Artist Statement

The main concept behind the works is the use of music and interpretation, along with the idea of reactions and sensations for the viewer. I have always been interested in making music, especially on piano and guitar. The works have centred on me as the main character, as this is a personal journey I have taken from Western music through to cultures that I had not previously explored.
Much of the work is presented through video, as this was the best way to communicate ideas and themes of performances. The guitar performance was based on my love of music, and the use of space and character, inspired by Vanessa Beecroft (Beecroft, 2017). This bought about the uncomfortable sensations for the audience, and the sense of unconventionality with the audience and me sitting in an art department, singing. This then led me into the works of John Smith (Smith, 1976), who captures the everyday movements people, and the making of Untitled [Singing film], whereupon people were filmed singing their favourite song in unconventional places.
Culture was then an influence upon the works as I looked into the makings of Chinese opera. Those such as Mulan Psalm (Mulan Psalm, 2008), Butterfly Fairy Tale (Butterfly Fairy Tale, 2015) and The Drunken Concubine (Drunken Beauty, 2013) heavily influenced me as I then produced my own opera in the spoken word. Masks in Chinese opera are specifically designed for each character, which colours and lines having a distinct meaning including white for treachery and yellow for ambitious (Ark, 2014). The design of my own masks reflects these meanings for each character, with my own characters having the characteristics of loyalty and ambition, painted in accordance of these rules. In the initial videos, Sylvie Fleury was a large influence as the speaker determined the character, much like in her work where the music determines this (Fleury, 2014).
Themes within Chinese music and opera include that of romanticism, manipulation and mistaken identity. The creation of the spoken word came from the appropriation of lyrics from songs including Zui Lang Man De Shi (The Most Romantic Thing) (Chao, 2012) and operas such as The Old Man in the Moonlight (“The Old Man in the Moonlight”, n.d.). Each of these contained the aforementioned themes and was individually performed to. Through these scenes, I wanted to create the sensation that the viewer was walking into something that felt personal, such like the earlier performance. This was inspired by scenes within The Cowherd and the Weaving Maid (“The Cowherd and the Weaving Maid”, n.d.) and The Old Man in the Moonlight (“The Old Man in the Moonlight”, n.d.), both Cantonese operas.
During the progression of these films it was found that there was little connection to the original theme of music, and the visual aspects of Chinese opera. With the inspiration of the operas Butterfly Fairy Tale (Butterfly Fairy Tale, 2015), English Monkey King (English Monkey King, 2015) and Lady White Snake (The Tale of the White Snake, 2014), traditional Chinese music and clips were introduced to my interpretation of Chinese opera, with the themes of personal romance and music. Moonlight Cord is displayed in a dark space for practicality and the sense of walking in to something personal.

Blog: www.charlotteabrahamart.wordpress.com

References
Ark, N. (2014). Beijing Opera Masks – Meaning of Colors Used in MasksNouahsark.com. Retrieved 2 November 2017, from http://www.nouahsark.com/en/infocenter/culture/art/opera_masks/meaning.php
Beecroft, V. (2017). VB84. Florence: Uffizi. Retrieved 14 October 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u49cjqsUP-o&t=4s
Butterfly Fairy Tale. (2015). China. Retrieved 20 November 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plzcn2MbAfM
Chao, C. (2012). Zui Lang Man De Shi. Retrieved 12 November 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmeM46a3IDc
Drunken Beauty. (2013). Retrieved 02 November 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvE8cDVBi3I
English Monkey King. (2015). Retrieved 20 November 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=488&v=DFW5Ut-OIco
Fleury, S. (2014). Camino del Sol. Paris: Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac. Retrieved 15 October 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn0wrbVtAqQ
Mulan Psalm. (2008). Wiener State Opera. Retrieved 2 November 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWMB74odD5U&t=269s
Smith, J. (1976). The Girl Chewing Gum. Tate. Retrieved 30 October 2017, from http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/john-smith-girl-chewing-gum
The Cowherd and the Weaving MaidJordan: Popular Chinese Stories. Retrieved 13 November 2017, from http://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/cgi-bin/chopera.pl?taleid=Story211
The Old Man in the MoonlightJordan: Popular Chinese Stories. Retrieved 13 November 2017, from http://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/cgi-bin/chopera.pl?taleid=Story026
The Tale of the White Snake. (2014). Retrieved 20 November 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIB0N6ZkoGI

Ladybird Archiving

The Ladybird Archive is part of the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), University of Reading. The artworks and books are on loan to the university, so long as they are kept archived behind the scenes. MERL do not own these artworks, Ladybird Books Co. still own them – we are simply keeping them. There are over 700 boxes of artwork that have to be checked, counted and re-boxed. The re-boxing process also includes writing what is in each box, and joining boxes together if there is space, or if the boxes are broken. This was to be done with clean and dry hands, in a clean environment. If there were any artworks that were stuck, my supervisor at MERL took them apart, to ensure that no damage was done to the artworks. Each week, for anywhere between two and five hours, this is my role.
The first week I was very excited to be able to handle the artworks. I sorted the boxes that held the original artworks for The Enormous Turnip, through to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Magic Porridge Pot and The Story of Marco Polo, along with many others.
The second week I was able to view the archive where the boxes are being held. This was a wonderful experience as I had never been in an archive before, especially not one that I was working on. In the three weeks that volunteers have been working on the archive, two shelves were cleared as boxes were condensed.
All artworks in the photographs are credited to Ladybird Books.

We even included the packing process on Twitter for the Explore Archives week:

 

Moonlight Cord

After much consideration, and some playing around with Moonlight Dawn, creating a wide range of Moonlight Dawn Experiments, I decided to put all of these elements into one video. I adapted the script from Moonlight Dawn, cutting out parts that I wasn’t sure about when I initially wrote it, allowing myself to quickly create a final Script. This version was only three minutes long, compared to my initial Red Angel Chinese Opera, which was over seven minutes. I also kept the elements of the hair and the mask the same, as these were still portraying the character that I wanted.
I kept with the same music and video clips also as I found it very difficult to not only find other appropriate clips, but also to add them into the video. These clips were suitable to the story and the video itself.

I felt more nervous to perform than usual, and I feel that this may have effected the final piece. Arm movements were not as exaggerated as usual, which did portray some kind of shyness to the camera. I do, however, like the final video as the story and clips fit in well with each other. The sources for which I have used also fit in well with my own story line.

Moonlight Dawn

The final edit of the film was made with music from Traditional Chinese Music, taken off of YouTube, mixed with my own Script, adapted from several traditional Chinese operas and music including; The Old Man in the Moonlight and Zui Lang Man De Shi – The Most Romantic Thing. The mask was used from the last film, Red Angel Chinese Opera, as I felt that these characters were very similar in their experiences of romance.
I found that I was happier with this final edit compared to the final edit of Red Angel, as this version was more Chinese orientated. This was due to the change in the hair style and the added extra of the Chinese music at intervals. I am, however, still slightly unsure of the video due to personal confidence of acting and work, and also the direction of which this could take until comments are made upon the work.

Comments on this piece included that it was still too long. People knew the classic love story, and were quickly finding it boring, and thus I decided on a three minute limit to my next piece. This keeps the story short and sweet, while also being able to add the necessary elements of the opera, without it being an overdose. I also wanted to add in more Chinese music in order to see the cultural effect that it has. Layering on top of this, I would also want to add in black and white clips of Chinese operas, in order to create a clearer link between my own piece and the opera scene. Lastly, I would like to try out the green screen in order to see if I am able to add this into my work, or whether this makes it more difficult to work with.

Red Angel Chinese Opera

I initially planned for my piece to be showing in one of the white rooms of the studios. My mind was quickly changed when I found that the image came up very clear in one of the dark rooms. The projector and speakers were then set up in here for people to view. I originally wanted to display the masks along with the video, however I felt that I could not find an appropriate space for this, and the audience can capture the meaning and beauty in the film.
Editing the video was very quick as the interpretive actions were done in time to the speech. This allowed me to understand the use of getting it right first time during filming, rather than pieces many parts together.
I decided on the name Red Angel as these are some of the most common words in the opera. It is also because red defines bravery, loyalty, positivity and prosperity in a character. The angel part is because they are divine creatures, much like the female character within the story.
Overall, I was happy to research Chinese opera, and I have found it very interesting, and that I would consider other ‘non-Western’ routes for my artwork. However, I also felt as though I did not enjoy this as much as I did with the other films I have done, and also found it very awkward at all points of editing and producing.
Below is the final edit of Red Angel, which can also be found on YouTube.

When showing this to the studio group, many of them enjoyed the speech, especially as this was only myself doing both parts. There were also many comments about how it was clear which character was speaking, even though it was only one voice. Someone did find this too long, and I would agree with this and I feel as though 6 minutes would be long enough. To improve upon this, I have been given the idea of making, or finding more traditional costumes, finding other people to perform (as I didn’t like the project primarily because of this factor), and making it shorter. Another way to present it would be to have it on a larger screen, like in the cinema, while having it on the loop with seats all around, allowing people to come in and out. A last way to present this is having a live performance – having two or three people do live acting while I speak into a microphone.I found these ideas really constructive and hope to get others involved in this project, which would be very fun.