Figuring Bodies
10 May - 13 June
Online Exhibition
Chloe Smith
Laura Kingston
Ula Kolodziejczyk
Kiran Mahmood
Kate Marszalek
Joe Burdett
Arthur Kingsley-Hawke
Karl Karg
Bethany Jazwinski
Olivia Carlson
Figuring Bodies is one of four online degree shows by third year Fine Art students at Sheffield Hallam University.
The body is the site of different personal and political ‘figuring-outs’ of experiences, feelings, health and socialisation, amongst many more. The works in this online exhibition centre around bodies: how do they act and relate, learn and respond as physical and knowing entities?
More information about the artists can be found towards the bottom of the page.
Her Canvas, GIF loop
Chloe Smith
Revolution – where your value lies, video
Laura Kingston
Beautiful Bodies, digital images
Ula Kolodziejczyk
Puzzling Identities, image printed on puzzles, 40cm x 55cm
Kiran Mahmood
Audacious, painting, 190cm x 140cm
Lurid Moments, pencil sketches, 21cm x 30cm
Kate Marszalek
Body and Mind: A Conflict, mixed media. Dimensions (left to right): 17.3cm x 23.9cm; 18.6cm x 24cm; close-up.
Joe Burdett
Liminal.exe, digital image
Arthur Kingsley-Hawke
Fitness Cells, website and participation work
Images left to right: Cell of [REDACTED], taken from website
Visit the website by clicking here or on either of the images
Karl Karg
Vanity, digital image and oil paintings. Dimensions of oil paintings 42cm x 60cm
Bethany Jazwinski
Enhance, doll heads, each 4cm x 3.5cm
Olivia Carlson
Chloe Smith
Artwork inspired by what society calls flaws on the human body. This piece is influenced by my sister and her confidence issues due to her stretchmarks, something that most people naturally have. The point of this piece is to show the viewers that what are considered to be flaws are something that we should be proud to have them on show.
The stretchmarks are magnified in this piece to also take away the sexualization of the female body, as I just wanted the focus to be the stretchmarks rather than the body shape and size because in the end no matter what size someone is or how their bodies look, we all can relate with common flaws such as the stretchmarks.
Laura Kingston
My work explores what it means to live in today’s society as a woman. My paintings, prints and animations aim to give women’s vices more agency. To do this I highlight feminine qualities to help fight the stigma that surrounds women’s self-expression. For years women’s voices have been ignored and repressed, we are often made to apologise for taking up space, not anymore.
On a personal level, I myself have been assaulted, that’s one of the reasons this topic is so important to me. It shocks and frustrates me how nearly every woman I know has had some form of negative interaction with men, whether that be cat calling, assault or even rape. The fact that this is widely experienced interaction highlights now much of a social problem this is.
To combat the negative stigma around this topic, I use bright colours, florals, figurative and protest elements to show the strength and beauty of feminine spirit in efforts to help others feel empowered.
Ula Kolodziejczyk
My creativity stems from the beauty I see everyday. My focus is to create beautiful and powerful work which can be understood and interpreted by everyone and anyone. I leave my work open to interpretation however, keeping it relatively focused, I hope most people get a similar message.
I have always had a passion for beauty regardless of the form it comes in. I believe the body, in particular the female body, is extraordinary. Each woman so different, yet still sharing so much in common. Common insecurities, problems and daily struggles which come with the label of being a woman.
In my own practice I have always thought of myself as a painter however, working digitally has become extremely important to me. I love the freedom digital work allows for. Able to find the equivalent to any type of paint all on one devise. Physical paint is also very important to me however as a contemporary artist I believe it is important to adapt and create work which is relevant to the current time. With the COVID pandemic spreading worldwide and people becoming more isolated and confined to their home I wanted to create work which can be simply uploaded online and viewed for anybody around the world.
Kiran Mahmood
My Identity has led to a complex life of duality where opposing cultural values of my Pakistani and Western self constantly clash and fuse. Whether I am aware of it or not, ‘otherness’ has been at the center of my consciousness. My artwork is an abstract representation of this, expressed through Anamorphosis; a visual technique which requires the observer to interact with the work and shift their perspective. Despite having my own set of themes and concepts that I use to help build the imagery, I want my work to be inclusive and capable of something larger than myself or one specific narrative.
How do we see ourselves? Our ‘self’ could be seen much like a jigsaw puzzle. Each part of the whole contributes to the picture that your life becomes - Puzzling Identities.
Kate Marszalek
Kate is a Fine Art student that focuses on the Importance in body language, studying how we evolved and developed our communicative skills over the years and how our bodies contributed to that. Alongside focusing on body expression and why that is important in the way we are portrayed and understood as people.
Vocal Physiques are a series of paintings and drawings that help stimulate the idea of being spoken without speaking, creating a feeling of what the body in the images are expressing and thinking.
Joe Burdett
The work I create explores the concept of gender conformity and more specifically, my personal experience of gender dysphoria and identity. Before producing any piece of work, I tend to take the time to consider what it is I find important. I use art as a cathartic remedy for my deepest pains and also as a celebration of my happiest moments. To focus artistically on (what for me, is such a personal subject having directly impacted and shaped my life), in a way that visually exploits my most vulnerable self, is ultimately the driving force behind my practice- what gives it the passion it requires and which I intend to deliver.
As my practice focuses so heavily on the personal, I am forever inspired by work which captures the complex strength and fragility of the human psyche. Thematically, my work intends to express evocations of emotional juxtaposition, visually experimenting with nuanced markings and brushstrokes in an attempt to reflect the intricacies of the entangled and mouldable human condition. Through a selection of processes, my practice blurs the borders between photography and painting in a way which fascinates my own interest; combining two of my most preferred mediums.
For this exhibition, I wanted to include a small collection of works which pin the personal to the wall. Working as a series rather than independent entities, the pieces I have chosen to present, aim to convey some of the more refined, visual concepts I have been developing throughout my art practice as a whole.
Arthur Kingsley-Hawke
My practice primarily focuses on digital illustration and digital painting with the goal of exploring the idea of self and identity, while also dealing with a personality disorder, gender dysphoria, and schizophrenia. While my work started initially as being educational, it has evolved to become autobiographical and depicting my journey into self acceptance and catharsis. Questions I explore in my work tend to revolve around how to navigate living in a metaphorical liminal space while waiting for NHS waiting lists; both for neurodivergency and for medical transitioning, and how this waiting period affects other aspects of my life.
Karl Karg
Through the hardships of living in lockdown, I had a vision to create a way of showing people stuck in their rooms through a website (I want it to be accessible to anyone and for them to have an equal experience even while in lockdown). However, I realised that in doing so, it created a gloomy atmosphere around my work, which was far from what my intentions were.
So, I came up with the idea to create a fitness theme around the work, to add an element of something that I enjoyed doing personally and remove any negative feelings, adding a bit of comedy to my art.
The hope is to inspire people by placing (Photoshop) a famous athlete in their "Cell" (a Cell is a university student's bedroom), to allow them to see that they can achieve greatness, even while isolated. It is also communicating the trapped feelings people get, almost like a prison and the feelings of being controlled, or in a way, "forced" to stay in their rooms.
Some people may not be too inspired by the images, but a good giggle never hurt anyone, the absurdity of a famous athlete training with everyday objects is quite an entertaining image especially while in a docile environment. Something light-hearted is what we need at a time like this.
The end goal of the project is to make people understand that they are not alone. It's to show them that they are in the same position as many other people, so as to dissuade them from giving up, which is something I was on the brink of doing! We are social animals, when you feel down, others will too, socialise through any means possible, that is the objective.
https://karlkarg.wixsite.com/fitnesscells
Bethany Jazwinski
Bethany Jazwinski is an artist who focuses on examining feminist theories and scrutinising how contemporary art explores this in relation to 1970s theorists. Her work has a specific focus on the male gaze which is prevalent throughout her practice. She works across mediums exploring the relationship between the graphic and the vague, and uses reductive techniques to express her investigation into signifying the female form.
Olivia Carlson
Inspired by both contemporary fine artists, such as Wim Delvoye, tattoo artists, like Amanda Wachob, and my own desire to be a tattoo artist my work explores concepts surrounding tattoos. Can they be considered art? What is our definition of art? Could that definition be changing? For ‘Enhance’ I wanted to exhibit tattoos in a new light by exploring the juxtaposition of tattoos on baby doll heads. I also wanted to explore the enhancement of the body through the patterns on the heads. Overall, through my work, I aim to explore the ways in which tattoos can enhance the body visually, how they can become a narrative tool, the true permanence of tattoos, and overall illustrate the art of tattoos.