Who Am I? - Limited Edition of 5 Photograph

“The Shape of Me” Karyn Fearnside The work I have created for this exhibition represents my fascination with the connection my daughters share with their maternal grandmother (who died when I was 10) through not only their shared red hair, but also that they are both sets of two daughters. Particularly I am interested in the way they look, the way I look, my partner’s looks, my immediate family, and how our features are transported through our genetic make-up, creating our identity. I first made a plaster cast of my face in 1989, I made tissue paper moulds of it way back in art school and I was struck by the translucent qualities of the tissue paper. Later I read a fantasy book where a wizard took a piece of each person who travelled through his land without their knowledge and created a “face.” The hero stumbles across all these faces hanging illuminated from tall posts. This haunting image has stayed with me; I have wanted to create it as an installation. Meanwhile I have made a plaster cast of my partners face and one of my daughters and using these I have created a lot of tissue paper masks. Working photographically with the masks and my daughter I have completed 5 images (so far). The images incorporate my mother’s wedding dress which she made herself; first my daughter wears the dress and considers the masks which seem to float around her, next I layered images of the dress over the top to realise the finished pieces. The next images I want to create to complete this series involve lots of paper masks, one image where my daughter is encircled in them, and one image where the masks hang from her arms in “wing” like fashion, weighing her down, or lifting her up...(are we weighed down by our inherited features or lifted up? Either way, we have no control over the way we look) In the exhibition I see these images printed up quite large on the walls of the larger gallery space. Coupled with this is the idea that there is a veil separating this world from the world of spirit, how we are reaching through this veil and how something may be reaching back. Definitely our genes are passed down from generation to generation. I have also created a body of work continuing on the same theme of identity in which I have used fabric and shaped the fabric around the plaster casts, I then photographed the results and have around ten images that I am happy with in a series called “Dark Faces,” these I see as slightly smaller prints in the larger gallery. In the smaller gallery I would like to have an interactive space where the masks are hanging on fishing line from the ceiling in front of the curtained area. I would like to hang some different curtains to create a theatrical quality where the audience can interact with the masks, emerge from between the curtains, sit on a stool and pose or just stand and interact with the masks. I would encourage people to take photographs of each other and upload these images to an interactive social media site sharing their experiences with the masks. If possible I would also like to take some photographs and add these to the wall next to the doorway as the exhibition continues. On the wall opposite the doorway, I would set up the mask wings and people can also interact with these in the same fashion. Through this I hope to compile a list of interested persons who will let me make plaster casts of their faces in order to work towards creating the “Sea of Faces” installation.

Photography:Digital on Paper

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:5

Size:12 W x 8 H x 0.1 D in

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