Process log
As a student, an artist and a person, my broadest aim is to make sense of the world around me and express my responses to it. I attempt to gain perspective by looking at history and speculating on the culmulative moments that brought us into this vast, confusing postmodern existence. Our intimidating present with its rigid social orders and illusive technologies further motivates me to make sense of it through connections to the past, knowledge and even fiction.
In Zeros + Ones, Sadie Plant explores the history of textiles and spotlights Ada Lovelace's historic contribution to computing through collaboration with Charles Babbage amongst other writers and inventors. As typewriters, calculators and information processors became embedded in predominantly female workplaces, a culture grew, and this lattice of connections became known as the net. (Plant, 1997)
My interests span the internet, textiles and fashion, coding and creative tech, as well as class, particularly Western working class and underclasses. I have concerns regarding underrepresentation of the working class in the creative arts. There is also a general reluctance to grasp creative technology, too. Sam Aaron, Research Associate at the Cambridge University Digital Technology Group, and live code performer encourages everyone to learn coding, just as they learn to read and write; not to become a professional writer, but because it is an incredibly useful skill.
As I approach the second week of the module, I lay sick in bed with a classic case of the freshers' flu. I'm reflecting on the encouraging feedback I have received from my tutors.
This evening I started watching a documentary on BBC iPlayer Romancing the Stone: The Golden Ages of British Sculpture presented by Alastair Sooke. This has sent me on a miriad of paths, looking at the work of Henry Moore and Jacob Epstein. My line of enquiry has drawn me into learning more about their backgrounds. A quick Wikipedia search reveals Moore as the son of a under-manager within a colliery, who encouraged Moore to avoid working in the mines, which seems unusual but nonetheless understandable. Even my father encouraged me to follow in his footsteps and become a butcher. This to me is a common trait of working-class families, which is important for me to identify now as I am beginning to ask, what makes someone working class now, and why do people often reject the label despite fulfilling the criteria? This information also links back to the miners, Jeremy Deller's work and the Pitmen Painters, which is exciting as an ecology of ideas.
As discussed in Romancing the Stone, Moore's work was celebrated for it's beauty and comforting humanism, despite the difficult themes concerning the cold war and nuclear threat. It was employed to these lighter means in the Festival of Britain in 1951. There is a seed of an idea here which I wish to explore. Some may consider working-class to follow a system set out to them by the middle and upper classes. Work for their businesses, rent their houses, rely on social housing and benefits. Be seen, not heard. Working class artists upset this standard by expressing a critical stance. It feels that the British institutions chose to ignore Moore's critical ideas in favour of the pride in his pop-star status and value as a British artist making beautiful work.
I also discovered that Jacob Epstein's model for St Michael's Victory over the Devil (1958) was his daughter's husband, the economist
This second week has taken me to the Ikon to interview Dion Kitson, a working class artist who recently had his first solo show, taking place at the Ikon. Being white-British working class is part of his lived experience and his artistic language, using materials that would be familiar to anyone from this background. [reword and use proper artwork name] His pebble-dash wall is a prime example of this - a material so common amongst the architecture of social housing. He aims to break down the 'Cathedralisation' of the art gallery. In this respect, I believe his work is encouraging to young people from underepresented backgrounds that the arts can be accessible - less serious, more humorous and playful. Visitors of the gallery could literally play a game of pool in the Ikon at his exhibition.
Watching Simon Schamas' History of Now, seeing the Prague Spring and how there was a revolution of rock music and free speech in Czechoslavakia; secret police would attend gigs and sit in cafes listening in and planting seeds of doubt amongst the attendees. I find it interesting how these Soviet Communist parties were trying to suppress, control and destroy art and culture, and how now it is conservative goverments here that are trying to suppress art and culture.
14th of October - I dive deeper into my research. I am getting more interested now in the supression of culture and the working class. I'm interested in the way the Conservative party has cut arts budgets by up to 100% across many parts of the country. I see this as a way of inhibiting expression and dissent. The arts are a political force capable of defunding private companies. See Liberate Tate. I also see their culture war as a way of dividing and conquering, i.e. controlling the masses to protect private businesses.
I am reading Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. This has helped me make the links between class issues, creative tech and textiles. The Luddite rebellions were organised assualts against factory owners, using hammers called Enochs to break their machinery. These looms required less skilled labourers to operate, meaning wage cuts and job losses affecting the working classes. These people included the skilled labourers in the textile industry but also the families within the cottage industry, who relied on spinning yarns and weaving fabrics as a source of income. As pointed out in the book, Luddites understood the technology all too well, knowing how it would affect their livelihoods, in contrast to the modern interpretation of a Luddite; someone who refuses to engage with technology, not understanding it to the point of fear.
I started knitting an Adidas bootleg Balaclava. After experimenting with knitting with the knitting machine, I asked myself how I would make a final piece. I decided by hand knitting it, this would allude to the history of the cottage industry and the Luddite rebellions. I also feel this slow process imbues the experience of making it into the piece, reminding me of the time spent with family making this piece.
A journal entry from Saturday, October 19th: I went to the knitters and dyers guild. The topic was on Guernseys - a fisherman's jumper - knitted fine and tight to make them windproof with real wool, unoiled but still covered in natural oil that means they're somewhat waterproof.
I managed to cause a stir, although I wasn't trying to. Alis kindly invited me so I sat next to her. I told her about my research question I am exploring - the theme of the working class. The mere mention of this topic was enough to cause discussion and a few somewhat condescending guffaws. The topic of teeth as a sign of class came up. Often people from working class backgrounds could not afford dental care and so their teeth would be in poor condition. Respectibility as an aspiration for working class people was mentioned. People used to aspire to be respected, even dressing their best to collect dole. I think some people have lost a lot of hope of finding work. In some parts of the UK, over a thousand people apply for a minimum wage job in retail. I also started talking about Starmer not being working class. Although his background is working class, he has become a part of the establishment and enjoyed a well paid job. My issue with Starmer is that he is not representing the working class, nor imposing harder taxes on the rich. He is also complicit in Israel's war crimes, although I refrained from talking about this in the meeting. This caused more heated discussion as one person credited Starmer with being an international human rights lawyer, granting him the title of Sir.
As we left, Alis told me that there had been a rule against mention or talk of politics! I thought I had put my foot in it. She was excited and told me, "No it's good!". There had not been a discussion like that whilst Alis had been attending. It had occured in an organic way. They are quite a homogeneous group of white, middle and working class women over a certain age, who all share a passion for knitting. Why should they debate politics? They came to learn more about knitting. However I am proud that we had such a discussion.
Been reading Owen Jones' Chavs. Inspiring stuff. Divide and conquer. I once heard that the conservative system in England is preserving the system that William the Conquerer put in place - splitting the country in to shires or counties. Back to the book - interesting and useful statistics in the preface regarding applicants to minimum wage jobs and identities of class groups. Note: Britain Thinks for statistics.
I visited Radical Vicorians exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. 'Work' was my favourite painting. Pre-Raffelites saw work as a sign of someone's good character. They liked quoting scripture from the Bible.
I had an idea of creating a Disney culture jamming image of Mickey Mouse holding a degree in a gown. This is a play on the idea of Mickey Mouse degrees, degrees that aren't worth anything in Rishi Sunak's eyes.
