Libby- A2 Art:Attention to Detail

For my A2 project I chose to investigate “attention to detail.”

As it was my last unit I wanted to create a very powerful and meaningful piece of art. I chose to explore disability and how it is portrayed, this is a very personal subject to me as I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) when I was sixteen. MS affects me differently day to day; some days I appear perfectly able bodied where as others days I need to use a wheel chair. So I see and experience the way the world treats you when you are perceived as having a disability. I have lived with MS for almost four years and now felt like I was strong enough to voice my opinions through my 3D artwork. I first looked in to the art of collage as this helped me to create a very personal unseen message which then would run through to further my development.

There are two meanings behind this collage; the first a disabled person looking up at god and asking why them, or god looking down and choosing who is strong enough to cope with a disability.

I now wanted to turn my attention to 3D collage, with the idea that man and machine as one. I made a series of with this theme trying to make the part of the chair and the human figure ambiguous. On all pieces I wanted the wheels to stand out as they tend to be the first thing people see. This tends to trigger one of the following responses, people either completely ignore you or they treat you like you are stupid.

The idea behind the art is that most people will see the wheel chair first and not the person, which is why I used a blank white body to symbolise the ignorance that some people show towards disability. Throughout these past four years I have been in a wheel chair, used crutches, walking sticks a number of things to help me cope but when I have good days when I don’t need any I have been discriminated just because my disability isn’t visible. What most people don’t take into account is the mental side and trust me I have been pushed to my limits, although I have not accepted my illness yet, I can already see that it has made me a better person and I want all viewers to take away my story and hopefully see that world differently without having to go through what I have.