#3 Testing, speculating and exploring Nothing

monoprints 

In these samples I simply intended to utilise the characteristic of monoprints to produce incidental marks from hand burnishing a found block of wood. The wood grain and chiselled gauges revealed an unremarkable relief print. The value in this print was negligible but contrastingly created an opportunity to develop the image's nothingness. Mimmo Paladino's extemporisation print series informed my approach in using masks to create further layers of interest. The 'OH' is an ironic reaction of surprise for the resulting image. The thinness of the tissue paper increases the dismissive value of the print. 

Mimmo Paladino extemporisation 1997

To extend and extemporise my prints further I decided to combine a preparatory charcoal figure drawing informed by an extract from Sarah Kane's 4:48 Psychosis play. The protagonist is searching for a way out of depression but sees nothing when the metaphorical hatch of therapeutic intervention opens. The upwards looking stance and the bland, staring eyes implies a sense of nothingness. This imagery combined with the limited value of the relief print created a layer of possibility. 

The inclusion of a figure is something I would want to develop in my response to the project. The inclusion of a figure would add an autobiographical and literary layer to the work. The feeling of worthlessness is a topical factor in today's society. The staggering statistic that one in four people nationwide will suffer a mental health disorder at some point in their lives is having a significant impact on today's society. Our value as worthy humans is not nothing, it is definitely something. The resulting ghost image revealed suggests erasure; it is however an addition other than a subtraction.