Introduction
For my theme, I explore the identity of women. My project is about the foot binding history in Chinese culture and the deeper reasons behind this custom, because I wanted to find out why have women been bound in certain ways and treated unfairly for so long during these cultural aspects. I researched for the origins of the foot binding history and the traditional women in Chinese culture. Following that, I went deeper to the women’s role in the society.
I gained from Bryan and Joseph’s feedback that I should do more researching behind this custom in order to have more understanding of this and how this custom can make a connection to the modern days. I looked up the keywords that Bryan gave me, which are Dayna Danger’s work, Kitsche, perversion, and S&M. I found they are more about the abuse of women which looks really oppressive. I think I can use the elements in the images of keyword “perversion” as the reference to make my final project.
I made a pair of three inched shoes as the working process. I wanted to use some ways to show that the shoes are restraining women’s life.
PROCESS
I cut out two pieces from a cardboard as the shoe sole. They are approximately 3 inches long each.
Then I cut out two pieces of the fabric I chose. The pointed shape in the middle is the cusp of the shoes.
Because there is another layer on the shoes, I cut out about one inch part of the fabric to make that part.
I used the sewing machine to sew the two parts together.
After that process, I found out that this fabric is made of several layers of fabrics together in order to have different patterns on each side. It also caused the problem that it is easily to fall apart. So I had to fold the edges and sew them as well.
These are two pieces of fabric that have been sewn together. I wrapped them around two pieces of cardboard that I had cut out previously.
I fixed the cloth to the base with a glue gun.
- What I’m most excited about my final project is to look up more artistic works about feminism in order to get inspiration.
- The biggest challenges I have are to use a new way to express my ideas and to find the materials that can be used.
- What I plan to do next is to look for the materials that I can use.
In the end I probably will not put this part of what I did into my final work. I realized that I had just made a pair of shoes that does not express meanings, and there were too many limitations in the process of what I can do next. I was thinking about whether I could find interesting ways or be inspired in the process of making it, but I found it was too difficult to make other changes after the shoes were finished. After talking with my teacher, I found out that I have a big problem on the process of thinking how to make this. I should not make the things that are already existed, but I should rethink a way to represent my content with a symbolic work. I think I need to start from the custom of foot binding and in some ways to express the bondage on women in the society by using a new visual way.
Process Update
During this difficult time, I looked up different artists whose works are related to feminism and I was greatly influenced by Jing Xiang’s work. She is a great sculptor and always use women’s body as a medium to express her ideas of the female identity.
Since I wanted to express my topic in a visual form about the identity of women that is restricted, or bound, by the society, I decided to transform the form into a woman’s body, because a woman’s body is the most obvious symbol that represents a woman. I am planning to use some creative ways to show the bondage on women. At first, I bought the pottery clay and I will use the clay to make a body of woman.
Sketch
I drew a sketch as the reference to look back to. I wanted to emphasize the strips of cloth on the woman’s body so I colored it black. To me it looks a little like the S&M images I have searched before because of this kind of binding. I drew the waist part extremely skinny because it reminds me of the waist binding custom in the western countries in old days. Women would bind their waist to extremely skinny until their ribs are bent inward that their internal organs were squeezed, which could lead to death. Moreover, I am planning to make the base, which is the thigh part, into a shape that is pointed that looks like the shoes shape of the three inched shoes. I wanted to use this part to imply this custom.
Process of Making
In the beginning I was not sure about how fast the clay will dry, so I used about 500g of clay to make a prototype in order to see if I can form the clay fast enough before it is starting to harden up. I found that if I kept adding water and kneading it, it could keep soft for a quite while.
Then I started kneading my final form. In this process, I used about 1500g of clay.
The final form looks much chubbier than the sketch that I drew. The primary reason is that I couldn’t make the waist part too skinny because the clay is soft that is will sink while it is drying up. Other than that, I made the body twist to the right side because I wanted to show the movement that she is trying to get rid of something on her body. After this process, I put the clay outside and let it naturally dry up.
Air Drying Process
I think it might take up to about two days to totally let the clay to harden up.
Reflection
My biggest challenge on this part of process is to let the clay stand. Since the clay would tend to sink down, it was really hard to make the waist part because it is skinnier than the upper and the lower part. The upper part of the body was tend to sink down before it dries up so I couldn’t make the waist part too skinny. That is why the form that came out looks really chubbiness. I tried making the base, which is the two thigh parts of the body of woman, a pointed shape that symbolizes the three inched shoes that women used to wear. But it might not be obvious.
In next part I decided to color it after it dries up. I am planning to use the fluorescent pigments to draw the strips of cloth on the woman’s body. I already ordered the materials online and they will be here for two days.
I think the strongest of my project is the implied meaning of the fluorescent pigments. I want the strips to show up after the light is turned off, which means that the bondage is invisible. What I worry about the most is that I am not sure if the pigments are strong enough to show in order to let me take pictures in the dark.
- I will finish coloring in 30 minutes.
- I will color the fluorescent pigment on in about 30 minutes. (Not sure because the pigment might be hard to see under the light)
- I will take photos and record the process in about 2 hour.
This is the coloring process. I tried to make it look close to the real skin color.
This is the fluorescent pigment that I bought. It is light blue color. I shot a video of me turning off the light to watch its effect in the dark.
I started to put the pigment on. Because this pigment is almost transparent, I tried to put this on as quick as I can since I could see the wet path. I found it’s difficult to see the pigment. Maybe because it was not enough amount in order to see. So I had to put the pigment on several times after each time it was dried. The biggest challenge of this part is to see the path that I already paint on before. But it seemed a littler shinier than the other part so I could hardly see. Also I had to let the strong light to continue to shine on it and let it absorb the light, just like the solar energy system machine, so that it has energy to glow in the dark. The most thing I worried about was that if my phone can be able to shoot the tiny amount of fluorescent color in the dark and at the same time the shape, or the silhouette, of my model was still shown.
Attempts
(This is the picture that I took by my phone without editing.)
(This is the photo also took by my phone but I changed the “exposure”. The silhouette is showing. )
I found the pigment was really hard to show in the dark on the model through the camera on my phone. But the fact is that the real scene that my eyes could see was much lighter, but the camera on my phone couldn’t catch it. I feel it was because the pixel of the camera on my phone is not good enough. Then I decided to continue to put on more layers of the fluorescent pigment on to make it more obvious to see and I will expose it to the light for more time.
I decided to borrow a good camera that is with high pixel, so that it can shoot a good picture as my eyes can see.
(This is the process of exposing to the intense light.)
Reflection
What I need to do to complete this project is to shoot the pictures of my work successfully. What I’m most concerned about finishing is that I do not have a device that can shoot the pictures that I am satisfied with, because I primarily thought I can use my phone but it did not work. This is also what I’m excited to look forward to in my final project because I’m really anxious to see the effect. I might display my final project on the table in my house as a decoration because it is a form of sculpture. So far I only need to complete the shooting process of my project.
Final Image
(Lights On)
(Lights Off)
For the more progress and development of this project, I may want to make a bigger scale sculpture that can be displayed in the exhibition center. This project reminds me of the Venus de Milo because it is without arms and the twisted body is really similar. Venus de Milo is a world famous ancient Greek sculpture from the Hellenistic period, depicting a Greek goddess. I will do more research about the Venus de Milo sculpture and add more interpretation into my work.
