"Its all in your head" - Collage project (Dominique Ciaffone)

"its all in your head" 

INSPIRED BY:

 My project “it’s all in your head” was inspired by Wangechi Mutu. Mutu’s artwork inspired me to create a unique piece that represents something important to me. My project represents mental health, and the beauty/pain through healing. In class, we have spoken upon issues such as race, gender, identity as well as the male gaze. I wanted to focus my project on mental health because all of these issues can have a direct effect on your mental stability.

It is hard to be a person in this society who is constantly learning and growing, sometimes it feels like you are misunderstood, and there is no room for mistakes. Advertising and the media makes it so easy to compare your life to others, and see the best in everyone but yourself. Media and advertising can make you feel objectified, more like a “thing” instead of a real person. We’ve seen this theme in the work of Wangechi Mutu, where she makes collages to represent aspects of society which make her feel less then.  Whether it be because of your race, gender or simply who you are, most people have experienced discrimination in one form or another.

 Your mental health is so important to look after because if you don’t take care of yourself, it’s easy to lose sight of who you are. For my project, I used blue and white acrylic paint, real flowers, fake leaves and different journal pages with quotes on them. I used the white paint to draw clouds and the blue paint to paint the sky. I had the quote “your thoughts are like the clouds and you are the sky” in mind. This means, you are not your thoughts, and the bad feelings/ times will eventually pass. After I painted, I used journal pages from different notebooks, and wrote inspirational quotes on them. The point of my project was to give hope when dealing with mental health, and create something that represents healing and strength.  

4 quotes: 

 “The figure exists in an imaginary outer space, clutching a mangled serpent, the phallic and mythological creature that instigated the downfall of Eve.... The image and title are infested with the inherent contradictions that were the experience of a radical like Funmilayo. - The Feminist Challenge

of Wangechi Mutu

Reaction: I like how fictional figures can represent real world problems and occurrences. I wanted my art project to have this same effect, that's why I used the styrofoam head to represent a real person. 

“How we behave reflects our skills in acting, dissemblance, calcu-lation, role-playing, sycophancy and conformity, as well as our capacity to insert ourselves into the strictures of precedents and be the obliging members of the 'wedding party, to use Erving Goffman's metonym of social life.” - The Art of self invention (chapter 2)

Reaction:How we think we are perceived plays a role in our mental health. Always needing to pay attention to the way you're acting in society can take a toll on you. This is just another reason why looking after your mental health is so important. 

“Manners are about strategies of social exclusion; they define the individual's thresholds of tolerance, of what is acceptable or not”- The Art of self invention (chapter 2)

Reaction: Sometimes it feels like society is testing you, and it is hard to be yourself. Social constructs can affect people in different ways, and it can all affect our mental health. 

“Mutu is best known for spectacular and provocative collages depicting female figures—part human, animal, plant, and machine—in fantastical landscapes that are simultaneously unnerving and alluring, defying easy categorization and identification.” - Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey

Reaction: I wanted my figure to give a human-like feel, just like some of Mutu’s artwork. I wanted it to feel personal and relatable. When this is achieved, people are more inclined to listen to your visions and ideas because they are relatable.