I sketched out a final piece idea, my first one combined the different styles of the artists i first looked at. I thought about combining different cotton fabrics by sewing them together and then dying half of it in a blue colour. This idea was pulled from the artists Sarah Symes, with her improvised style of dying shaped fabrics and sewing them together. Then i would take square/rectangle shaped fabrics and sew them onto the cotton. Blue pieces on the white cotton and white on the blue cotton so they stand out. I could possibly use a gradient of blues like the artist Derick Melander, also reuse old clothes for the fabrics in this piece like he did. On these shaped pieces of fabric i would sew either single flowers using the free hand machine like the artist Josefina Concha or sound waves from songs or noises from the outside. For instance countryside noises on the white cotton, then busy city noises for the blue cotton to show stress the change in stress.
However, i got caught up with a new idea that held a deeper meaning so decided to pursue this one. After finding a long piece of black fabric, i thought about tying a rope around it as if it was a person wearing a black dress and trying to force themself to be skinnier with the rope. Imaging this i tried to complete the image around it. I found some red fabric and black and white checkered fabric that i could use to create a background. I thought about folding the fabrics to create pleats so they wouldn't be flat. I wanted to keep the colour scheme simple black and white so the red stood out like a danger sign, signalling how forcing oneself to be too skinny is incredibly unhealthy and life threatening. This idea developed to how the media and society have created the ideal look with skinny models and diets advertised everywhere. This made me think about how people get fat shamed on social media- showing the negative and corrupt minds that theses views have shaped. This gave me the idea to sew white weeds growing up the black fabric, originally inspired by the artists Josefina Concha and Cas Holmes, who sew wild flowers in their work. The weeds represent the unhealthy views created by society's expectations, they are unwanted and uncontrollably everywhere.
I needed to think about how to present this. I wanted the dress with the rope on the wall but i needed to think about the surroundings. I looked into shop windows, photoshoots and magazine covers as they all tied into the industry that forces these toxic viewpoints onto others. I began looking at shop windows online and shop windows that i passed. Most just used mannequins and i thought about how i could place the black fabric on a mannequin. However, i felt this wouldnt work as the fabric represented a dress and was not literal and the mannequin was too literal. I also thought about having two mannequins pulling on the rope to show how using the image of skinny models is trying to force that ideology onto others.
I found this image of a shop window which gave me the idea of using frames to show what people want their bodies to look like. Wanting to be thinner and fit in to the photoshopped images. I included some fat shaming things that people say on social media. This made me start to think about how this way of thinking can lead to anorexia where the person sees themself as heavier than they actually are. I redrew this with that idea and the frames showing what they believed to see in the mirror and what they were thinking. I decided this idea was too estranged from my original as i didnt know how to bring the fabric into it so i decided to not use it. However, it did get me thinking about people suffering with anorexia and poor mental health from the pressure of society's expectations.
Next i looked into photoshoots. I thought about how i could use lighting equipment to tie the rope around and again make it appear as if they were pulling it tighter. By using equipment it strips any human connection to the idea, therefore showing how the lack of empathy and free will in these beliefs strip human rights to live a happy, free life. People stick their noses in and fat shame for no reason, their opinion wasn't asked for or needed. Additionally, by staging it as a photoshoot i could have the lights on to create a spotlight on the dress, showing how people are praised for appearing as the beauty standards, but if you don't fit in you are highlighted and outcasted. The equipment also hints to how people use photoshop to distort the real image and create something false, even impossible for a body to naturally look like.
By looking into photoshoots i decided that i should do my own where i would use the fabric as a dress and show body parts that look bony and unhealthy to highlight the danger of anorexia.
Lastly, i looked into magazines. Many magazines for women focus on beauty and what's in fashion. To my disgust i discovered that there was one too many magazines dedicated to body shaming women. It was sickening to read and probably quite upsetting for the women being body shamed, as well as other readers who would take in these ways of thinking and body shame others. This type of media is very toxic and doesn't help anyone. Especially for low esteem women and vulnerable children who could see them too. I thought about some of the rude headlines that they used and how i could present my piece as a magazine cover page. Using these headlines and showing how they are negatively affecting women's bodies and minds. Make the viewer see how toxic the media can be and how it needs to be stopped.
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