Course Context

· Artists Talk: Rebecca Moss

In lecture, Rebecca Moss presents us with absurd humour in some comical performance videos where she emphasises that the landscape can backfire on us and that we are not always in control. This has some relevance to what I want to explore in terms of the ongoing impact that the occurrence of events has on the environment and people around them.

One of the pieces that struck me most was when her cat rolled over and released the rope that was pressed underneath it and the water balloon on the rope fell on Rebecca's head as she sat downstairs in the garden, having waited uneasily until then, not knowing what would happen next. These could be broadly considered unsettling scenes, emphasising the sense of interaction between human gestures and elemental forces, where an absurd idea is carefully portrayed to the point of futility, chaos or crisis.

After the lecture I had a tutorial with her, during which we exchanged ideas about how one's perception changes when events are in a state where they are about to happen but not yet, and I told her about my obsession with the unknown and loss of control. Rebecca encouraged me to try presenting my work in performance form as well, and I explained that I had a certain amount of camera fear, but that it was a good way for me to explore. In the process, I became more aware of the aspects of artistic expression I was interested in and the forms I hated and would never do, so I could experiment with the project in a more focused way.

· Crits: Olivia Bax, Leah Capaldi, Audiences

In the crits before the pop up show, Olivia and Leah asked the students to describe how my work made them feel in one word and I got "Sci fi, Transformation, Genesis, Magical realism, Micro cosmic, Blooming". I was amazed at how many different and imaginative images we could see in their eyes, and how these words and images related and resonated with my surreal creations to varying degrees, which was also very pleasing to me.

Olivia and Leah also seemed intrigued and curious about my work, speculating about the materials used, thinking it was something like chewing gum, icing or plaster, and thinking it was very much like a stop -motion scene, and this feedback also inspired me to create more possibilities for my work. Afterwards, we discussed how my work would be presented in the final pop up show and what environment it would be placed in. Cocoa powder, water, etc. were suggested and this helped me to experiment with a variety of materials before choosing the reflective cellophane.

Finally when I suggested adding colour to the surface of my work or adding an overall ambient sound, Olivia said to me "If you are bringing more elements in, I think you need to be aware to have that same sensibility, very quiet, delicate, but deliberate sense. Because it could be too much, you know, and I think that's important to recognise, too, that the sound might be introduced or coloured light might be introduced. And it might be that actually, I've lost something here rather than gained. So always remember to weigh up what has happened. So I think next week, if you introduce more elements be really critical about whether you think you've enhanced the work." I thought about it and agreed with her suggestion, so I presented the work in its original, even coarse, forms and colours, rather than adding more additions to spoil the feel of the work.

· Presentation: Idea in Progress

During the presentation, Jennet Thomas asked me after I had finished talking about my work if I knew anything about Olafur Eliasson, and she said that when she saw the frozen 'droplets' in my work she thought of Eliasson's use of strobe lights and fountains to make a dynamic object look like it was still frozen in air, like a magic trick.

Jennet wanted me to compare the work to an artist in a way that is interesting when summarising the context of my work. The effect of Eliasson's work is so closely linked to mine, but presented in such a different way. This gives a clearer picture of my choice of artistic expression and why I choose to turn the momentary occurrence of events into materials rather than performances.

She thought I had made a very unusual choice, not to make moving or instantly destructive sculptures to express all this, but to turn an event into a physical still object, which was the most interesting thing conceptually, and I added my thoughts on this to the Critical Reflection.