The Beautiful and the Absurd

I am entering the final stages of my last project of the year at uni. The project is entitled The Beautiful and The Absurd. I started by looking at things that I find beautiful on this planet such as animals and human beings and seeing the absurdities and atrocities that surround them.

After gathering some initial images I have decided to base this project around Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The Chinese have a vast history full of many controversial traditions, for example, white seahorses are sold as an ingredient for medicinal recipes which is posing threat to the survival of the species.

In this project I aim to research further into Traditional Chinese Medicine, predominantly the beliefs and issues that surround the use of animals and the consequences this has on the environment and the animals themselves.

This will also allow me to continue my exploration of the use of animal by-product as a material when experimenting and designing.

While researching I discovered that there are Tiger farms in Asia which uses the animals body parts for ingredients in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

This along with the poaching problems and their habitats lost is pushing Tigers into extinction.

The following images are shocking but they also motivated me to want to display a message in my work.

So I started by making wax models that will be used to make a plaster mold for slip casting.

The objects i chose to cast are more simplified but I thought this one was quite sculptural and shows how I got my inspiration quite clearly. 

The images that I have found over this project have been shocking and sickening but also eye-opening to the cruelty going on in this world.

It causes me confront personal dilemmas, as well as issues surrounding my practice. I love using animal by-product in my work, as I see it as natural and beautiful but am I promoting these markets if I buy fur for example.

At the start of this project I bought a number of materials, including sting ray skin, fur and beetle wings. Now, reaching the end of this project I feel that if I continue to use these 'products' Am I jus being a huge hypocrite?

I would like to believe that using the materials i choose, will encourage others to see the natural beauty of the material, and in turn this may change their opinions. This could foster the fight for change in the treatment of animals around the world, but how can I say that its ok for me to use them to promote my ideas, and yet its wrong for others to sell it for their benefit?

I had some stupid thought that using certain materials should be like applying for a Visa to enter a foreign country, you have to prove yourself and your plan of action before you can obtain and use them.