My PhD research at AUB uses drawing to re-frame moments where garments are being discarded by female characters in narrative film of the 1950s and 60s. Through the range of drawings, I am exploring different aspects of the selected film excerpts; the tension between the unpredictable movement of garments separated from the body and this as a filmed event, the viewer’s relationship to touch and depth on screen and the materiality of fabric complicated through its mediation on film. Using a combination of close observation and an exploration of the material possibilities for drawing, my current work includes; digital collages and the use of ephemeral materials such as make-up, hand-made silver mirrors that reflect the viewer, change according to the light and position of the viewer and blacken over time, as well as propositions for drawing that endure only as documentary photographs. In my approach that is itself ‘unfixed’, I hope to reflect these interconnected concerns and to reveal in their execution the potential significance of the film excerpts.
Pencil on Duralar
The variety of responses to a momentary film excerpt from Fahrenheit 451 (1966), where a slip and knickers are thrown off the bed by Linda Montag (Julie Christie) indicated the multi-faceted methodology of my thesis The Discarded Garment in Motion in 1950s and 1960s Narrative Film through the Lens of Drawing.
Digital photograph
Silverpoint on prepared paper
Digital print on graph paper
Silver and gold leaf on glass
Digital collage printed on satin
Imprint of garments in powder
Digital cut-out and mirror
