Maiko

In taking this picture of a Maiko and making it symmetrical, I am, in essence, removing her positive or negative side and disturbing her natural balance, and by removing one side I am removing both sides. I unified the pieces in a woodcut print.

!7

This Catalogue was designed by myself and my university professor, Bringing together the work of the graduating Printmaking students of UCCA Maidstone 2009.

Chrysanthemum

'Look into her eyes, shes a princess in disguise' Chrysanthemum

I was originally inspired by viewing my friend picking a flower and, quite naturally, eating it, stopping only to say “do you want to try?”

At the time this unusual scene impressed me and it stuck with me; maybe there is a hint of erotic connotations. I hope to engage my audience with suggestive strategies drawing on their personal experience, which will differ according to each viewer.

At the edge of being physical, the mouth is bitten, the eyes are bitten

After my studies in Japan, I decided this was a good opportunity to try to recapture and restage this event in an attempt to discover what it might mean to me, and what it might symbolize.

The emperor of Japan once regarded as a direct descendant of Amaterasu (the sun goddess) but after the Great Pacific War the claim to this was renounced. The current monarchy, the ‘Chrysanthemum Throne’, is the oldest continuing hereditary monarchy in the world.

Post war occupation of Japan led to a reorganization of the political system; imperial power was replaced with government. A story of a member of the Japanese royal family Princess Fukuko Asaka tells of her journey to become a cyborg as her imperial importance was becoming transparent. Mishima Yukio, together with some of his followers, forced his way into a government building and committed hari kire (ritual suicide) in support of a reintroduction of imperial rule. But the Japanese, a proud nation, embraced new political strategies and technologies in order to rebuild in peace, and preserve what was left of their social system, becoming metalivious.

- Metallic amnesia.

- The imprint of false memory.

- Liquid atomic ash.

- Masochism.

- Artificial.

- Transforming or changing something existing into something else.

- Building structure

- Reaction between surfaces.

- How do things relate?

I made a series of heads using process as a means to add textures and subtle meanings to my work. Etching and wood cut are the processes I used for this project, especially as there is a sort of connection between the symmetry of old and new I experienced in Japan. There you can see beautiful wooden temples side by side with modern architecture, metal, wood and glass.

But really my my work it a representation of myself.

Deep Sea Volcano

This image taken next to me (looking somewhat like a lumber-jack) was inspired by the hidden world... the world of the Deep Sea