Reenactment of Roman Memorial Methods
My work discusses issues within reenactment, such as ethics, in which permissions are needed to reference or reenact other creators’ work. Which, within the art industry, is commonly spoken and debated. In the history of Roman death masks, most of them were of men with political successes due to the timeframe being a peak for inequality amongst men and women. From this, I chose to reenact Roman mask-making methods to work against their history of being made mainly for those in power. The creation of my masks removed the need for online sourced reference images and transformed my paintings from historical, sculptural portraits into current, tactile self-portraits
An artist whose work aligns with my studio practice is Rebecca Fortnum. Her paintings amongst Les Praticienne depict works by fifteen women associated with Robin’s studio, illuminating the often-over-looked sculptors. We both had a similar process of reimagining historical artefacts through the effectiveness of colour and using painting as a medium of revival.
Seven Easy Pieces by Marina Abramovic was a performance that took 12 years to gain permission for and involved various reenactments of artists’ work that contributed significantly to performance art of the 1960s and 70s. The project was premised on the need for more documentation for performance art. She stated the importance of asking permission from any artist, no matter how big or small, when considering restaging or reenacting their work. This significant performance aligned with my theme of reenacting history; it gave me insight to alternative ways of how artists use reenactment in their practice
An exhibition I attended last year, Liminal, Do Us Part, Caught Between, by Colin Gray, has a theme of mortality. The photographs depict his parents through life, sickness, and death. Liminal shows us Gray’s depiction of his state of grief; the series ranges from surreal laughter to mordant loss. Gray’s work aligned with my theme of memory, identity, and loss. The exhibition explores the documentation of life and how, when we experience loss, we are left scrambling for every little image, hair or artefact that remains of who we have lost. This research informed my observations of death and my question of whether funerals are all we need in order to grieve.
