As i said in my earlier post im on erasmus at the moment and want to use this as an opertunity to diversify my work a little. to experiment. to play... and hopefully this play will result in a diversification of my concepts or rather a diversification in how i put my ideas across....

these are my research. im looking a little at how towns were developed from the body. eg street layouts like veins to stop traffis blockages, the heart as the center, the park as the lungs of the city. things like that. overall i think im just trying to add more play to my work and figure out what i ENJOY doing.
at the moment im working alot on book format. printing and generally playing. i also like all the conoctations of the heart.. hearts often break yet they are one of the strongest muscels able to pump for a lifetime...

i have already talked at lenght about my interest in fragility and the body. but i want all of these body centeric ideas to gain a subtality through play. play with marks and dept..

i want to make small spaces... like polly pockets. small spaces that your mind can fall into.. like a book.. book space. small worlds where you can go to escape... i want to build worlds- inner worlds- i dont want grandure,i want private intimate spaces- personal erxperiences..

intimate and fragile spaces- like an egg. i want these 'spaces' to be really sensual and luxurious... again this is about memory. internal space..the mind. recolections..

i want the viewer to be able to hold these fragile worlds in there hands. small datailed, precious, like a large diamond, without too much weight, like a sanded stone.

i am researching a bit into meditation practices and how we map space. the meditational technique with the metal spheres in your hand - you know the ones you turn and they chime- are of great relevance to me at the moment.materials wise. i want this thing to be smooth, ans feel comfortable in your hand and have protective connoctations... im going to look at wax for this but im also thinking about the effects of the body heat... maybe i should use something associated with play... playdo... im going to experiment around this... white plaster would look amazing and have a nice weight. paper could work to and have a nice fragility-durability to it.. either route it is going to have to be quite well build... ill probably make seleral in many materials and go from there...

work statement for assesments xmass 3rd yr

Work Statement 10-01-2009

Amy Hanley

My work is currently about challenging the idea of gender and gender roles. Exposing the notion of gender as a construct within society and exploring the language used in establishing this idea of gender- male and female as opposites. Along with the stereotypical ideas attached to such a categorisation.

This has come about since the start of the year as I noticed the different language attached to the female body and indeed the female artist (as a lot of my work was and is based on my experiences as a woman). I got very interested in the way issues such as menstruation and pregnancy were generally portrayed in an idealised manner e.g., woman as carrier and vessel for the male body. I sought to shed light on the lack of ‘real’ imagery regarding the female body.

This is the bases for the works on the plinths. I felt that the chocolates and jewellery boxes worked well with the casts and the concept as these are traditionally gifts given to women by men in our society and therefore follow the idea of the woman as recipicant but with the twist that they bring to focus aspects of female sexuality that are still seen as somewhat taboo or shunned in the mediated representation of the female body.

I also explored these ideas through several casts in different materials, photo printing, photo etching, digital and film photography, book making, found objects, painting, drawing and instillation.

However it was only when I started reading, Kathy Atker, Edward Lucie-Smith, Holly Hughes, Women, Art and Society by Whitney Chadwich to name but a few but especially ‘Gender trouble’ by Judith Butler that these issues really resonated to me as being important for both men and women in a social way. This led me to look at artists such as The Guerrilla Girls and Judy Chicago

From looking at the work of Catherine Opie, Sarah Lucas and Kiki Smith. I began to think about how gender is portrayed in visual language on a day to day basis. This led me to reading ‘The Gendered Object’ by Pat Kirkham and looking at media and objects in a different manner. I tend to work a lot from objects in my process and was drawn to the idea of tissues, as in our society it is seen as a lot more socially acceptable foe a woman to cry- the norm even, while there is still a lot of stigma attached to men crying. This example of gender stereotyping and indeed the problems attached to such binary views on gender, for me, really resonate in the visual language attached to the tissues.

The children’s tissues really caught my attention as a lot of ‘gender’ ideas are instilled on children and indeed directed towards children in much more obvious ways- all you need to do is walk through a children’s toy store or clothing department for this to become obvious.

In order to explore these objects I set about photographing them- as I have worked a lot with photography this year. The medium I feel works well as I was able to combine the studio lighting of a ‘Family Photograph’ with a medium that has a long history of documenting social issues.

The notion of the family photo (the centre one) to me really highlights the notions of family and gender roles in our society – perhaps it is due to this that so many family photos are very different from the one portrayed….
I hope to continue examining objects in this manner especially children’s toys and clothes. My plans for future works are greatly aided by Erasmus as I will have the opportunity to study gender roles in a different culture.