Vidal Sassoon....ART

'How One Man Changed The World With A Pair of Scissors'


Part of the course, I travelled to London with the university to visit Somerset House to see the exhibitions on Vidal Sassoon and Tim Walker. Honestly, for the course I didn't see the relevance to see these exhibitions as I didn't see the connection to our projects with the theme being 'tribal' buuuuuuuut, I had a great day out with everyone from my group as it was nice to hang out with the girls out of uni.

The actually exhibition its self,  I thought was very disappointing considering the legend on who the exhibition was for. I feel that from what Sassoon achieved and created, he deserved more of praise for what he did. The exhibition itself I thought was a bit naff. As it only really included...his time line, a brief explanation on what the exhibition involves, and pop art canvas which has a few images of Sassoon's infamous hair creations.

 Not even any imagery from the 50/60s of what Sassoon created, but edited onto canvases and with very brief explanations of where the images originated from. Apart from the bibliography which was a time line of his life, there werent any factual parts whcih explained his techniques and where he got his inspiration from which is what I was looking forward to seeing being a hair stylist myself.

body decoration. . .TATTOOS!

Vulgar,
gross,
disgusting,
stupid,
silly,
pointless,
early regrets,
immature mistakes
waste of money. . . .

these are just a few words that I have heard people use when commenting on my tattoos. Do I care? Nooooooooooo! To me, I see tattoos as art work upon the body, including my own as 2 of mine are large pieces, covering half my back and a half sleeve crawling onto the back of my shoulder. 21st century now, tattoos have become a fashion accessory and much more sociably acceptable than say 30 odd years ago.

A popular style of tattoos is of course the 'Tribal' tattoo, mostly associated with chavs..eughh! I can not STAND sleeve tribal tattoos, so much space for amazing designs..yet ruin it with a generic tribal tattoo. I see the body as a blank canvas, so much freedom to cover in any way and to be creative and have fun, obviously some don't see it that. RANT OVER!

As someone who is very much into tattoo culture and the art of tattoos, I have actually always had a keen interest into the history of tattoos, especially religious and tribal tattoos, (PROPER tribal tattoos), so as well as researching piercings for my project, I looked through my collection of tattoo magazines and books and I came across this. . .

TATTOOS - Ancient Traditions, Secret Symbols & Modern Trends' by Doralba Picerno was a present from my boyfriend and is one of my favourite books. Full of facts, stories and stunning pieces of body art, this book has been a good source of research as there is an entire section on 'Going Tribal'. 

Evidence of tattooing and various tattoo implements dating back to the Paleolithic era exists in Japan and continental Europe, providing proof that primitive forms of tattooing were practised some 10,000 years ago. Grooved bone needles, believed to have been used for the purpose of marking skin, were found with other tools in a Paleolithic cave excavation in France. But the first human remains to be found bearing tattoos are from only 5,300 years ago. This was the time a man affectionately nicknamed 'Otzi the Iceman' is believed to have lived. Found in the Northern Italian Alps, his is the oldest mummified body ever found, and it bares distinct tattoo marks.

Tattooing in tribal societies past and present has long been used to communicate a social status, to mark an achievement or an affiliation, or to invoke protection, and in ancient and in relatively recent times it has been considered an important rite of passage into adulthood and into a particular social role. Tattoos have also been used to ward off evil, to mark someones courage, for embellishment and for punishment. Early tattoos were not figurative, as they tend to be now. They consisted mostly of dots and lines which were positioned on visible parts of the body as a means of non-verbal communication.

These are a collection of images I had collected for myself and that I found off the internet which I thought were interesting and would be good references for my research when it comes to designs.

The tribal style we see today originate from various tribes like those from Borneo, the Haida, the Native Americans, the Celtic tribes, the Maori and other Polynesian tribes. The shapes and motifs of these tribal tattoos are deeply rooted in the tribe's mythology and view of the world.

The traditional tattoo artist aims to reflect the social and religious values of the tribe in his tattoo designs. Recurring themes are the rituals of the tribe, and ancestors, the origins of the worlds and the relationship with the gods in which they believe in.

With this image of the 3 gorgeous woman, I love the back piece the lady on the left is rocking out. From someone who has half of their back tattooed (in 1 painful 7 hour session), it takes a lot of dedication and passion to go through the gruelling pain of a back piece and I think this is a perfect example. The simplicity of it and the symmetrical shapes gave me inspiriation as for some of the shapes I could start putting together when I start designing, as these are well known when it comes to tribal tattoos, the traditional block, sharp edges.

Wodaabe Tribe Men. . .COLOUR!

BRIGHT. . .BOLD. . .and. . .FIERCE!

3 words how I would describe to men of the Wodaabe. The Wodaabe or Bororo are a small subgroup of the Fulani ethnic group. They are traditionally nomadic cattle-herders and traders in the Sahel, with migrations stretching from southern Niger, through northern Nigeria, northeastern Cameroon, and the western region of the Central African Republic. 

Unlike the Mursi and Benin tribes, where i focused my research on the process of scarification and what the ritual means towards these tribes, the main thing that stands out from the Wodaabe, is the expression of bold, eye-catching colour and the use of accessories for the body to express their beliefs and culture. 

One thing which I am going to focus on, especially for my editioral shoot, is to concentrate on my models facial expressions. As my research especially the Wodaabe, they hardly just stand still and let someone take their pictures so before my final shoots I am thinking of perhaps organising a practising session wth my models, to explain the look I am trying to create so they fully understand what I want the end result to look like.

This is the front cover of the 'DAZED' magazine which had Bjork on the front cover for their 200th issue. From the collection of images during this article, looking into Bjork's fashion over the years of her career, I found the images to have some references to tribal fashion.

The colours in these images relate to the Wodaabe men due to a similar scheme so with these being from an editorial shoot, this has giving me ideas into how I could potentially edit my images after my initial shoot. The way the colours work with the outfit and over taking the surroundings is a quality which I shall take into consider.

Mursi Scarification. . .

As well as the artistic head-pieces that the Mursi people show off, another key factor which caught my attention was there interpritation of  'scarification'. EW!

Scarification is basically a design which is cut ONTO the skin, the excess is removed and once the design is finally healed, it is then cut back open for the skin to heal again. So by the end you are left with the design raised upon the skin due to however many times the skin has been cut. And to think I actually wanted scarification when i was 16, eughhh! The thought and process of it is disgusting, but to the Mursi people it resembles and signifies alot more.

It is usually the men which have it done, and like other tribes it is a marking of an enemy killed by them. So in a way, its to show how manly you are basically! Whereas some tribes paint onto the skin specified designs to resemble their tribe, the Mursi people use scarification for the same process. Personally I find the designs stunning, I think the end result of scarification is amazing as you can have anything done and the design is just raised, still the same colour of the skin, its just the process and getting to the end result which is gross!

To create a similar look, if I were to consider investigating into this more, I could use a form of art clay/wax to mold and place onto the body and then paint over to make it blend in and to look like the skin is raised.

these images I found from: http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/mursi/Interesting

 

During todays lecture, we looked more into scarification, the meaning behind it and what it resmbled through Western Africa within different tribes. We watched an intriguing video on Youtube including the Benin tribe in Nigeria and what scarification meant to them. To this tribe, it was the norm for toddlers to be put through this grouling process on their faces to mark the sign of childhood, which was disturbing to watch as to us, who arn't used to this tribes traditions, was far too much for a little toddler to handle. Numerous of cuts sliced onto the face of a toddler is never nice to watch but this is a process which the people of the Benin tribe must go through to be excepted. Once they grow up, from the ages of 15-30 the same procedure is carried out but onto the stomach of the being to mark the acceptance of adulthood. 

Surma and Mursi Head-pieces. . .WOW!

These are some images I found when I looked more into Hans Sylvester's work. I collected and collaged the images which I am going to do throughout my blog as I feel it will look better and polished when my blog is finally published.

With these images, I find the Surma and Mursi tribes fascinating as unlike most aboriginal tribes where they decorate the body with different paints and accessories to celebrate their culture and beliefs, these tribes use dried flowers and fruit to create these amazing, hand-made head pieces which just blow my mind. Out of my primary research which I have done so far, I find these tribes as my biggest inspiration, and the aspect of a head/neck piece is something which I am definitely considering to include in my final shoots. Eary stages I know, but I feel I could really show my artistic side within this project as I am Fine Art/Textiles based and have been studying art for the last 7 years, so getting arty farty is something which I am looking forward to !!

This was a video I found on Youtube, and this has helped me a great deal as it has given me a better insite on the way the Mursi people live. One thing i found interesting was at 2.26 minutes when one of the tribe members emerges out of his hut, presumably at the beginning of his day, and starts applying his body paint naturally without a mirror or any guidance. This is a technique which I think I might expand upon, the body paint but to apply it with my fingers and quite roughly.

. . .the beginning

New academic year, new uni brief....and I LOVE it! Title is 'Wild Kingdom' and the theme we have been given is tribes, which I love even more due to the fact that there are so many options and avenues I could go down. With our first lecture we were shown a powerpoint on different photographers/MUA/fashion designers/hair stylists, and I feel a lot more confident about the brief from being shown different types of media. Which got me thinking how I could incorporate different styles together. 

The main artist which could my eye was Hans Sylvester, a photographer from Germany, celebrates the unique art of the Surma and Mursi tribes of the Omo Valley, which are situated on the boarders of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan. This is something I am definitely going to give a go, introducing dried leaves and flowers to the hair.