Body Mapping:
A student led research project
Aims of the research:
The reflections by the year 10 textile students on completing the Hair by Hood project drew on topics that pivoted around body image. The main points raised were as follows:
The reflections by the year 10 textile students on completing the Hair by Hood project drew on topics that pivoted around body image. The main points raised were as follows:
- Diversity in the classroom - highlighted through the various textures and differences in the hair samples gathered
- Collaboration through making - bringing people together to explore issues which can then break down cultural and social barriers
- thinking through making
- supporting younger students in discussing body issues
The starting point
To ground the research project the yr 10 textile researchers discussed their experience of the Hair by Hood project with a group of yr 8 students. They visited the ID gallery to experience first hand the hoodie and discuss the issues that had surfaced during the process. Relationships were formed through an ice breaker game of consequences, with the idea to draw the 'perfect' woman's body, which inevitably produced monstrously wonderful results. The sub-text within these images was to question the idea of perfection in society and how discussions through drawing can shift and create space for alternative dialogues to take place.
Thinking through materials
One central aim of the yr 10 textile researchers was to use the making process as a form of thinking which would work with the verbal discussions. One researcher had previously worked with clay in her project and she proposed this material as an interesting material to think 'with'. The malleability of the clay allowed for conversation to literally manipulate the material as well as the material process feed back through the verbal dialogue. The clay therefore not only visualised the ideas of the researchers as to what they 'felt' the idealised feminine form to be, but it also interrupted and suggested narratives. The struggle between making the clay visually represent a perceived mental image produced some discomfort. Having to work through the mistakes and inevitable inaccuracies that the creative process unearths, fed into the struggles for perfection within the researchers bodies. Working in this way created a space where the mistakes formed a common thread between the participants. The mistakes instigated laughter as well as debate.
Activating the Clay
After the figures were made, the students created a feminist placard for their figure. The statements ranged from quotes by Malala Yusafzai to angry statements demanding equality and respect. On viewing the figures after the placards had been added, there was an incongruity between the active statements of the placards and the passive nature of the figures. It became apparent that through the manipulation of the clay to form a figure of a 'perfect' woman, the students had unwittingly also created a collection of passive women. The learnt behaviour of the historically 'perfect' woman, the passive woman that proliferates art history and many advertising campaigns, had filtered into the classroom. This learnt process was witnessed through the bodies and hands of the students when manipulating the clay.
To disrupt the narrative that was playing out through the materiality of the clay, the students reformed their figures. The clay became a tool for disrupting patriarchal ideals. Clay arms became raised holding placards aloft, hands were placed on hips activating the clay person into a forceful and political figure. This act of manipulating the clay supported the students in refiguring their future selves.
It is through the creative act of making that deeply embedded and learnt narratives can be disrupted. The realisation by the researchers that how women are perceived is a learnt narrative, one that seeps into the subconscious and can debilitate the potential of young women, is disrupted through working with the materiality of the clay. Rebecca Coleman (2009) discusses,'A body is not an entity but is a process, is always becoming through the connections it makes with multiple and different bodies'(32). It is the different bodies within the classroom and through the clay making that holds the potential, in this project, to feed into the process and support new 'becomings' of these young women.
To disrupt the narrative that was playing out through the materiality of the clay, the students reformed their figures. The clay became a tool for disrupting patriarchal ideals. Clay arms became raised holding placards aloft, hands were placed on hips activating the clay person into a forceful and political figure. This act of manipulating the clay supported the students in refiguring their future selves.
It is through the creative act of making that deeply embedded and learnt narratives can be disrupted. The realisation by the researchers that how women are perceived is a learnt narrative, one that seeps into the subconscious and can debilitate the potential of young women, is disrupted through working with the materiality of the clay. Rebecca Coleman (2009) discusses,'A body is not an entity but is a process, is always becoming through the connections it makes with multiple and different bodies'(32). It is the different bodies within the classroom and through the clay making that holds the potential, in this project, to feed into the process and support new 'becomings' of these young women.