Off Centre

The clock is ticking...off centre.


Using Western medias' idea of what beauty is as a template. non symetrical faces are considered off centre. Eg. if you have a big chin, large nose, small eyes, minimal cheek bones, well you've had it, your just plain ugly!...only joking. Alas this is the message we are bombarded with thousands of times a day every day of our lives. I,m focusing on the female form for now.

What are we trying to achieve?

is the obsession with "beauty" and youth leading us to manifest Nietsches'idea of UBERMENSCH?

Superhuman qualities...

plastic surgery the new black

Everyone seems to be getting some level of plastic surgery or another. Its accessable, more affordable perhaps. Why do women feel the need or desire to alter their bodies and faces? Sometimes having devastating consequences. Is it really worth it whatever the intent?



above Venus ressurected.


The venus of vilandorf - 25,000 year old figurine. 4" carved of limestone. No face, exagerated genitalia. Dr Nigel Pively argues that our brains are pre programmed to create unrealistic images of human beings and weve been predisposed this way for at least 25,000 years.




The above is an ad for plastic surgery.

Is it really a rational choice? Do we care if it is or not? Should we care? Is it self esteem? Or is it deep rooted values that have been passed thru generations that make us believe we should look and be a certain way?



Yeah that looks much better - just a wee nip here and a tuck there - and you'll be perfect. trust me im a doctor!




Hello Georgeous!
Are we moving towards a world where it will be unacceptable not to look "perfect"?

Methods of research

1. Galleries

2. DVD/vidoe

3. Books

4. Journals

5. Newspapers/magazines

6. Sketching/making

7. asking people questions

8. talking with other students

9. Referring back to brief regularly

10. Lecture on the unconscious, lecture "Blame it on Lorna Simpson"

11. Developing ideas from the above mentioned

Rebellious Women

Does a woman cutting her hair constitute rebellion? In some cultures it does.



What describes a rebellious woman?

What would she be rebelling against?

Is it worse if she is a mother?

Sane/insane mad, crazy etc...

Victorian times women who did not conform to the social norms were labelled "insane" and placed in asylums. Has much changed since then? in as much as why someone would
be seen as rebelling...and the reactions of society towards that person.

I suppose there are lots of instances that may be regarded as rebellion and justified in the name of religion or social acceptability.

The Conscious/ Unconscious

"every human mind...is a product not just of natural selection but of cultural redesign of enormous proportions". daniel.c.dennett "kinds of minds" p203







location of the unconscious....

Mapping the mind and how we manifest whats going on inside the mind.

Diary for project

22/2/09
Reasearch, collecting images of female form in media. Newspaper articles, reading. Sorting out primary/secondary research.

21/2/09
Sketchbook work - thoughts on project. Shredded and bagged an oil painting, party popper, tea light, pencil and bank card relating to my dust but this got me thinking about labels. How people label others by the way they look or behave. The Greeks connected physical fitness and good looks with godliness. therefor if you look good you are good!

20/2/09
Library, studio to clean up. Watched videos Nancy Spiro and Kiki smith got me thinking about the female form. The Day Pictures were born. How human features were exageratted since the beginning of time. Sketchbook work

19/02/09
Edinburgh - fruit market, claire Barkley. City arts Centre and Ingleby Gallery Loved "SOMETIMES MAKING SOMETHING LEADS TO NOTHING" fRANCIS aLYS. A short film of him pushing a block of ice thru the streets of Mexico city until it melted. All that effort for it to melt. The experience of doing this can be frustrating. It was frustrating to watch. This happens a lot in life.

17/2/09
Reading Women Art and /society Whitney Chadwick

16/2/09
Library, Thinking about pregnancy + the female body. Reading daniel c dennett "kinds of minds".

13/2/09
Drawing, automatic writing, reading, blogging,

12/2/09
International festival of live art, Scotland at the Arches - New Territories. Weird, interesting, disturbing, dissappointing....disorienting....

11/2/09
Reading, surfing net, blogging, thinking,

10/2/09
re-write self evaluation after meet with tutor.

9/2/09
Interim assessment.

women, art and society

"Jennifer bartlet, Cindy Sherman and Susan Rothenberg tended to do work in which gender was not an issue".

I will approach my research from this pouint of view.

Women's role in society

Martha Rosler



Michelle Browne
The Bearer - Questions Western society where women have a do it all mentality.

This performance made me question the role of women in our society and how much can one woman actually do? What are the expectations of women today? Something that interests me is the pressures placed on woman to behave in certain ways - a sort of reality versus non-reality. Not only are women balancing many things in the physical sence; also is there an unconscious balancing act taking place? Wherein outdated notions of women are embedded in the psyche and have been passed down thru generations by both sexes.

I think "Hunter gatherer" things have changed since cavemen times, roles have reversed in many instances. Life seems much more complex these days...

religion, culture, can play a big part on the role of women in society.

The female form

Joan Miro Torso of the female form above

unmediated response

This project is about people, tribes, races, cultures, gender. Things that may interest me is Mauri people, tatoos, post feminist views on...? Why people dress in certain ways. Why they pierce or scar their bodies in different cultures. Body art?