A little bit about ‘body politics’ which released recently on #fxhash. While it is a very abstract work. It doesn’t hide its subject matter.

If you first want to have a look at the work you can see it here.

It’s unusual, because while it has minted out at 64 editions – not one has been put on secondary sale. People seem to buy to keep this work.

Emotional Artwork

Art comes from emotions and I’ve been pretty upset. The Roe/wade ruling was the spark of anger. In a landscape of political attacks on women and marginalised groups. The cancel culture, social media hate and political ragdolls that the trans community and women have become are abhorrent.

It’s easy to attack. It’s a complex set of issues with strong feelings on both sides. But it feels like there are people playing politics that affect lives.

This work is very abstract, can you bring this issues to light with a few lines and shapes? I hope so, and find a simple cut to the core is powerful, it gives me the feels.

Making it

The work started, as all, with a sketch. Initially, it was quite angular and contained arms, more recognisable human features. Then it moved to a more abstract form. Henry Moore was an influence.

The colours are all from the pride flag with some tweaks, the ‘gender’ is represented but not a feature. I didn’t want it to define. The womb may contain a pregnancy. There may be a secondary 'figure' that may be aligned or separate, or an absence. Is this... binary/nonbinary? hidden? denied? Shunned? It's a strong image that remains at the definition of the viewer - no one should be defined or labelled by others.

The black bars represent the loss of control, identity choice and restricted access to society through demonisation. They are defined as a feature called 'privacy' - this is because these are personal things that can be denied, delighted in or revealed by others. I guess it's power over and ownership of your body and mind at stake. It’s not an essay, it’s a visual representation of issues. No answers.

I hope people find it interesting both visually and in terms of making you think, be it about your own situation or that of others you support.

Peace & love. Mac

wip outputs

Finally, here are some early outputs to show some of the 'workings'.