TATE ARTISTS:

Today we went to Liverpool to collect primary research based on our final major project theme, for example mine is domestic violence. We went to the Tate where I collected some images of the work there that I thought related to my FMP subject.

This piece of art work to me showed the feeling of being powerless, as in the picture she is in a position that she can’t get out of alone and is held up by the plank of wood that when she gets to move can become unstable showing the similarity that many victims of domestic abuse feel with the idea of being powerless and have the need to rely on others to help or to be under someones control and being unable to move unless they release them or say they can move, victims also feel like they should do anything for the person abusing them and that it is love and the reason why they abuse that person is because they care for them so much, so the fact that the girl in the image Is powerless to move or is in a position that she can’t get out of shows that maybe she is willing to do what the abuser wants and will stay there to please him.

This is a black and white collage made from many different individual faces. It appealed to me as it made me think of how someone facing domestic abuse is hidden in society thought the crowds of people in everyday life that no one really stops to pay attention others .

 

 

I loved this piece of work as it reminded me of how a victim of domestic abuse can often feel venerable in their own homes and don’t feel safe in that environment as seeing how fragile the house looks can represent how venerable and unsafe the victim feels as it’s a shell that is falling apart. Also that fact that it is being held in a hand suggests that they have crushed the house and that it is under their control. Another thing I like about the image is how it can represent the damage that domestic abuse can have on a family and their lives as the house is a home for a family and if that is shattered it can suggest that the abuse has torn the family apart too. I also found out that the artist used flakes of skin to create the house to represent identity which I found fascinating as it is something that I never thought would be used to create art.

Andy Warhol’s self-portrait 1986:
This is an acrylic paint and screen-print work on canvas. It is a large portrait of Warhol and employs an arresting colour scheme in which the artist’s vivid red head floats against an empty black background. the contrast between the black space and the red face creates an almost sinister feel and look which is what I would also inflict through my project.

“The artist’s neck, shoulders and torso have been excluded from the portrait, focussing the attention on his face, expression and hair”. Warhol expresses deep emotion through this which is something that inspires me with my own work as my project is based on a theme that contains strong emotions and has a very deep meaning therefore I would like to use some of the ideas behind this piece of work to such as the colour red used on his face as red is also a colour that is seen to represent anger, pain and love which can also represent the emotions of a victim of domestic violence so I think that it is important to connect the viewer with the emotions and feelings of the victims and colour is a good way of doing this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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For further research into domestic violence I am looking into articles where men are the victims of domestic violence as I would like to shine light on the fact that it is not just women that suffer from the abuse but is also men which I think is often overlooked.

Alex Skeel told MailOnline he was speaking out because he wanted to campaign against domestic abuse and to show awareness that it is not just women that experience domestic abuse. When talking on This Morning Alex Skeel seemed to be nervous and embarrassed to me this indicated that he was not confident on telling his story to the public as he’s manly hood may be questioned and he would be seen as weak to let a female control him in that way.

“His girlfriend Jordan Worth, 22, made his life a misery by inflicting a catalogue of injuries on him in violent attacks.”

“It was three years of mental abuse and then it turned physical.” this tells me that it went on for some time suggesting that because she was a woman he felt that he was unable to speak out about her as if she is a woman she does not mean to be abusive and is not as bad as she actually is.

“She was probably only girl I ever felt was interested in me. I never had that before. But she clearly used my history to her advantage to go on and do what she did.” this shows me that women can be as manipulative as men and can pray on men that seem more vulnerable then most, this is something that I want to bring to light within my work as it is often over looked and women are seen as the more innocent. I am doing this by expressing the emotions and venerability of men when in a violent relationship ideas by experimenting with glass expressing the violent side when the dominant partner brakes things out of anger, the broken glass will also represent how the relationship is in pieces and falling apart. it can also express how the male victim feels, how he feels like he is broken with a broken heart and is no longer himself.

When researching articles on males speaking out about being abused I found that it was very difficult to find many however many about women being abused did come up while researching, this made me think that most men do not come forward to speak about what they have been through this may be because they feel uncomfortable and judged as they may be seen as weak to let a female control them and may feel that their reputation as a man would be damaged. This may be because much of the society often see the abuse as one-sided and see the men as the abusive partner which is not always the case. This belief that men are seen as the violent gender is shown through the survey that I did with 6 random people as they showed the frequent similarity of labelling men as the dominant and controlling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I have done more research based on domestic violence. I have done this so I will have a clear understanding of the theme I have chosen and what I am basing it on as it is important with a subject that is so sensitive that it is betrayed in the right way and appropriately. I will continue to look into domestic violence and further into the emotions behind it and the basic concept to widen my knowledge and to extend my ability to portray this in my art.

notes on basic idea of domestic violence: