In this project I looked at Identity and the various different ways identity can be shown. I became fascinated by fingerprints and hands being one of the most common ways to identify someone. Hands are also an invaluable tool, they are used for everything and I also wanted to incorperate this. The piece of work I chose to present was a small installation of hands which I made from PVA glue on my own hand. These were then suspended from invisible thread on a nail in the wall at different lengths. I like the way they all gather together, as if it's a crowd of people, each person being represented by a hand. If I had more time on this I would add more hands, as they are pretty time consuming to make.
Starting with the idea of somehow using fingerprints, I had the idea to take photos of everything I touched during the course of a day. It was a lot harder than I originally thought and actually forgot about an hour into the photos. The photos I did get were not of good quality as I didn't think about the composition or any camera settings and just capturing the moment, which is a quality I did like about them, the spontaneity. It did help me to think more about actual fingerpints and combining photography with that.
I became facsinated with the detail of fingerprints and so thought of ways to get some good images of them. I had a glass vase which distorted the view in the background really well and so put vaseline handprints on it. At this point I hadn't had my photography induction and so couldn't sign out an SLR which would make these photos better. I felt these images were quite strong as photography was something I hadn't really experimented with in a fine art sense.
Constantly wanting to try new materials I had the idea to use PVA glue. Linking the childhood thing of painting your hand and peeling dried glue off with the fact it looks like dead skin as well as picking up all the details of my hand, I went about painting my whole hand. It became quite time consuming but I was very pleased with the results. There was something quite haunting about the hands, like dead skin but that glue hand holds all my information and could be used to identify me.
When I hung the hands up they had movement and I liked this and thought about maybe filming them turning and twisting as a final piece. The light also could play a part in the piece as the detail shows up more when light is shined through the hands. Hanging the hands upside down adds another element which I really like, giving the impression of death. The number of hands could be symbolic to the piece and so I researched some statistics to do with Missing people and crime as fingerprints are usually taken when a crime has taken place.
As I carried on using PVA I became aware of its versitility. I found an artist who creates large scale fingerprints using different materials such as mustard and wool. This gave me an idea to create a continuous line drawing of a fingerprint using PVA. I tried this on accetate and discovered I could peel it off once it had dried, creating a delicate, flexible panel. I made a few of these to explore another possibility of a piece and started to sew them together. At this stage I had two main ideas that I was happy to continue with but decided to use the glue hands to present as I felt they had more room for personal interpretation, I also liked the fact it looked similar to dead skin which had a creepy effect on the work. Some of the hands didn't turn out as well as they could have but again people could interpret that to say some peoples identities are damaged and not perfect. Scale was something I was constantly thinking about and I would have liked to make many more glue hands and to fill a wall, but they were time consuming to make.
Strengths-
Researching Identity, using simple, inexpensive materials well
Weaknessess-
Time management on this project, deciding what to present, scale
Throughout the module I transformed a piece of previous work. Starying from areas I would normal feel comfortable in , I experimented with more 3D elements and materials resulting in this piece of paper dipped in plaster and presented in a way that looks as if it is drying or even that it is fabric. 
Concentrating on the interesting patterns produced by the paint, I used paper to start to create 3D forms. This reminded me of the Rorschach test used to determine your state of mind, which I researched and based my previous work on. Using the paper created interesting lines and textures. I created deeper creases according to darker tones in the paint.
Throughout the module I did a series of workshops and I really enjoyed the plaster workshop, having worked with plaster before I already knew how to use it but still learned new skills with the material. I thought about how I created the paint patterns out of paper and decided to dip some of the paper into plaster and let it dry. The different textures that resulted in dipping the paper were really interesting and so I dipped a few more, and had the idea of somehow attacthing the pieces together and going back to the figurative element I had at the beginning. Again wanting to stray into areas I hadn't in the past I decided to carry on dipping paper but trying to make it 'perfect' and looking like a piece of paper but it would be extremely delicate.
I experimented with different sized pieces of paper and felt the best and most practical size was A4. The bigger the paper got the more plaster was on and resulted it in ripping as it was so heavy. I really liked how it looked hung up in a washing line, very domesticated and very normal. I considered this as a possibility for presentation later on. I had to work quickly as the plaster was starting to set and dipped as many pieces of paper as I could, but this piece was the most successful.
When the plaster dried I was very pleased with the outcome of this particular piece and experimented in ways i could present it. I discovered it could stand freely but if it got knocked over it would brake but I loved how it looked stood up, as if some invisible force was holding it up where the pegs had previously held it. 
