In brussels there is this huge polemic about plastic straws. Plastic straws especially the ones who can fit in a turtle nose are nocious for the environnement, extremely polluting to produce and creating masses of waste for 2 minutes of pleasure. It is not a necessity at all, because we really could go on without them, or by using recyclable ones or reusable ones. On the television the other day was a documentary stating that they take up to 500 years to decay. 

So in our world this timespand is almost everlasting, these straws takes an everlasting time to decay. I figured that I could do like the artist Marteen vanden Eynde who created plastic coral reefs, i could do an entire work with straws. Tokujij Yoshiota created some and it looked like crystals from thee top. It woudl be interesting to create an entire wall of straws viewed from the top for instance.

Inspired by Gursky exhibition and my work and the ability to create mislead the audience with photography as a medium. I went around london for a whole day and try photographing abstract pictures. It was interesting to see that once displayed I went back unitentionally to my theme "everlasting decay", with indestructible architecture, architecture that ends up decaying.

The final photograph was very successfull (see sketchbook) because i felt that I really managed to fool the public, I photographed the river thames and switched the colour to black and white. It looked like a cloudy sky whereas in fact it was water. 

I cannot take my work back to uni on the train, so i decided to experiment with photography. I bought a spot light and switched off all the lights of my basement to give this magical effect to my work. One spotlight and a pitch black room. 

The photographs ended up beeing really interesting and even more interesting then the final piece, because it created some the illusion of the cosmos. If printed large, i think the audience will not see straight away that these are crystals and would then have a more interesting response to my work than beeing in direct connection with my work. The public is taken on a journey. It is interesting that such a microscopic work which is crystals could look like something as microscomic as the universe.  In this way, it looked a bit like Gursky work, from the exhibition i've seen the water, the iceberg taken from the top, and the flower fields. All three pictures were verry abstract and looked to me like abstract paintings and something completely different to what it is originally, it took me by suprise when I got to read the label. The most striking one was probably the iceberg, it looked like a little mountain of flower or cocaine, photographed from the top, however it was a huge iceberg. I liked the relation with the microscomic and microscopic. Explored in a different way by the artist Michael John Hunter who created huge barbies (look previous) and photographed them so they looked tiny.  

The photograph made the really stood out with the lighting, you could see the pink purple and blue shade, whereas on the actual thing it looked much more blue and unified. Furethermore with the picture, you could really feel the texture and the technique

I montaged my work into a gallery space, into a home detached and attached so everyone could see what it would look like in a home, and what my work really looked like.

Going back to my concept, I really like the fact that unintentionally the photographs looked like a universe because even though this might not come through my work and i accept that it may not be what everyone thinks of it. I feel like i have managed to "crystallise the universe", in this way my work was succesfull because I aimed to show a range of domains that humanity wanted to crystallise and what better way than freeze the entire universe. So nothing can decay, beauty last memories too, nothing changes. WE' RE EVERLASTING. 

By having gone abstract, I think I managed for everyone to think for themselves even though most of them thought that this looked like the cosmos. However, nothing suggested it, so it was all their personal responses which is what i wanted to achieve.

What could i do better if I had more time? What didn't go so well?

I think i would have liked to show the real crystals to show how i "fooled" the public and show how different it looks from the photographs. I think I could have a better quality camera so I could print in even larger, so the audience could really be plunged in this cosmic world and have an almost immersive experience, because unfortunately i couldn't print huge due to the quality of the image. 

I fail to show the connection with the organic decay I would have liked it to come through. The idea of a performative work, changing everyday was very important for me. Since I choose not to impose my concept on the public, I don't wish to explain my ideas and where the work has come from. For this reason, it would have been much more interesting to suggest this idea directly in my work since now it is almost a "lost concept". I could have included this idea by showing developping crystals or crystallising decaying content. The project would have been much powerful and less decorative

If i grew other crystals I'd like to try dying them with food colouring in the actual process rather than spraypainting them after, this would be more real and perhaps more interesting. 

From my little experiment i realised that I would need the fridge and preferably the freezer for the making of my final piece. Since I wanted to create a "crystal canvas" quite monumental,  I could only have small pieces of wood assembled as opposed to one great canvas because, a big plank would not fit in the fridge/freezer.  I chose to do that, but i knew that the fridge could not be dedicated to my work as it is also needed to store food, so i went to a friends house who had a "cold room" which is basically a massive fridge. I sunk the plank in a shallow box of water put it in the freezer for 10 minutes and then took it out of the box and left it in the cold room for 1 week. I repeated this for the 4 planks and went back to see them after one week. The crystals grew, on each plank they were white and you could still see the wood underneath, if i wanted bigger crystals i should probably have repeated the experiment, but I lacked time. 

I then wanted to add colours, and spraypainted them. I was scared at first that the spraypaint would take the whole shiny aspect away but luckily it didn't.

So i've chose to create an abstract crystal canvas. 

Now I have to choose which crystals I'd like to make since borax is illegal i've tried to order in on ebay but never arrived. There is Epsom salt/magnesium sulfate crystals or Alum crystals. 

I ordered both on amazon and tried them out. It was very difficult to get around the technique. Most article recommended sun in order for the water to evaporate slowly but it was raining and very cold so this couldn't work. I first tried to experiment on skulls that i bought in an antique store, I boiled the water added the epsom salt inserted my skulls and waited 1 day. This experiment failed, I think i put too much water and there was no sun since or heat since it was in my basement. Also, i read later that the bowl needed to be shallow, and that I didn't do. Also, i noticed on the epsom salt package that it was meant for bathing and soothing. I think that if the epsom salt is meant to disolve in the water than it is going to be difficult to crystallise. All the experiments I did with the epsom salt failed so i chose to try with alum

I retried the process but then put the hot water in the beaker directly in the freezer for 10 minutes and then in the fridge for 24 hours. This worked eventually, i got a crust of crystals and remained a little bit of water that i drained in order to get solid crystals. 

I also wanted to see if the experiment worked with evaporation. Since I didn't have any sun or heat outside, I put a verry little hot water and the alum in the plastic beaker directly in the oven. I left it 5 minutes and when i opened the oven, i noticed that the plastic melted too resulting in extremely hot temperatures. As soon as i took it out, and let it cool some crystals started forming very quickly on the surface of the plastic (since there was no water left due to quick evaporation). During the cooling process, the crystals were very interesting however once cooled they weren't shiny or pleasing, they looked like dried glue.

After having decided that I was going to change direction. I went back to my initial brainstorm in order to focus on what the project was really about, and what was important for me. 

I realised that it was important for me to express the range of aspects that we want to crystallise. Crystallise the process, beauty memories..... And by creating barbies and dolls I've focused too much on one aspect, even though crucial. I noticed too that while noting down my ideas, that the work was more about the "concept" of crystallising, as in the process rather then the objects we want to crystallise. The fact that we want to crystallise, and keep everything everlasting.

 Secondly, for the objects humanity wants to crystallise. I will mainly base this on my own experience and therefore it will not apply to everyone. However I wish for my work to apply to everyone. 

WHAT MUST BE IN MY PROJECT: 

1) Everyone needs to connect to it in different ways

2) It has to represent the range of different thing humans want to crystallise

3) It is more about the process "crystalising" then the objects that we want to crystallise.

4) I want to keep the process of crystallisation

It was evident that I should go abstract. It was the only way for everyone to connect to it in different ways and give different meanings to my work, without distracting them with eclectic objects.  By going abstract, i will show one thing and a range, and focus more on the process rather tan the objects. As what will really come out of my work is the technique more than the concept. Moreover, this way I do not have to impose my own suggestion into my artwork because it will not be figurative, the public will focus more on their thoughts rather than on mine. Instead of asking themselves "what is she trying to say" they will ask to themselves "what does this tell me? " what does this represent for me? " 

I think using clay models and barbies are too cliché, 

Performing artist such as Clara Macias for instance, lay in the middle of the barbies, other artist such as Michael John Hunter creates huge naked barbies and puts them in the street, then photograph them so they appear small. Barbies have been a recuring theme to illustrate women complex of beeing perfect. Barbies are cliché themselves, Tall skinny blond women with blue eyes, it is such a cliché to represent the femine gender. If I choose the barbies, then I opt for my work to be exploring those cliches. However, I believe this is not what my work is about, If i choose barbies i feel like my work is going to be about feminism and women roles in society. This theme also recuring has been explored by me in part 2, so I do not want to fall in the same domain as I was. 

Secondly, the idea of a cabinet of creating a cabinet of curiosity with every box representing each thing that the human wants to crystallise, is not a good one. After reflecting, I think that so many objects would distract the public, instead of "thinking". People will wonder what that object is, and be ammused by my work, they will go around observing every objects rather than think of my work for its whole idea. In order to convey something and create something with my work and the audience i wish to keep my work simple and focused. 

Louise Nevelson work which I went to see at the tate gallery permanent exhibition was quite powerful. And very inspiring for my own work since i want to create a cabinet of curiosity.

She uses several wooden box apply objects and unify them with one colour. I like the idea of creating a monochrome, because it makes the artwork more structured. Especially since i would like to express an opinion on the idea that humans wants to make aspects of their life last forever. Creating a focus color would help the audience figure out that it is all connected and part of one point. Otherwise, if for instance i would like to illustrate memories through "books" and then beauty through "boobs" it will be hard to see the connection between these two objects without a background story. I do not wish to explain my artwork i would prefer the public to go on an "internal journey" and figure out the meaning of my artwork for themselves, or interpret it in their own way. 

The laundry powder did not work out, so I thought i would try something much more basic. The artist Sigalit Landeau plunge her work in the dead sea, and when she takes them out. One month later.

I wanted to try substitute the borax crystals recipe with salt, it is also possible to grow some crystals with sugar and salt and vinegar but I did not like the effect.  

I boiled the water and slowly added the table salt until it was fully saturated, i could see that it was fully saturated because some salt fell at the bottom. I then put my barbie in the water. And left it overnight to cool down.

Two days later, nothing happened. The salt was at the bottom,  and the water was cold on top. There wasn't any trace of crystals.

I evaluated my technique and came to the conclusion that this didn't work like because

1) The salt was not the same as the same as the dead sea salt

2) Sigalit Landeau left the work for 2 month, whereas I left it for 2 days.

3) The water evaporates in the dead sea due to the sun and heat, whereas mine doesn't

4) I did it in plastic bucket.

Next time i will try to improve my  technique. However, one of the mains problems were impossible to overcome in order to do some salt crystallisation. I do not have the timeframe (2 months)  nor do i have thr dead sea sea salt to reproduce the experiment. For this reason, I think I will not use table salt again. I discovered that borax was illegal in the UK, hence why it never arrived to my destination. This obviously is a problem as i was planning to do all my art with borax. Borax substitute exists in the UK though, but crystals do not work as well. 

I ordered borax online and it took a week for it to come, so I started experimenting with salt and laundry powder, and both. I have collected 22 barbies from different charity shops, as I thought they represented well beauty.  My aim is to crystallise them as a first experiment. I tried to try to crystallise them in an other way, with salt and sugar. The experiment didn't workout very well, but I took a series of interesting pictures from them. 

I wanted to take my experiment furether by making my own models of the idea of beauty. This is for me breasts, a bum and eyes. With clay I tried to portray them and then frost them in water.  I also went out, in cafes and started drawing old ladies, one of them I imagined her body after drawing the face from life. I wrote underneath "Beauty fades". 

I like the effect, but I think that the rendering with the barbies is more interesting. 

If we assume that crystallising, means keeping something "everlasting". What do we wish to last nowadays? 

If there was one thing, you could crystallise what could it be. For some people it would be beauty hence why they do plastic surgeries,( lifting and  botox) for others it would be relationships hence why they marry,  for others it would be memories hence why they exercise it... 

What would you crystallise? I want to use beauty, as i believe it is the main worry of our civilisation; aging, dying and decaying. 

I perhaps, will start experimenting with barbie dolls, as they are the symbol of beauty. It would be interesting to crystallise their beauty forever

The brainstorm enabled me to figure out exactely what humans wanted to make everlasting. 

I interviewed people around me and asked them "what do you wish remain always the same", my parents said "my youth", my grandparents said "my beauty", some of my friends said "my fitness". They are all related, pretty much everyone wants to keep the face they had in their mid 20s. And a lot struggle with the idea of aging, and therefore slowly reaching the decaying period. We hung so much to beauty these days, and this has become such a problem for some people that they undergo plastic surgeries to get rid of age marks, they do botox to get the illusion that their body is still the same. However, it never is even if we wish. 

I was shocked by the fact that these features has become so important that we envy the lips of Kim Kardashian, the eyebrows of cara delevigne. These celebrities are known also for their features. 

Interested by  curiosity cabinets and their preservation methods. Such animals eyes in jars, dead butterflies in a glass bells...  I wanted to create features that humans wanted to preserve. And then imagined a scenario where i would put these and create an entire cabinet, or conserve them in formol much like damien hirst did with his animals. 

 After having done some research, i noticed that people mostly get surgeries for lips, eyes, nose, and boobs, butt... 

So with airdrying clay and acrylic paint, I created a set of eyes, a mouth, eyebrows and boobs. 

What went well: overall the pictures were quite successfull, however the real life models were too small to be exhibited like that. Next experiment, I will try to create much bigger features. 

Here in the pictures, i've recreated a face, however in another outcome, i'd like to try separating each features and organise them. So for instance, a bowl of boobs, a bowl of eyes. This would represent the quantity of people doing these surgeries each year, and it would be more powerful. 

My aim is to create an entire cabinet of curiosity with all the different things humans wants to preserve. 

Decomposing, is a temporary process, and what if i could make an artwork, imagining to freeze this process forever. So the object decaying will be paused and remain in that state forever. 

After looking at the practical opposite of decaying and human methods. I looked at a freezer, which preserves the undecayable. But I also looked at other methods doing the contrary. In older times, people used salt instead of a freezer. 

From this idea, I studied salt, and where it came from and looked especially at the dead sea. After researching for a while, i discovered a new artist : Sigalit Landeau. 

I then looked at crystallisation

The chemical process of decaying, is a performance in itself, as everyday the element decay. So the decaying happen against time, whatever you can do to stop it. We freeze ingredients, creates undecayable materials, or puts solution, but over an infinite amount of time it decays and there is nothing we can do to stop it apart from buying ourselves time. 

The decaying of a chewing gum for instance is 3 months but for an aluminum can 500 years before full oxidation. At this rate, the earth can be destroyed by pollution more than once. 

However, everything coming from earth, will return to earth. 

Reflecting on the life expectancy increase, and the care we give to old people. I noticed that all of us wants everything to last, for emotional, political, societal, economical (etc.) reasons. 

Politically engagement has been throughout the year a major aspect of my work. I wanted to combine all the interests that had come through this year. I have been interested in involving natural elements as part of my work, for instance i've used apples as canvases or even involved water as a performance. 

Biological and chemical processes are a sort of a performance happening everyday, in nature. It struck me when I thrown a tangerine skin in a garden, everyday I would walk past it and could see it decay. I did it again this time but with a different type of tangerine, I think it was from Tesco. The tangerine skin took much longer before you could see any decaying sign. This shows the difference in preservators. 

This was the starting point of my project, it enabled me to reflect on the basic human wish: make everything everlasting. With the technological progress, we defy the laws of nature: It beeing: We are born, We live , We die. When we die, we decay and return to our original state nothingness. However us humans, we have been playing with this natural process.  We now decide when we want to die, or some can do it for us, we decide how long an ingredient can last, and we create them artificially. Yet, the nature still resist us as even though we can prolongate each phase of life, it still happens one way or another : we birth, we live, we die, we decay. 

What if you could freeze the decaying process forever and make it everlasting? 

After watching Demain, and reading 2050. I have concluded that one of the big issue society is heading to is overpopulation. What is the essence of overpopulation, why it happens? And why does it exist? 

Due to immense progress in technology, we now have a life expectancy of 81.60 years old whereas in 1960 we were at 71.13 years old. This means that in 58 years old our life expectancy has gained ten years, and at this expanding rate, by 2050 we will almost reach the century. A majority of the population will be over 50, meaning that our world will end up beeing ruled by the old. In fact, it is already happening, think of Brexit, the decision of leaving was decided by the old as a majority of them voted out.