Art 'n' shit.

I've been exploring the concepts of Identity and Self (and to a lesser degree, Emotion) through art since the second year of my degree back in 2002-3. Since then, I have discovered the works of a Scottish philosopher and sceptic whose theories about the self, about personal identity and about emotion all resonate with me fantastically. David Hume was an 18th century philosopher firmly in the bundle theory camp - that is, he believed that the notion of the self over time was untenable and that what we are instead is a bundle of perceptions at any given point. His work on emotion (the Passions) comes to this conclusion - that emotions are reflective (as in, internal) impressions.

Assuming both of these ideas to be inherently true, then a stunning revelation (stunning to me, at any rate) can be made: If all we are is a collection of perceptions AND our emotions are a perception, an impression of internal reflection THEN our self at any given time can be depicted as merely a reflection of our emotional state.

Emotional states can fracture people and their personalities, however. Strength can often be found in those who fight to pull themselves together, even when they fail. The Cubists fractured images and objects and reassembled them from different viewpoints in an abstract manner to further explore and achieve a greater understanding of the subjects. The Japanese view breakage and repair as part of an object's history and story, they embrace the flawed and imperfect (Kintsugi).

This ties in with my goals as an artist: to explore and achieve a greater understanding of the Self, of Identity, of Emotion by embracing the flawed and imperfect and making it beautiful once more. I hope to take the viewer on a journey of reflection and inspire in them the desire to love themselves fully for whomever they may be...

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In addition to this I would like to raise awareness of mental health issues and in doing so reduce the stigma around talking about it. I hope to achieve this through an art and social practice series of pictures, made up from images I take and images people send me together with a brief questionnaire which I will then interpret into the title and background of the piece.