For the first project of third year, I decided to approach the brief from an 'authorstrator' standpoint, selecting the theme entitled 'The Natural World'. Amongst the keywords relating to the Darwin-inspired source were 'evolution' and 'mutation', which I chose to use as my starting points. An example of mutation in nature that interests me is the infection of insects and arachnids by the Cordyceps fungi:
Inspired by this, I painted this piece using gouache. I was interested in the idea of this fungi affecting not only insects, but humans too:
I was pleased with the result of this piece considering my inexperience with painting, though I decided not to continue producing more, because I didn't want to keep portraying people. I changed my media choice to pencil drawing, and decided instead to focus on skulls: still a human subject, yet more visually interesting to study. I decided to produce a series of drawings of skulls, each with a different form of mutation or abnormality. I liked the idea of leaving it to the imagination of the viewer as to how the living subject may have looked, and their story... The following are some examples.
I produced eighteen drawings in total, before beginning to introduce my images into contexts rather than just negative space. One means by which I did this was to combine these drawings with photos of mine, all being examples of urban decay that were taken in abandoned hospitals. The two themes of urban and natural decay work together interestingly, sharing similar processes, like the gradual reduction to 'bare-bones' internal structure. Furthermore, the growth that occurs in urban decay is almost a form of mutation, with the unpredictable transformations that happen as a result of nature reclaiming. With these pieces, I tried to echo the nuances of the urban decay with my drawings in how they were incorporated.
