The ugly face of prejuidce

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/beauty-the-beast-ugly-face-of-prejudice

The recent programme on Channel 4, "Beauty & the beast, ugly face of prejudice", is just so symbolic to my point of socially constructed ideas. it highlights how those with facial disfigurements are downgraded members of our society; they are to be hidden away and kept quiet. Because of this idea people are often excluded from social groups for the way they look and unfortunately it has been this way all throughout history. just because a person looks different doesn't suggest they are less of a being. people say they are 'unfortunate' the problem is they are only unfortunate because society is scared. this needs to change!

because of this i wanted to highlight how even those who are 'beautiful' or accepted in our society doesn't necessarily mean they are a better person. i plan to create a painting which on one side highlights a persons 'hidden' impurities, i then plan to cover half of this face with an 'attractive' mask made up to cover the 'ugliness' the mask represents the masks people create for themselves to be 'accepted'.

Photos will be added as soon as iv'e created the paintint/mask and have taken photos of it

Postik it!

As you know im focusing on social assumptions and socially constructed ideas for my artwork, mainly because it is something i really enjoy investigating. when contemplating a question I had been asked, "who makes the rules/who tells you what do do?" I began to think about how it is our society that encourages how we answer, and the groups we place ourselves in. i wanted to find out what others thought the answer to this question would be and discoverd a pattern in answers. I found that any individual who participates in more artistic and 'feminine' subjects such as; art, english and sociology would answer with; 'me'. However, those who indulge in more mathmatical 'male' subjects such as; maths, history and sciences replied with answers such as; 'the government', 'you' and even 'my mum and dad' this could suggest that those who take more mathmatical subjects are in less control of there lives and are being directed by those around them. whereas the more artistic participants are more self controlled and believe in there own ideas.

each person was asked individually and were hopefully not influenced by other people. with the results i created a wall of ideas. the ideas of British society.

Working with a client

For this unit in my art BTEC course we have been working with a client to produce an artistic outcome which they will then keep and display. The main focus points of this unit were to show our ability at organising and producing evidence of planning a final piece; all within set dead lines. we have to show that even against the clock we can still produce high standards of artwork.

our client was a local primary school who are lacking funding to, 'brighten up' and decorate the older childrens playground. we met with a year six teacher from the school before christmas, who explained the situation and pointed out the main areas they wished to focus on. the two 'areas' which captivated our imaginations the most were; 'the tomato patch' and a dark, grey corner which played host to a small drinking fountain.

We were informed that every year, the year six classes grow tomatoes in the spring which they then use in the summer to bake pizzas. the tomato patch area drew out attention as it is capsulated in a huge boxed seating area which acted as a main focus point in the older childrens playground; because of this we decided that whatever we do, it has to be bright and friendly.

not all children enjoy eating vegetables, we felt that by creating a freindly, bright and exciting atmosphere around the tomato patch, we could encourage more children to get involved. our initial idea for here was to paint the box and wall in bright yellows and greens with tomato vines asending along the wall into the roof of the school. we wanted to symbolise the childrens growing interest in healthy eating. once the vegetables have been harvested the patch is very grey and dreary. Because of this we have an idea to create some three dimensional objects, such as; flowers, cartoon worms and wooden tomatoes. this was to ensure that the patch remains bright and entertaining, even in the winter months. we also wanted to make the area more personal to the children so on the vine we decided that the tomatoes asending the wall would be personalised by pairs of children.

When discussing the drinking fountain with the year six teacher, it was suggested that they wanted to show children the water cycle. I felt that simply painting the water cycle onto the wall would be bright, however the children may not be interested by it. I wanted to keep to the idea, but felt that by adding a cartoon edge, such as brightly coloured stick characters pouring down water from clouds into buckets, would entertain the children as well as teaching them the life cycle of water.

All of our ideas will be created in our art room and the assembled at the school once finished. we also believe that although the school is our client, if the children do not like our ideas then it would be unsucessful as it is for them. so that we can ask the childrens opinions, we have been invited to attend school council meetings and the schools annual craft day to propose our ideas.

pictures will be added as soon as i take some!