Gravity

Mixed Media

─────

Preparatory Work & Visual Experimentation

Exploring the concept of gravity with 'Object, Image and Space', I investigated how weight, movement and materiality interact with each other.

I first looked at how gravity influences my personal surroundings, by isolating objects such as hanging towels, clothes and other materials from their contextual space and analysing the lines created naturally by the effect of weight and gravity. I then chose to look at weight, in terms of its distribution in a space and the ways I can visually represent them through drawing.

Movement and motion is another integral part of research when it comes to linking gravity with an object that is dropping. I captured the miniscule moments in time when dropping an object or material and delved into the images that were produced in the process of the release, the short moments of falling, and the final impact when it reaches a surface.

Plaster Dipping

For the sculptures, I mainly used muslin cloth and plaster to carry out plaster dipping. I aimed to solidify the images of the material falling in a three-dimensional way.

High Speed Camera Work

I created some slow motion videos using the high speed camera, recording how objects such as cloth, jelly, eggs and non-Newtonian fluids such as ‘oobleck’ would respond differently to gravity.

Final Body of Work

Crystallising the in-between images of falling objects, I aimed to combine my digital media work with my plaster sculptures to form a projection installation piece.

As I wanted spectators to experience what it would be like to have gravity presented in a different way, I decided to hang my pieces in a reversed order and flipped all my pieces to face the

ceiling. Through this experience, I would like them to question the role of gravity, in a physical and mental sense, and process the unfamiliarity.

For my final video outcome, I used jelly and frozen jelly as I wanted to see how a gelatinous and clear material would respond to the dropping. Going through many attempts using different sizes of the jelly, I also experimented with lighting and perspective.

I recorded the sounds of jelly and plaster being dropped, and infused the two sounds together. I specifically chose to use this combination of sound as it not only mirrors my plaster sculptures, but also produces a great sense of juxtaposition due to the hardness of plaster paired with a visually gelatinous image.

Experimental Architecture

I produced some collages and sketches of experimental architectural spaces as a final development of my project. I reimagined my early sketches and images of falling materials as architectural structures and found the outcome to be intriguing, as the original organic shapes have been transformed into more rigid structural forms.