Counter Monuments
Just like statues on plinths towering above you in traditional monuments, counter monuments can have towering affect but one that is rather concerned with relating to the public (the many rather than a few), one that is perhaps more about addressing real and often forgotten complex social issues past and present rather than the banal celebration and commemoration of the past from an often limited perspective, one that is exclusive and not inclusive and one that demands the public's distant gaze but does not afford them closeness or invites active participation.
In this present climate and for the foreseeable future, I find myself drawn to creating counter or anti monuments for the above reasons and also for the scope of anti-monuments in creating inclusivity and encouraging active public participation rather than the hegemony of the past.
Instead of dreaming up monuments set in stone disregarding any change external to them, I am inclined towards ephemeral monuments serving as a present moment in time but also offering a scope for change and shifts in conception more akin with real external political, social and cultural shifts globally and locally.
Situations and Locations
I would like to approach both those terms from an open and inclusive perspectives.
The situations are those relating to people, other living organisms, cultures, politics and the Arts. My anti monument is predominately about care and responsibility, ideas of equality and understanding. They highlight real challenges that are situational but also offer opportunities for commemoration and celebration of the 'Other'. A voice for all those without one due to their situation.
In location, I am interested in place-making as a platform where actions are performed daily, actions which sometimes have far reaching consequences (both negative and positive) on the futures of these locations and all their inhabitants.
Since the beginning of a movement for globalisation, I am reminded more of the butterfly affect and why it is now more important than ever to consider what monuments we choose to have in the places we and others inhabit and we affect and are affected by them.
Here, in this series, I have chosen to reflect on an ongoing social issue that is affecting Muslim women in Britain and beyond and that is concerning the wearing of the face covering veil in particular and the head and shoulder but not face covering hijab in general. (Please refer to my project brief, context and aims under 'Work').
As I mentioned in my effort to contextualise the work, I use this topic of the veil/hijab as a point of reference to wider issues that are concerned with ethnicity, minority groups, religion, our depiction of history, exclusion and the problems faced by many regions around the globe at achieving proper social cohesion.
Being a woman and of both Muslim and ethnic background myself, I have chosen to address in my monument a subject that fulfils both terms, situation and location on a personal level and also as a point of departure for the discussion of many issues facing us today, especially representations of the 'Other'.
1. Women and Society
This is an ongoing project and I will be writing more as I conduct more research and test ideas.
Below are a series of digital sketches of my ideas to date. These sketches comprise of imagined locations for plecement of work and also the utilties used to dispaly the work. I am interested in the rold of new and digital media in the future of art and the possibilities of new ways of representation and display and here I focus on 'Digital Display Screens' currently found in most cities and also at roadsides.
