I started experimenting and testing how I would approach building this sculpture/installation by cutting up smaller pieces of tights and building a small structure by my window underneath the actual spider web. Cutting the tights horizontally into little loops then cutting them into a triangular shape and stretching them out. This worked nicely as you can stack them easily on top of each other to mimic a spiderweb.
(Above) Horizontally cutting the tights
(Above) Small experimental structure
After experimenting with the initial design. I carried out the actual project.
(Above) My tally system of tracking anxious thoughts
I tracked my anxious thoughts throughout the week in a tally system in my notebook that I carry with me around Edinburgh. If they occurred in my room, I would immediately add a strand to the growing structure in my room. If they occurred whilst I was out, I used the tally system to keep track of how many I’ve had so when I do get back to my room, I would be able to add the exact amount of strand to the installation.
Whilst going through this process I research the artist Tracy Emin and her installation piece – My Bed – a piece depicting a turbulent time in her life. The installation itself featured her unmade bed, condom wrappers, used drug containers. This piece represented the accumulation of her self destructive actions during that period in her life. Some mornings when I wake up and I glance over at the growing pieces of the “web”, I think to myself, what is it if not an accumulation of my failing faith in myself and the choices I make. In making that connection, I decided that this piece is not a sculpture, is an installation/performance piece, where the found object I’m working with is as much the socks as my anxious thoughts.
My Bed 1998 Tracey Emin born 1963 Lent by The Duerckheim Collection 2015 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/L03662
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