Week 1 is underway, and the academic year is off to a flying start! We hope everyone is settling in well with their new Design Studios, Units or Specialisations.
Our first social meeting of the year is on the 26th September (this Thursday) in the Students Union Bar, from 6pm. Come along if you're interested in joining the team, want to write for us, or simply would like a drink after studios finish!
On the blog this week we are showcasing two students' work from the recent MArch Exhibition: Modern Nature - Evelin Santoso Khalim's Subaquatic Room and Namratha Mohan's Vaesham.
Subaquatic Room
Evelin Santoso Khalim // 18021246
MArch Exhibition 2019: Modern Nature
Instagram : @evelinsk
This subaquatic room was inspired by the shells of marine snails called abalones. The high iridescence of the shells gives rise to a range of strong and changeable colors. Having an organic form, the space created is boundless as it does not have any dead corner. In this manner, it presents a great flexibility to the user’s movement. Ultimately, the constantly changing surface intensifies the colour alterations of the space.
These ideas are exhibited on a series of objects as a representation of the spatial model. They present various scales of the space from the overall exterior expression down to a fraction of the room. The experiment of various painting techniques with several painting mediums and colours creates surfaces that have ever-changing colours depending on the angle where the light comes from. Therefore, the series of objects present feeling and experience within the space, characterized by unique form, light, color, and the human perception.
Vaesham (Malayalam: വേഷം)
Namratha Mohan // 18023512
MArch Exhibition 2019: Modern Nature
We are what we wear, until what we wear wears us.
When Kathakali dancers put on their make-up and costume, the ritual of getting ready is so intense and long that they forget who they are and only see themselves as the role they are about to portray (Vaesham) .
This project is superlative of today’s technology, where all of our information is monitored and measured, guiding us towards the next step or in controlling our thoughts, time and emotions. It is also driven from my fear that soon we will be controlled by minds that are not ours anymore, just like the dancers.
The Vaesham (photographed) is wearable and is made of silk. It is very intimate and the majority of the fabric is clustered at the neck so that the users can nuzzle into the fabric - a tactile quality that contradicts the cold parasitic nature of the Vaesham.
The photo series is a string of communication between someone who is conquered by his Vaesham and his friend, a woman. He calls her up to warn her of what has happened to him, of being controlled by the parasite. The frames depict how she warms up to it nevertheless and uses her senses to explore it until it gets too intimate and consumes her.
Want your work featured on the blog? Or know someone whose work is worth celebrating? Simply send us an email at osazine@gmail.com with your submission! We look forward to hearing from you!