Throughout my artistic practice, my concepts have primarily been focused on the transformation of the female form and the societal taboos which surround bodily abjection. The work produced in my first semester explored the physical boundaries of the body and this idea continued into the second semester where my work considered how different materials and modern technologies can alter one’s external appearance. This project revealed the impact of cosmetic surgery, the construction of a fabricated persona and the ways in which the modern world relies on artificiality. Much of these investigations were founded on the concepts of transhumanism and the emergence of posthumanism; the posthuman amalgamates modern medicine, technology and human biology to create an ideal human being (i.e. a human which is aesthetically pleasing, strong, healthy and arguably ‘better’ than our current state of being).

The development of my project experimented with a range of mediums including body paint, make-up artistry, photography, film, and performance art. Feminist performance art was one of the most important inspirations for the evolution of my artistic practice. Much of my photographic work depicts myself as the performative focus, ensuring that the project is inherently personal. While examining notions of abjection, it was important to abject my own body by using materials and processes that are generally perceived as disgusting or unhygienic (i.e. meat, blood, surgery, mutation etc). Through this unorthodox approach, I was able to experience abjection first-hand, in addition to refuting the societal construct of the female ideal.  Ultimately, the purpose of this project aimed to expose the artifice of modern beauty as a farce, which enables female idealism and disguises our true abject nature.

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