Photoshoot 1: Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 February 2014

I have set up my own studio at my home, to ensure that I can regularly do photo shoots without the added hassle of travelling and booking a studio either at university or elsewhere, and with the knowledge that to do this project as I want to, I will need to be regularly doing shoots.

The set-up of my studio can be seen in some of the following shots.

To undertake the photoshoot, I used a Nikon D300, my camera of choice for professional studio practice, and a tripod. This first photoshoot was to experiment with some inspirations I have had for futuristic living, and what life would be like as a clone of myself.

Some of the costumes I used can be seen below, and a full contact sheet and some of my favourite final shots will be made available on this blog at a later date. This was an important photo shoot because it allowed me to take the next step in the artistic journey I am on – to actually visualise some of what I had been imagining. That realisation element is so important, as I made clear in my blog post regarding the ‘floating hotel’ in Mongolia – if you can imagine it, you can do it. I need to carry on with my imaginings and make them real here.

Nick Cave and his soundsuits…

The performance artist Nick Cave has been quite an inspiration for me while planning my artistic response to fictional futures. Cave, from Missouri, USA, is best known for his ‘soundsuits’ – bright unusual fabric sculptures that can be worn.

They have been made from many different materials including human hair, twigs, buttons, beads, sequins and feathers. As a performance artist, these soundsuits are generally not exhibited as single pieces, but rather as part of a performance involving  dance, music and several willing participants.

What this does make for is a feeling of anticipation, of ‘what will happen next?’ and, for those who are unaware of his work, ‘what is going on?’ A key element of good art is to keep the audience guessing, of making them want more and also making them ask questions and start a debate about your work. Art is not about people saying ‘this is great work’, it is about people saying ‘this is what that piece of work means to me’.

What I can really take as inspiration from Nick Cave is his use of colour and his attempts to communicate the future through art. His creations are often quite otherworldly, evoking thoughts of either prehistory or future. The music he uses adds to the overall aesthetic of his work; the beats are often very repetitive and meditative, again to prompt clearness of thought in his audiences.

This video shows just one of his ‘Soundsuits’, at the LA Art Show: