What It Is To See Inside

"Now then now then"

I felt it was probably about time to introduce a few of my inspirations. Normally, my ideas just come to me in a strange vision but there are a few constants which I always look to for inspiration and general well being. I have had it said to me that these inspirations are fairly evident throughout my work, making it what it is. I like to think they give it all a touch of true quirkiness within the boundaries of my own imagination.

Image of film director Jean-Pierre Jeunet

I am one of these people who love a good cultural film. I have a bit of a 'penchent' for French cinema in particular and Jeunet is definitely one of my favourites. Amelie is the most well known, and my most influential film, that he has directed. I occasionally treat the film as a bit of a bible, to be honest. I love the way of life she leads and the sepia tinted views that rule everyday. The fact that it is all completely unrealistic seems to pass me (wearing rose-tinted glasses) by. Delicatessen is another Jeunet film I absolutely love. It is much more sinister than Amelie in plot but still holds a similar charm. A particular scene with the main character and the shop owners wife checking the squeaky bed springs is particularly memorable, and incredibly well choreographed.

Image of Jacques Tati in character as Monsieur Hulot in Mon Oncle

Much as I love Jeunet, my favourite of all favourites is Jacques Tati. Mon Oncle, in particular, never fails to make me smile and is the one film (along with episodes of Spongebob Squarepants, oddly enough) that I watch when I need cheering up. It brings out my 'old fashioned' side and reminds me that the simple pleasures in life are often the best, removing any unnecessary complications made by new technology. And yes, I do struggle with technology! I think the main things that truly inspire me about Tati's films are his simplified way of showing you that some things don't need to change. Hulot himself hardly speaks in the films, he is virtually a mute (similar to Mr Bean in that respect) leaving most of his simple humour down to odd facial expressions and strange physical bumblings. Watching the other characters around him get infuriated with his simplistic ways just adds to the humour. Hulot's films make me long to live in 50s and 60s France.

Yes, that's right, this is me. Image of my first birthday and a damn fine cake made by my mum!

"Alright alright, this is here for a reason y'know..."

This hilarious image from all those years ago (I was born in '87 so this must be '88) represents my childhood. I feel I had a truly fantastic childhood and have so many bizarre and hilarious memories, which I quite frequently draw upon to use in my work. Luckily, my Dad fancies himself as a bit of a photographer so I have a lot of photos of things we did when we were younger, which makes for great research images. I count myself as being very lucky to have such a solid family, and my Mum is a living legend. My memories of my childhood revolve around really small things like the smell of the tin I used to keep my spelling words in at school and the plastic cups we used to have (visible on the table in the picture above) with pink hippos on. These are the kind of invaluable memories that a lot of people lose but, for some reason, I seem to have an incredibly good memory for really small and insignificant things and am quite grateful for it. One other memory I must mention is me and my sister dressing up as rabbits using 3 pairs of knitted white tights; one for legs, one for arms and one on the head for long, dangling tubular ears. 

"We were obviously very imaginative as children"

One of my research photo from my Final Collection

I feel this interest I have in my childhood greatly affects the choices I make within my work. For example I generally choose things such as toys (above) or baking (below) to use as some form of inspiration. I love the innocence and naivety of my work and ideas as it really allows me to explore my themes much more as they hold such personal reference. A lot of people describe me as being quite young and naive. I don't necessarily think this is the case but I can understand why they might think that, and to be honest I don't feel it's a particularly bad thing. 

Oh yea, I must point out I make damn good cakes.

Photo of some gingerbread men me and my friend made.

(It was her idea to put boobs on them)

"I gave myself tummy ache cos I ate too many of them..."

I use a lot of my own photography in my work as it lets me see things in a different way than just ripping things off of google and such. Plus it's also quite satisfying looking through a load of photos you've taken that day, sitting down to edit them and print them out. Plus, as I mentioned before, I love memories, and there is no better way to preserve memories than in a photo.

My photo of a small fishing boat on Deal beach

My photo of a baby running around the boats on Deal beach

The images above were for a research project I did in the summer, 2007. I took a few good photos that day and got some really high contrast images of clouds. The two above are a couple of my favourites from that day. Deal beach holds a lot of memories for me as my Nana lives there. As children we used to go and stay with her once or twice a year and, other than Christmas and my Birthday, it was the one thing in the year I really looked forward to. I guess I wanted to preserve these memories in a more idealistic manner which is what inspired me to take these images in this way.

 

One of my photos of a Crab Spider

"So... what's this White Balance business again?"

I tend to call this 'the sneaky crab spider' as originally I was just taking photos of the flowers and didn't even realise the spider as there. He was probably watching me intently with all eight eyes. This one was taken after I found he was there. It is mush more focused on the spider, rather than in the initial images, where I was oblivious. And I hate spiders.

I suppose the only other thing left for me to mention right now is my absolute obsession with reading. I personally feel it should be compulsory to read books. It's such a personal thing to do and really allows you to be imaginative within someone else's story. I don't really have many favourite authors as such, I just appreciate a good story. I love Philip Pullman's Dark Materials, I like a good Steinbeck book and I have recently discovered Iain Banks and Haruki Murakami. Some of the best books I have read are the Adrian Mole series by Sue Townsend, they are truly hilarious. I think the best way to get into book is through recommendations, although I do occasionally buy a book if it has a nice cover. Whoops.

All images subject to copyright