A Flock of Dreams other BTech pieces

Chapter 4

Analysis of my art practice

I began exploring the relationship between 'self' and 'the other' in my third year work in 2009.  For example Pigeon Housing 2009 (Fig 23) explored how we oversimplify the intricate make-up of an individual through stereotypes and labels.  I continued to explore the relationships between individuals through a participative project in Breath 2009 (Fig 24).  In this work I asked the viewer to record a memory onto the balloons surface by blowing it up and writing a memory on the surface.  The balloon was then deflated and the process repeated.  This meant that each balloon contained the breath of multiple participants.  I have continued exploring the effects of audience participation in my BTech work, as well as how interaction with others moulds our identity.

Fig 23 Shelanna Macdonald, Pigeon Housing, 2009. Wooden box, Steel tags.

Fig 24 Shelanna Macdonald, Breath, 2009. Wooden box, Plastic and balloons.

A layered landscape of plastic soldiers and handmade paper, titled Substitution 2009 (Fig 25) expressed a loss of identity and ‘self’ through conflict.  Conversation 2009 (Fig 26) also used the plastic soldiers as a metaphor for conflict caused by differences in opinion.

Fig 25 Shelanna Macdonald, Substitution (Detail), 2009. Plastic Soldiers, handmade paper.

Fig 26 Shelanna Macdonald, Conversation, 2009. 
Plastic soldiers on steel bases suspended on threaded rods.

In Numerical Suspension 2009 (Fig 28), which consists of an abacus of clay pigeons suspended on threaded rods, I investigated the freedom of flight and movement juxtaposed by the constraints of numbering, impalement and brokenness.  I perceive pigeons as a society within themselves and I am intrigued by how they seem content, both alone and in groups, constantly returning to their place of birth.  In addition the format of the sculpture referenced sentences or music notes, extending beyond the geometric confines of the frame like conversations.  The effects of treating people as numbers or components of a system is explored further in my BTech work.

                  

Fig 27 Shelanna Macdonald, Numerical Suspension, 2009. Clay birds suspended on threaded rods.

My work interrogates the point at which the individual intercepts a larger community within an urban context.  My journey of locating 'self' is symbolised by the transition of the paper bird within various spaces.  Migration (2011) (Fig 28), an oil on canvas triptych documents how we travel through known and unknown spaces in our pursuit to establish personal migrations.  The feeling of migration is reinforced by aerial viewpoints of Durban Girls High School (where I am an educator), the Durban University of Technology (where I am a student) and the Taj Mahal (which I have experienced on a visit to India).  

Fig 28 Shelanna Macdonald, Migration, 2011. Oil on Canvas. Triptych. 

Each canvas 60 x 90cm

  

The anonymous nature of the individual within the masses is represented by an installation of a cloud of identically folded paper birds in Flock of Dreams (2011) (Fig 29).  I began creating this installation by asking a group of learners at Durban Girls High School to record their dreams on the paper birds, as part of a process of recording human experience through artistic interventions.  My working process is similar to Salcedo,  whose concepts often develop out of interviews with people who have experienced trauma.  Studying Salcedo's work, helped me understand how objects can express traces of human presence, and this furthered my interest in transcribing snippets of conversations onto art objects.

Some of the dreams recorded were very materialistic and narrow minded.  However, some of the dreams were emotionally compelling.  I was also surprised by their response and how much they enjoyed being part of my project.  The simplicity of the paper birds aroused their curiosity about future prospects.  I discovered how visual dialogue between the viewer and artist can change people's perceptions of life.  I would like to develop this project by asking a more varied group to record dreams as this would reflect society more accurately.  The cloud reflects how the mapping of personalised hopes distinguishes the individual from the masses in establishing a unique life path.

Gary Park stated that the undercurrent of aggression in Abakanowicz's work referenced her “unease with the dark side of collective behaviour.”  Conversely, I have been able to fulfil my own aspirations through the positive support and encouragement of many individuals within the “crowd”.  I was also intrigued by how Installation Art was able to create a sensory experience of mass encouragement.  Folding the paper birds was an appropriate beginning for this environment, as the Japanese culture has a myth that making 1000 cranes will make your wish come true.   

Fig 29 Shelanna Macdonald, Flock of Dreams, 2011. Paper Birds, Fishing line and foamcor. Dimensions variable.

According to psychologist Bertram Cohen (2002) individuals maintain connections with various groups by constructing their identity around the attributes of the group.  This identity is based on the group's superiority and chosen properties in comparison to other groups’ identities; this distinction often results in intergroup conflict.  Resolution is only made possible when both groups recognize their shared humanity and undergo a process of self-transformation, however damaging it may be to their prized distinction and carefully crafted identities.  The folding of the paper birds represents the constructing of our identity.  The conflict that arises between the individual and the collective is emphasised by the inclusion of a group of larger black birds together with a variety of origami patterns.  Thus  Flock of Dreams reveals the power of individuals as part of a group; the individual's influence on her surroundings is reinforced through her integration into a broader collective.  

Beuys (in Dennison, 2001:32) argued that “all areas of human activity-the social, the political, the spiritual- fall within the parameters of artistic activity, claiming that the moulding processes of art act as a metaphor for the moulding of society.”  This notion is reinforced in In(significant) 2010-2011 (Fig 30), a series of photographs documenting the production and delivery of 2600 hearts to the learners at Durban Girls High School.  Many of the learners have lost respect for themselves through traumatic events.  The school is very big and run in a very disciplined and systematic way. As a result, one sometimes feels like an unknown name within the mass.  I hoped that the time and effort that went into creating the hearts would remind the learners how valuable they were.  This work was also cathartic for me, as it enabled me to express how much being part of a crowd had impacted on me, as I am currently teaching at the school and was a past pupil of the school.  Thus this small gesture was an apology for the times I personally had treated others as numbers, and lost sight of how important the other is, in establishing my own journey as an individual.

Fig 30 Shelanna Macdonald, In(significant) (Detail), 2010-2011.

Grounded 2010-2011 (Fig 31) is a series of acrylic boxes that juxtaposes the need to escape the crowd, with the need to be intimately known by others.  For this piece I asked various friends and school girls to write their secret hiding places on envelopes.  The layered paper creates a series of interlocking spaces that echo the niches we withdraw to. The use of packaging labels reinforces the loss of individuality through the mechanical recording of personal information in state systems.  A second box contains a series of parcel tags that record various peoples' burdens and highlights the troubles that weigh people down.  Some burdens seem trivial when compared with others and one's own problems are lightened through the process of sharing with/caring for others.  The notion of caring for other people's burdens is echoed in the collection of glass bottles, which refer to the Jewish practice of sending a bottle of tears to grieving families as a symbol of empathy.  The weight of time and decay on our physical bodies is expressed in a fourth box of clay imprints of learners' palms that have subsequently been ground into dust.

Fig 31 Shelanna Macdonald, Grounded (details), 2010-2011. Packaging labels, Envelopes, Wax Bottles, Glass bottles, Extruder Acrylic boxes. 20cm x 80cm.

I am ambivalent about the power I carry as an individual, as my work documents both the vulnerability and success of an individual diaspora.   Encroachment (2011) (Fig 32) explores how displacement and migration is not just a physical movement, but also an emotional transition.  The work comments on the relationship between nature and the mechanical through a series of white cut outs of swallows, flying fish and aeroplanes, which have been pinned onto a sheet of white Coruplast.  The work projects an ominous feeling as some of the shapes are amorphous and others have been cut into.  The pins  reference museum exhibits and the lose of mobility.  Artist Rachel Whiteread (in Dennison, 2001:133) described how objects’ shadows are the “residue of anonymous use”.  The shadows in this work allude to the haunting nature of emotions and trauma.  The minimalist feel of the work was inspired by how Salcedo's and Abakanowicz's work highlights the angst of absence and loss as a result of trauma. 

Fig 32 Shelanna Macdonald, Encroachment, 2011. Plastic cut outs, pins, Coruplast.

My work investigates the ethereal nature of space such as the online environment of social networks.  White Noise 2011 (Fig 33) explores how our attempt to communicate in the modern world becomes lost within the trivial nature of modern living.  A friend once commented that in our current society “everyone has a voice, but not everyone has something to say...”. This thought is reinforced by the text from a Donald Duck cartoon which said “Nothin’ to it” (Donald Duck, n.d).  At times one is overwhelmed by the struggle of articulating one’s voice, as well as making one’s voice heard without losing the power of dialogue.  

 

Fig 33 Shelanna Macdonald, White Noise (Nothin' to it), 2011 ABS cutouts.

Completing my BTech has developed my understanding of creating art that is technically skilled, without losing the impact of expressing conceptual concerns. I struggled in the beginning as I had just starting teaching art and my post was demanding in the beginning. I was also unsure of what I wanted to say through art; this doubt, coupled with limited time and energy, resulted in the presentation of direction-less, incomplete works.  I was uncertain as to how I could visually express how my identity is positively influenced by my interaction with others.  Developing Flock of Dreams (2011) (Fig 29) was a defining work  as it was technically and conceptually more resolved.  I continued working with notions of flight and white on white reflections, which led to Encroachment (2011) (Fig 32) and White Noise (Nothin' to it) (2011) (Fig 33). I was enjoying the process of making work, however I was still unclear of the conceptual links between the pieces. I discovered that one has to avoid being seduced by the visual expression of the artwork, by constantly reconsidering the conceptual underpinning. However, Encroachment also helped clarify my concept as I began pondering the meaning of aerial viewpoints and flight, and how the distortion of the shapes related to the paper birds. Studying Installation Art history influenced my perception of how physical, emotional, social and environmental spaces mould my identity. The struggle to understand my experience of the world, and purpose in creating art, was clarified through finding the links between my theoretical discourse, and the visual clues present in my work. In Migration (2011) (Fig 28) I was able to express my development of the self by combining the image of the bird with aerial photos of various spaces that have impacted on me and facilitated my production of art.

Significantly I have chosen to explore my individuality and relationship between self and the other through art-making. The experience of viewing art is in itself an expression of the individual interacting with a larger community.