Thoughts so far

After having a discussion with Trudi on how I could develop my work towards the exhibition, I've managed to consolidate the theme I'm exploring, which is going to be the dichotomy between outward appearance and inward reality. Basically it's about exploring the shallow outward presentation of a person's every day life that you see versus the realities and differences that you don't. (Ie. the outward conforming and unassuming appearance of a suburban 'cookie-cutter house' - following on from my exploration of kitsch house prints - versus the crazy reality of the lives of the people inside - following on from my work looking at people's stream of consciousness writing about their every day lives). I'll be following my new development of working in 3D.

dichotomydʌɪˈkɒtəmi,dɪ-/
nounnoun: dichotomy; plural noun: dichotomies1.
a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.
"a rigid dichotomy between science and mysticism"

synonyms:

division, separation, divorce, split, gulf, chasm; More

2.
BOTANYrepeated branching into two equal parts.

The discussion also reminded me of this quote from the Great Gatsby:

“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald

Through thinking about the idea of outward and inward appearances I've been thinking about what people put on their windowsills, which gives an impression to an outside viewer where they can draw conclusions about what that person/household/area is like. This is likely to contrast with the reality. It also links back to the work on houses that I've been exploring. Because of this, this morning I went out to take photographs of windowsills in my local area to explore this.

I'm now going to research how people make assumptions about the outward appearance of these windows by asking people in a questionnaire to think about what kind of person/family they would expect to find living in these houses.

I've also been thinking about how I want my exhibition to make people feel. Taking these pictures I felt a little uneasy and like I was snooping and that's the kind of feeling I've decided I want to create.


I also read an article recently about the new phenomenon 'shelfies' where people take photographs of their shelves to put on instagram. I've been wondering about what people's shelves can say about them. This follows on from when I was exploring taking photographs of bedrooms and seeing what they can reflect about a person. So I've been taking photos of the shelves in my home and I think I'm also going to ask people about the impressions I get from these.