CAROLYN JACK

What theme are you exploring in the piece/s you have exhibited?
My origami piece are made with the intent to raise awareness of mental health within everyone. Everyone has a certain degree of stress or anxiety in their lives which can manifest as nail biting, cleaning, organising or fidgeting. These coping mechanisms and the stress itself is what I am trying to represent through the lines, contours and contrasts in my origami piece. The light and shade symbolise the relationship between cause and effect, of life and stress, stress and coping.

What are your inspirations behind the piece?
The inspirations behind my piece are my own coping strategies, which are repetitive motions. In this piece, there are many repeating motions, such as drawing the lines and the folding technique of the origami. I also wanted the outcome to symbolise contrast. That influenced my choices on what to create, origami creates light and shadow sections which was perfect for the representation of good times and bad times in life.

Which artists influence you and your work?
Matt Shlian and Anni Albers both influenced my work.Matt shlian works with large scale block colour paper sculptures, his work inspired me to use paper as my medium. I loved the style of Anni Albers work, the use of lines and block colours. I wanted to take the paper manipulation from Matt Shlian and the use of lines from Anni Albers to create my origami pieces.

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Which medium/s have you used and why?
I used paper as my primary medium because it best met my needs of being a easily manipulated material while also being very versatile. The possibilities are endless when using paper; you can use paper as a base for drawing or painting, create a sculpture, use the paper as a collage medium. The pen is also a limitless tool. I chose to use a pen to create my lines because of the symbolism that it holds, ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’(Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1839). The pen also represents the everyday, both paper and pen are items which are readily available to the majority.

What impact do you want to make on the audience?
I want to give the audience a feeling of realisation and understanding of their emotions and stresses. Also appreciation for other peoples anxieties. Especially in these times, we need to be there for each other on good days and bad days.