April Already!

Where does the time go? I have no idea, I have been working and recording my progress with my phone over the last few months, unfortunately it broke and I lost all my photos to the CLOUD...

So my plan of sharing the work as I create went out the window.Unfortunately, I still have not learnt my lesson, as I have continued taking photos with my phone when in my studio because my proper camera is not ever with me at the time, and I am always losing my phone.

One of the most recent pieces that I have been working on can be seen in the following series of photos (taken with my phone). I started off with a drawing of a young female which I had done a while ago, I enlarged it, changed her hair and transferred the drawing onto Egyptian cotton fabric.Having done some research before, I had an idea of what I wanted this piece to say,

I then began painting the skin tone and creating a 70's inspired Afro hairstyle which is supposed to be my way of connecting my ideas of old and new  (knowing that the Afro has been around for a long time even though it is back in fashion again).


I then painted the face with patterns and colours inspired from an ngady mask also known as a Kuba royal mask thought to represent the hardships of women and traditionally worn by men.







I used the bold patterns and the rich earthy colours from the mask directly onto the face to connect them. My design also includes a halo in the shape of a question mark which encourages the viewer to question this fusion (African mask with the 70,s Afro on a young woman's face) with  the strong contrasting patterns of her dress and the background. I often use the halo in my work to convey a Christian iconic connotation.



The contrasting fabric and background patterns, the painted mask patterns and the modern/ 70's hair are juxtaposed to create tension which can be interpreted as pulling these differences apart or fusing them together.This fusion of past and present can strengthen the image of the young woman depicted  and can be representative of the modern young black woman.

 

The final photo shows a detailed image of the piece in the early stages of quilting, 

I will post an image of the finished piece when I complete it. I have used Jacquard paints, Markal paint sticks and Madeira thread for this quilt.