Word Instillation Art

Hi Everyone!

This summer I attended a short Art and Design course at Central Saint Martins (University Of The Arts London). As our first assignment, we were asked to produce a piece of artwork based on the title ‘Identity’. This subject choice was rather difficult to tackle because as an individual, I believe that I am constantly in a state of change. Whether physically, mentally and of course spiritually, I feel that everyone is evolving. This lead me to explore the different factors that contribute to the development of a person’s identity, instead of solely focusing on my own individuality.

Amongst all the brainstorming for ideas, the word that stood out to me was ‘society’. Society is vital in determining how a person grows. Not only does society influence behaviour, it shapes individuals. People like abiding by the status quo and many are pressured in various ways as well as coerced into following conventional, stereotypical social ‘norms’. This strips people off of their individuality, and perhaps gives way to all types of identity crisis. I am not a professional of any sort, but for this project I encouraged myself to step out of my comfort zone and dig into a contemporary issue.

I decided to plan as little as required as I wanted to see where my imagination would take me. My chosen word became;

SPECIFICATION – An act of identifying something precisely or of stating a precise requirement.

For me, the word perfectly summarised the pressures of ‘fitting in’ and need to act a certain way because it is considered ‘the norm’. I had a lot of fun creating the word installation, as I had never done one before. It was refreshing to have an experimental approach to art, not caring whether you made a mess but just letting your zeal for creativity take control.