I participated in a month-long artist residency at Arquetopia in Puebla, Mexico. During this time, I embraced the process of textural mark making and created a short film with my collection of recordings, inspired by the idea of Synesthesia and Mexico as a space.
These collection of drawing experiments explore the idea of tactility and emotions through gestures and markings.
Read more about the project below.
Textural Sketchbook
These drawings explore movement, textures, colours and the emotions that may arise.
Behind the Carbon Paper
Drawing on top of carbon paper, I created a series of markings through it’s transfer. I used a variety of tools which are not conventionally used to draw, allowing me to explore without any restraints because anything can be transformed into a tool to create. These tools included a rock, spoon, fork and an eraser. There was a lot of trial and error which continuously sparked my curiosity. Invisibility masked the outcome of my work allowing me to focus on the process, delving into the movements and tools I chose to use. It’s only through lifting the physical barrier, that I was aware of what I created, allowing me to further investigate the process.
Layering was an important theme that was explored, whether this was expressed in the duration of a drawing or an introduction of a new material, colour or emotion.
Invisibility and time were addressed by the layering of elements through the physical (drawing on top of carbon paper) and abstract (the movements of the drawing hands and the duration of each drawing).
The outcome of creating these markings, made with an eraser on top of carbon paper sparked a really interesting idea. A tool that is meant to erase is instead being recorded, creating an existence and challenging its intended purpose.
When you look at an object in a new, unordinary way, there are countless ways its function can be transformed. These drawings can be thought of as a performance, where movement, sounds and visuals are intertwined into the final piece.
About the Project
I’ve always been fascinated with Synesthesia, a condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in another. You can think about it as a layering of senses, where multiple connections within the brain are activated. An example is sounds triggering sight, where a synesthete listening to a symphony may see a stream of colours dancing in front of their eyes.
I wanted to use this condition as an inspiration to explore how one sense can be perceived in a new and unexpected way when paired with one or more senses, through the medium of drawings, video and field recordings.