Week 3: The Education of Dominic Raab 10/10

by | Aug 14, 2024 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

What is it? What happened? Why am I talking about it?

During Lockdown, together with thousands of others, we had a clear out of our stuff several times over A pair of blue shoes made the cut, they were painful to wear, unloved and unworn. They needed a new home but something held me back, despite the pain they are a beautiful pair of shoes. During first semester of my second year one of the banners I designed had the slogan, ‘Try walking in our shoes….sometimes it’s terrifying.’ What about turning this 2D motif/slogan into a 3D sculpture?

Interpretation and Outcome – Using the work of others to illuminate – What is important, relevant, interesting, useful? How is it similar to or different from others? How can it be explored, explained using contemporary theories?

How will it influence my future work?

Over the summer I discovered the work of Duke Riley who was exhibiting at the Brooklyn Museum, NY. Part of his practice is taking found objects (mainly plastic) and applying a scrimshaw aesthetic to make poignant messages to Corporations and making observations about environmental disasters. I really like the idea of taking old stuff and making it into something else as I started in my second semester with appropriating naff statues and making them more fragile…so with this in mind it’s time to take an unloved item, upcycle it using a similar approach.

A gift for Dominic, who wouldn’t want a pair of shoes as a gift with commentary about fucking scary it can be walking on your own at night. I will even try a similar technique on the shoes. See my sketch book for relevant images.
As an aside I also wanted to mention Duke’s work space that was also shown as part of the exhibition. I am always curious about how other artists work so that I can draw inspiration. This year I want to take a more eclectic approach to my studio space. As ideas emerge, I want to build a collection, just like Duke does, with images right in front of me.
That’s my view but what about the facts of the real issue that women face and here it is…from an article I found online drawing on an investigation by UN Women UK, 97% of women aged 18-24 have been sexually harassed, with a further 96% not reporting these situations because of their belief that it will not change anything! (Choudhury, 2022) Just dreadful. Yes. it was a different decade but I have been there too! The second piece I found from an organization called ‘End Violence against Women’ found that a key piece of legislation, The Victim Bill which is in draft format does not appear to do any more than is already provided for in existing legislation. They found that the Justice Committee who are currently reviewing the Bill have stated that, ‘The draft Bill included overarching principles that are weaker than those consulted with, as currently drafted, will do little to improve agencies’ compliance with the Victim’s code.’ (Choudhury, 2022) HELLO this is the key flag ship piece that DR heralded at the party conference in 2021. I have plenty to write to DR about with this issue.

So back to the creation. How can these shoes symbolically represent how it feels to be put in this position? I’ve recently read a book called Misogynies (Smith, 1989). In it is a chapter called, ‘He knows He Can Make Money Out of You’ in which Smith states that female fear sells films, it started with Psycho and today they are ‘ten a penny’ …’Terror, torture, rape, mutilation and murder are handed out to actresses by respectable directors as routinely as tickets to passengers on a bus.’ So, I’ll start with the horror film genre and all those dreadful slasher films.

In the course of developing the work I have also considered the complete antithesis of horror by thinking about the Wizard of Oz (The Wizard of Oz, 1939), yes that glorious technicolor film. Dorothy wears the red slippers, she has to click her heals three times and say the words, ‘There is no place like home…’ When you are being followed at night where is the one place you want to be? Home. Safe. But what happens if you can’t get home quickly enough because you are wearing such ridiculously high shoes!!! So, there is a play to be made between these cultural references in the articulation of this theme. The colours, black, white and red. The cry for help. The fear of monsters. The victimizations of women. With the hope that at some point I will make it home safely!
One additional interesting thing discovered in an article about the theories of ‘What the Wizard of Oz is Really About.’ Is a very relevant (to this work) feminist angle as follows:

First, consider the fact that anyone who actually has any real power in Oz — Dorothy and the witches — is female. And, perhaps just as important, note how the men are all lacking to some degree, be they wizards without power, lions without courage, tin men without hearts, or scarecrows without brains. This may not be incidental: L. Frank Baum’s mother-in-law was the influential suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage, a colleague of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and many have noted how Matilda’s radical feminism made its way into Baum’s Oz books. The author himself, who was very close to his mother-in-law, was the secretary of his local women’s suffrage club and edited a newspaper that made women’s rights its key crusading issue. ‘(Ebiri, 2013).

Potentially great material for the letter.

Design For Living – The Domestic Object
On the train home today 14/10 I decided to listen to the music associated with domestic
violence and the most powerful being Tracey Chapman:
Last night I heard the screaming, Then a silence that chilled my soul, Loud voices behind the wall