Reflection on the Body: Metaphorically and Physically

Collaboration project with Rosalind Main and Daisy McConville

As an Artist, fashion Model and Body Positivity Activist I work in all of my practices connecting the theme of Diversity, Women’s issues and Identity in my work. I have been exploring this theme since my honour’s year at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen and have continued working throughout the three years since I graduated. This year I started studying a Masters at Edinburgh College of Art and I have included the themes of gender, identity and where we are placed in society and reflecting on this theme through photographic and installation work. It’s a theme I have been researching through activism work creatively.

My most recent piece in collaboration with fellow MA Students at Edinburgh College of Art is around reflection and self-image both metaphorically and physically. Looking at the impressive statues and halls around the Art School we are Reflecting on how in society the beauty norms have shifted since the times of ancient Greece where the original versions of these casts were created.

How today we are told through Instagram fuelled advertisements how to change how we look in order to be ‘happy’ when we should in fact celebrate how we look right now, without buying into corporate schemes.

By placing each muse around the art school with mirrors large and small we are creating a space where we are part of a reflective exhibition. Mirrors placed on walls, up against sculptures and on the floor to add a new dimension and perspective to the building we are familiar with.

In the comfort of an art environment you can become your ideas and vision which is something we as artists explore every day.

By making the space occupied by a team of inspiring women from different backgrounds including singing, performing, studying and more we have created a space where we all celebrate who we are both collectively and singularly. It’s something I strive to achieve in my work because inclusion of everyone is crucial in society.

My projects are usually mainly around the focus of collaborative work, working with creatives both in and out of university to make work that stands out in a positive way by celebrating people and their unique stories. This Reflection piece will be developed further as I wish to include social media and other elements to our daily lives in my research.

Using compact mirrors and angles to alter what we see brings the viewer a different image, one that might not have been expected. There’s something really exciting in this Reflection project and the elements around posing and becoming the statues we admire, giving time to occupy a space rather than just pass through. 

Rosalind Main, Visual Artwork Editor