During crits with my teachers and peers they advised me to focus on the body and objects in relation to Wabi-Sabi as people are usually more critical of it. The overall sense of the group was to focus on objects as people will have a connection to them and it could be very personal. The body topic was seen as rater cliche and isn’t very original which I understood so didmd explores that in my sketch book as much. in the crit ideas that I could explore were:
- taking peoples possessions and creating the imperfection using textiles techniques
- Asking people what their most loved and worn down possession is and asking what the story is of that object. So if it had been dropped in a liquid for example, I would do the same to re-create that object.
- The the imperfection and make it into something of a large, so it becomes more abstract and people will want to know what it is.
I was going to explore this and had an idea of how to get going with producing more work, however I didn’t feel inspired by it and I felt like I wanted to produce work with an idea thats more out of the box. As much as I appreciated my peers feedback I actually went against it, and decided to look back at work I produced early on in my FMP which were some collages based on my environment. These were inspired by Lucy Shires who photographs textures in her environment.Here are some photographs that I edited to create my collages and the collages underneath.
compositionally I believe the two yellow ones on the left worked best as it mostly used the rule of one third, rather than having lots going on through the whole page.
When I think of Wabi-Sabi I think about whats around me in my environment, rather than the body or objects as it changes through seasons, nature and time, not what we buy or can change drastically ourselves. Wabi-Sabi is celebrating the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. It is unique and doesn’t focus on the perfect that is usually looked upon. Wabi-Sabi is the opposite of modernism, symmetrical and materialism. It is nature-based and refers to the rustic, the simple and the unsophisticated. Wabi-Sabi believes in the uncontrollability of nature and you have to look deeper than whats straight in front of you. It requires thinking, patience, observation, attention and care. Nature is a huge part of Japan’s ideas on Wabi-Sabi as they have suffered huge natural conditions over time such as earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, floods, fires, tidal waves etc. As I was in an two earthquakes in Bali last summer I can understand how terrifying it is and what it does to the surroundings. The Wabi-Sabi’s philosophy expresses some of their lessons learnt from this:
- All things are impermanent.
All things, both tangible and intangible, wear down. Permanence can only ever be an illusion.
- All things are imperfect.
Nothing is flawless. So embrace the flaws as unique features, instead of masking them.
- All things are incomplete.
Looking deeply at your surroundings is key to Wabi-Sabi, focus on the less obvious and parts that people normally dismissed to find the beauty in it. I believe a crack on a wall is there for a reason for example, so understanding that it’s there due to nature and wear and tear is important, rather than thinking your environment should be ‘perfect’. Here are two quotes about Wabi-Sabi that define how we should think about our environment; “Wabi-sabi is found in nature at moments of inception or subsiding. It is not about the gorgeous flowers, majestic trees or bold landscapes, it’s about the minor and the hidden, the tentative and the ephemeral: things so subtle and evanescent they are invisible to vulgar eyes.” (https://tomwilson.com/2015/09/wabi-sabi-lessons-for-imperfect-journeys.html/)
‘Things wabi-sabi are expressions of time frozen. They are made of materials that are visibly vulnerable to the effects of weathering and human treatment. They record the sun, wind, rain, heat, and cold in a language of discoloration, rust, tarnish, stain, warping, shrinking, shriveling, and cracking. Their nicks, chips, bruises, scars, dents, peeling and other forms of attrition are testament to histories of use and misuse. Though things wabi-sabi may be on the point of dematerialization (or materialization) -extremely faint, fragile, or desiccated- they still possess an undiminished poise and strength of character.”
I’ve also done some more research in my sketchbook on the seven aesthetic principals for achieving Wabi sabi that links to finding it in your environment. Then I went onto looking at Susan Hotchkis to inspire me to produce lots of work based on my environment. Her are some photographs that I took to allow me to start experimenting:
Rose Taylor 