems to be either photography OR lots of information and literature. However from the amounts of literature provided I have been considering doing a print based on spiritual literature such as extracts from the bible, quran etc. Really hope that the books I find in the central Library have more images than they are promising.
25th April
My dad went on holiday to Bangladesh, Dubai and another place in Asia that I actually can't remember which is embarrassing, (my world knowledge frightens me, only learnt about Dubai this year!) So I made him take pictures of any temples, or artifacts of religion or worship on his travels, and he delivered!
The integrate detail, use of colour and structure shape show the wanting of perfection when it comes to the ambiance of worship. These pictures are spectacular and i cant wait to transfer them onto ideas of fashion garments.
30th April
Went to British Museum in London for the focus on ancient Egyptian artifacts that where sure to feature gods, and for the many many religious objects. I being the tit I am, forgot my camera and had to take it all with my phone knowing that i had no lead to connect it to the computer.. bluetoothing each one individually was a blast though!
The objects I found were amazing, far better than I was expecting to be honest, unfortunately cant upload any because I saved them all on the computer in feed however they do feature vastly in my sketchbook. One of the things that struck me most about these objects was there diversity... they varied vastly throughout religions for example.. christianity tended to have crosses, beads, horns, violins, broaches, cups..all made out of golds, pearls, wood and beautiful paint. These expensive objects are not so seen today... perhaps that is because in those days being able to read was not the norm..therefore people resulted to sculpture and hand crafting to tell the stories of christ, hindu gods, buddah and the egyptian gods. However they are not all as heavenly as I am making out... many artifacts incorporated demons, infact this was a consistant theme throughout religions...perhaps fear is very much involved within worship. Fear of hell? not being disciplined? world without ritual? Going to look at these pictures to draw shapes, mood boards and eventually designs... would like to convey fear through my garments, perhaps by the music or by veiling identity, using hoods to shield the face?
4th May
I'm quite far behind and have so many ideas that im struggling to keep up in my sketch book.. Its making sketch booking hard because it feels like homework instead of writing up my ideas as i go along.. need to start refining my ideas so that I can not only get a structure in my sketchbook but also in my thinking. Finding the primary research most helpful so I plan to visit temples and churches in order to get more inspiration of shapes and emotion of worship!
7th May
Visited st phillips cathedral, st pauls cathedral, st martins cathedral and the sikh temple in birmingham. This was simply one of thee most interesting days of this project; not only where the cathdrals beautiful, displaying sculpture with spectacular detail right down to the very instruments played during the act of worship but also because I got to experience an 'outsider looking in' to people engaging in worship which took place at the Sikh temple. I arrived in only to be invited to the woman's worship and was allowed to take pictures. The woman where sat crowded around and small alter like peice where an older woman sat in the middle rocking back and forward waving a large stick (later to be explained as an object that keeps away flies and objects of uncleanliness). The woman where singing chants of worship as an echo of the woman who led the worship playing an old drum and a harp instrument. I walked around the room taking pictures of the paintings hung on the walls, the tinsel hung and the large shandaleer however decided to gain a more emotional experience by shutting my eyes and listening to their praises. As an outsider who doesn't understand the nature of the god to whom they worship, their praises seems repetitive, unemotional, and sureal to me... worship without understanding is empty!! I interviewed one of the woman afterward who said that she finds her worship exciting, joyful and necessary.. all of the things I would say about my worship when worshiping my God. Very interesting day and I believe it to be vital to my project... shame i had to wear a huge orange head covering or i'd be more willing to upload pictures.
10th May
Not really sticking to time scale which is a little worrying.. finding it really hard to sample. Can't seem to think of ideas to sample... I need detail to represent the detication to perfection of temples and monuments of praise however I really dont want to do things that have been seen before like pin tucking. Would love to show a lot of embellishment to show this idea of ancient sacrifices to gods in Egyptian times where the virgins where handed over to the temples and the use of adornment used on them.
12th May
Had a crit today and discussed ideas of sampling. I need to get some beads in order to get sampling with that and I like the idea of using piping to re-create some of the shapes I've collected throughout my primary research. It was suggested that I use metal, such as tin or copper as a lot of the objects in my research are used out of metal...so now I need to figure out where I'm going to get that and perhaps press hard on one side in order to get a shape on the the side. So far my sampling has been quite lame.
17th May
Been looking at getting final designs for my garment.. I think i've picked my final four but I'm a little nervous about them as they are not really conveying the original meaning of taking away the 'will' to worship..as in it is no longer a personal decision but a heritage or demand. So my original ideas where to create garments that held the hands in a place of worship however in connecting with the shapes I have been researching I came up with these designs... that need colour.
