Fractured Female ReTwined and ReImagined

 I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to explore in my first art work.

I'm developing my concept for the art exhibition ReTiwined, ReImagined Fibers, Experimental Textiles, which will take place at The Hawkesbury Remakery in September this year (COVID allowing).

I am really driven by the question asked by Graphic Novelist Alan Brooks in his TED talk titled 'When the world is burning, is art a waste of time?'

Of course he concludes that art can affect people in ways the artist may never know. So I wanted to explore a topic that is both close to my heart and hotly contested today.

Female.

What is female? What personal indicators define being female? What are the traditional concepts of female and how are they being pushed at? Is it a biological gender, or a societal concept?

Personally I love being female. I am what is considered a traditional female I guess. I have long hair, enjoy dressing up, have a womanly figure with ample bosom, and I pursue traditionally female pastimes. I crochet, I sew and quilt, but I don't really enjoy cooking at all.

For this exhibition, my work will be a static 3d sculpture using textiles in experimental ways, including illumination.

I know my work will include a fairly feminine looking face. 

This morning I conducted my first experiment with UV resin, a UV light and a mask mould.

I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

This one is unlit.

This one is lit from behind.

I had a little trouble getting the resin out of the mould once it was cured, and it might be easier once the textile element is included, especially if I lay the fabric beyond the mould to give me something to slip a knife under and prize it out. 

I may colour the resin to make the glow from behind softer, though I know it will differ when I use the tulle I plan to include. That will be my next experiment, though I will have to wait until more resin arrives. Lock down is holding me back a bit.

But while I wait for supplies, I start sketching some designs for the whole composition. I'm still tossing up if I should include a torso, though it's looking likely at this stage. And I also need to consider if this will be a work that can be displayed in the garden, or solely an interior work.