ninaashermcmullan

3D PROJECT

The theme of the 3D project was memory. I was struggling a lot at the beginning as I felt overwhelmed with possibilities and ideas relating to this theme. It took me a few trials and errors to realise what I specifically wanted to focus on for this project.
I eventually settled on using my diary from last year. As my mental health got worse, I noticed that my memory deteriorated and basic every day acts became increasingly difficult to do. For example, my writing seemed to change significantly during these hard times, and I often either jumble up my words, or I found it difficult to read at all. I wanted to use my difficult time last year documented in my diary as the main inspiration for my project.

I started by going through my 2018 diary and writing down quotes which stood out to me. I scanned a few of the pages relating to memory or which that showed my lack of skills in writing. This lead me to play around with scale and text. I wanted to focus on my handwriting in particular as I felt this made it more personal to myself and that time.


I then began filming myself writing out these quotes on to a variety of different surfaces. I started with glass and clear plastic sheets from picture frames to represent clarity. I also worked with mirrors to link to self reflection, and foam to resemble my cloudy thoughts or comfort. For some of these, I tried to directly copy my handwriting by placing the glass over my old diary entries.

Stills from videos of creating my work. I used these in my resolved video.
I returned the next day to see that the mirror I had taped to the wall had fallen and smashed overnight. However, I decided to use this to inspire me and took pictures of it in its natural shattered position.

As my development had been 2D, I wanted to experiment using 3D surfaces. I used bleach and pen to write on foam from an old couch. This was inspired by the work of Isabel Yellin who uses velvet cushion in her work to create shapes. This material has connotations of comfort and safety which clash with the subject matter written on their surface.

  • Bleach on foam.

Next I planned to paint on to large pieces of tracing paper. The pink acrylic paint I planned to use had been left open and subsequently had combined together to create congealed lumps instead of being a smooth mixture. I had the option to mix this with water in attempt to bring it back to its normal state, but as I had left over bleach from the foam pieces, I decided just to mix it with that instead. After painting with this mixture and moving on, I started to realise that the colour in the words were slowly disappearing. I was inspired by this and created a new piece on tracing paper using a stronger mix of bleach to paint. Once finished, I filmed the process of the words disappearing and made a time lapse.

Example of the faded pigment. I had once painted on this in pink but it has now disappeared due to the bleach.

I had scratched into this piece of thin plastic using the back of a nail. As it was difficult to see the words scratched, I started to take pictures of a variety of backgrounds – working with colour and light. This led to thinking about how I could use shadow in my work as a possible route.

Playing around with backgrounds/presenting the work as it was difficult to read the writing.
Experimenting with light and shadows.

While projecting my video on to the wall, I started playing around with using my transparent work. Through this, I realised that projecting on to the mirror with words written on it created a silhouette in the projection, which is an affect I loved the look of and knew I had to use for my resolved piece.

  • Projecting on to cling film.
  • The effect of using cling film to create a silhouette.
  • Projected on to mirror.

The silhouette effect reminded me of a video I took while out with friends weeks prior.

A still from a video taken on a night with friends. The word ‘bye’ had been taped on the door and created this silhouette which I noticed and filmed as it caught my eye.

Using Premiere, I then created a compilation video of me creating the work seen above.
I used the audio of my ex partner reading a poem I wrote partly last year and had edited more recently. While editing I overlapped the audio three times at different points to create an echo effect. I think the repeating words helped to emphasise specific words, while also linking to the theme of memory by trying to remember something and thinking of the situation over and over again. I also felt doing this made it somewhat easier for me to hear his voice from a personal standpoint. It felt self biographical writing out such personal quotes from my life last year – but I felt disconnected enough from it now that I was comfortable to use it. I feel like there is a fine line where using old memories can be more destructive than successful, but I felt confident enough to use it and not let it affect me too much.

Layout of my work for my final crit.

BODY AS MATERIAL EXHIBITION

I was lucky enough to present the video and some of my work from this project at the Body as Material exhibition held at North Edinburgh Arts. It was exciting and inspiring to see my work presented in a more professional setting, and to witness others view the work. I was somewhat nervous, but it helped me to consider the curation of my work and its importance. It also allowed me to consider if this projects context is crucial when viewing it.

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