CASE STUDIES
TALES FROM THE CRYPT (GALLERY).
My primary role, in preparing for the Crypt Show, was writing the press release. This proved to be far more difficult than I initially anticipated, as I was given little to no information about the other students' proposals.
Also the theme of the show 'One That Holds Everything' being so vast, it posed a real challenge to write about - especially as there are only so many ways to write 'the title of the exhibition comes from the translation of St Pancras'. I eventually teamed up with Antonis, from the Curation team. Antonis and I then wrote the press release together.
Another challenging part of The Crypt show was the piece itself. It was easily the most complex piece I've attempted, as it involved drawing a series of semi-transparent images on top of each other. It also took an emotional toll on me, as the piece was about my experience with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and through the piece I had to confront some unpleasant memories that I had shut away in my mind.
I called the piece 'Transcendence', as it tells the story of overcoming traumatic memories, and ultimately catharsis.
THE SEXXX PROJECT.
As part of my research for The Sexxx Projects, I interviewed a Dominant who works professionally under the name of Mistress EviLyn very kindly allowed me to conduct an interview with her.
The main thing I came away with from this essentially BDSM involves acting a part, and acting involves drawing on part of yourself to make the role believable. With Mistress EviLyn however, due to the nature of her work, she has created an alter-ego that she uses a diluted version of, to draw upon in her daily life: “I’m a lot more self-confident, a lot more grounded than I used to be, and funny enough, one of the things [working as a Dominatrix has] done is it’s taught me to ask people for help..” Mistress EviLyn
Showing how engaging in responsible BDSM play (observing the SSC and RACK codes of conduct) can be beneficial in daily life:
“Yes it teaches you about boundaries, and this is something that you learn to adapt to your life. So you become much better at setting boundaries with ordinary people, and also about respecting other peoples’ boundaries. You learn to communicate with people a lot better, saying “is it okay if I do this?” and “no, it’s not okay for you to do this with me.” From visiting the extremes you can take back a lot into your every day life that helps you deal with situations better.”
Mistress EviLyn
Considering how the majority of those practicing as professional dominants are female and submissive players predominantly male in the scene, this can be linked back to before the women’s liberation movement and a sentiment that is still prevalent today that requires men to be hard, macho and unemotional, and teaches girls and women that men must be placated, appeased, and served. By being able to take on the roles of our shadow-selves in a play setting, we are able to draw upon aspects of this shadow-self in the real world until they become parts of our natural personality – act as if, think as if, be as if, be. Thus BDSM can allow us to become a more empowered version of ourselves.
THE LANDMARK ART FAIR
Last March I had a stall at the Landmark Art Fair in Teddington. In all honesty, it wasn't the huge commercial success I'd hoped for. It cost £250 to hire the stall, and in total I made £50 and I was much more fortunate than some of the other sellers who didn't make any money at all. Having said that, it was a huge learning curve for me as I learnt a huge amount about the nuts and bolts of participating in an art fair. Managing the logistics was a key part of it - for example transporting my work to the venue and displaying it. They provided a big table and also a folding partition that I could attach my work to using velcro tape, and as my paintings are mounted on lightweight MDF this worked beautifully. It also provided me with a great opportunity for networking and I spoke to a number of artists with different areas of expertise, whom I have remained in touch with.
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A WASHING LINE OF ART.
So after Landmark was a bit of a financial disappointment, I decided to re-evaluate. I needed somewhere to display my art, that was (a) easy to get to, (b) didn't require an astronomical fee just to set up my work there, and (c) was in the right location to attract people's attention. So, I decided upon my driveway. Our house is right next to the station platform, so streams of people are constantly walking past the drive - so I strung a length of washing line across the driveway from the gate posts and pegged my art to it. Then I brought out a deckchair and waited for some fish to start nibbling.
The first hour was slow and my paperback's spine was starting to melt in the sun - when suddenly a man approached and bought two of my pieces! Then as though a dam had broken, more and more people appeared, and within a couple of hours I had made over £300!
The lesson I took away from this is that if you're resourceful and use what you have at your disposal - you can put on an art stall and make some money with little to no overhead costs. All you need is a driveway, a washing line, and nice weather.