After a one-to-one with my tutor discussing where my project was heading, how I had been particularly drawn to sculpture and form, but needed a narrative wider connection, so she suggested I look at Helen Chadwick. I wasn't lucky to find any good documentaries on Youtube but found a great little radio episode about her on the 'BBC Sounds' website.
Born in Croydon in 1953, Chadwick's artistic career had major contribution to the feminist arts movement happening at the time. She felt since women weren't allowed in many ways to compete in the field of traditional art like men were, she turned to more experimental mediums like photography, performance and installation art. These were areas that hadn't been explore, nor surfaced to the major repertoire of gallery collections yet. These in my mind were liberating mediums, she had nothing to loose, and could make the type of art she really wanted to make. Gathering from my research, her work explored how to depict desire and sensational pleasure through the body, creating a disconnect yet connection.
The body was central to much of her work, as she explained it to be the 'subject of feeling' making sense alongside all-encompassing installation and her physical involvement of herself in her works.
Her work broke down the relationships between mind/body and male/female. Taking the female body as a powerful desiring force.
Looking at her piece of work called 'Carcass', a rectangular glass box filled with household waste, as a physical metaphor of decay and decomposition, actually through the unpredicted process of fermentation ended up being a symbol of life and regeneration. To me many of her works have a cyclical nature, constantly living ability to be applied to issues we still question in society today. Maybe the body is so linked to human nature, these questions will always be relevant?
I also found out she taught at Goldsmith and was tutor to some of the YBA's and her own work influence the likes of Sara Lucas and Tacita Dean. This makes a lot of sense after looking at her work compared to Lucas especially, who I have researched in the past.
Something I have never done before in my art work is use my body, this could be super fun and interesting to experiment with. Painting, using my body or using parts as sculptural forms could be interesting, or even using everyday object in relation to my body.
