Akura

Description
Initially I was interested in disrupting habitual perceptions surrounding everyday objects and developing contradictions between objects and there functions.
The objects of my attentions were cotton buds and sewing needles. I sought to make casts from these objects, to develop an understanding of casting and mold making materials and processes.

So far I have found myself drawn to, and producing work with cotton buds. My interest in sewing needles has since waned.
I am particularly drawn to the hesitant, unsettling feeling cotton buds evoke when taken out of the home or healthcare context. It is startling how an object so ubiquitous and familiar can suddenly become intimidating and cautionary for one to hold.
This awareness created between the body and the object provoked me to investigate this further by exploiting the estrangement or disjointedness of an object when removed from its usual context, associations, materials and function, specifically with casting.

Having made cast piles of cotton buds in rubber, latex and silicone crammed together in a plastic, de-aerated mold I was struck by the new, bodily qualities the materials introduced in to the casts. The latex casts once dried turned a dirty yellowish-brown, which resembled the colour of pus. It is by far the most disturbing of the casts. The latex smells to high heaven like an infection and has a rather organic appearance. The silicone molds resemble the colour of semen and have a slimy, slippery texture. I have experimented with cutting away the excess silicone and now I see the casts as chromosomes or microscopic bacteria made visible to the human eye.


Research:

Rachel Whiteread. Venice Biennale 1997.
Fine Arts Library
759 W593b
Pg 29-35

- An interview with Whiteread which has and still is assisting me while I am working with casting materials and there manipulation to create new sensations in my work.