The Burden of Beauty

'The Burden' 2012

Bone china, silver, binding wire.

Photography Olga Vonderenko

When starting the major project I was interested in exploring the ‘perfect’ body. I wanted to see its evolution and differences from culture to culture. About a month into the project I became very concerned with the monotony of the western media, depicting idealised versions of beauty, which comes with the perfect body, flawless skin, glossy hair and a vulnerable attitude etc.  

In my view this has become mundane. Are we to aspire to fiction? Should we all loose weight, whiten our teeth; pump our bodies full of silicone and Botox just to look like the airbrushed girl on the magazine cover?

'The Burden' 2012

Bone china, silver, binding wire.

Photography Olga Vonderenko

I was inspired to make a necklace that confronts our desires for conventional beauty.

Taking on the form of a traditional pearl necklace but oversized to hinder the wearers movement, to give a feeling of shackles and chains. An analogy of what women put themselves through to meet the aesthetic demands of their society.

'The Burden' 2012

Bone china, silver, binding wire.

Photography Olga Vonderenko

The beads are high fired, plain bone china. They are cast from a mold to give a repeated circular form. This repetition illustrates conformity, an issue that I wish to address with my work.

Finished Brooches

I finished my project with 6 brooches that were inspired by body modification, this stemmed from my research into tribal culture but also delved into the present body modification fashions present in western cultures.

When thinking back on my research, I still found the look of the body modification present in tribal culture alluring. The mutation of the body interests me and I enjoy how it looks. The issue surrounding body modification is choice. If the person chooses to want a stretched lip, nipple, ear lobe etc, which is now popular in most western cultures, a contemporary tribal look can be obtained. This was the main inspiration for my brooch series, as well as the curves and rolls found in women with healthy voluptuous bodies, unlike those often featured in the media.

These are my six final brooches:

The choice of materials for the brooches enabled me to easily sculpt a fragile form that can then become harder skinned. The plastic coating can be altered in thickness with more applications. When used on the porous foam, the first application leaves a pinhole texture on the surface, somewhat like pores on the skin. With a second application the finish is smoother and more resilient. I also used more of the plastic to create lumps on the surface in a few of the pieces, as part of my exploration of research was to examine the flaws that a lot of us share but is airbrushed out in the media. My idea is to make things that are deemed ugly and unattractive like rolls and lumps to be turned into something individual and intriguing.

These are some of the images that influenced my final pieces.

 Necklace by Genne Laasko- Demark

 Images by Jenny Saville 

Various contemporary body modifications.