A Pot Plant/A Stock Photo

After some initial research, I chose to focus on a specific concept that had long interested me; the notion of #goals, an often used social media hashtag to indicate that something being portrayed or depicted – often a relationship, a figure, some’s appearance – is considered an enviable “goal”. The issue lies in that the viewer usually has no way of knowing
just how genuine the image that they are holding as a “goal” is; the relationship could be entirely fictitious, the figure could be photoshopped, and good lighting and filters can dramatically alter anyone’s appearance. I felt that there were parallels to be drawn between this concept and stock images; stock images are equally as inauthentic – they’re simply models depicting certain concepts. A couple depicting “love” in a stock image aren’t a real couple; they’re paid models who have been paired up because they presumably look good together and are pretending at “love”. I had previously created an image based on this concept, called simply #Goals. 

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I felt that this concept was not only applicable to stock images depicting couples, but also actual real life couples; so often we know people, or see people in the street, who’s relationship appears to be perfect or ideal, but in fact are actually struggling, or who suddenly break up. There’s a degree of presentation involved – people can put on an act, or a mask, and no one who’s not in the relationship would know any different. I thought that this was a really interesting concept to explore, and decided to pursue it further. Some imagery that kept coming to mind was the notion of fingerprints on glass; you can’t see them until you’re right up against it. I felt that this worked as a really good metaphor for the idea I was beginning to formulate; that everything can you look perfect from a distance until you get up close to it. I was reminded of a Joni Mitchell’s song Both Sides Now, in which she sings about how she used to look at clouds (as a metaphor for love) with naïve idealism, but now she see’s the illusion; she’s seen both sides. I thought that this too worked well with the concept.  This in turn reminded me of the scene in Richard Curtis’s film Love Actually, during which Both Sides Now plays, where Emma Thompson’s character realises that Alan Rickman’s character has gifted a necklace that she believed was for her to someone else. She retreats to their bedroom and silently cries, before gathering herself together in order to go to a Christmas concert and pretend that everything’s okay. I considered that perhaps I could create five pieces of work that told an authentic narrative of a similar relationship, from initial meeting to betrayal and to recovery, that broke from the standard, refined depictions presented in stock photography.

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I chose to work with pottery as I felt that it was a particularly malleable and tactile medium, which to me made it personable. I was trying to create a personable, authentic narrative in comparison to staged stock photos, and I felt that choosing a medium that embodied those principles could potentially elevate quite a simple concept. I initially began by considering various objects that I felt symbolised marriage or a relationship. I felt that rings were too small and simple to really experiment with, and I decided that wedding dresses or veils seemed to specify gender too much; I wanted to create a piece that could reflect any relationship, and I didn’t want to be too implicit. Eventually, the idea of a house plant came to me. I thought that it was a simple, overlooked and not very obvious representation of a relationship, but I felt that they were often a customary gift upon moving into a new home, and I liked the idea that a house plant could perhaps be considered one of the first shared responsibilities of a couple in a line up that might go on to include pets or children. I decided to specifically focus on plant pots, as I felt that they provided great scope for experimentation and communication. I decided to create five plant pots that would together tell the narrative of a relationship; 1) the honeymoon phase: everything is blissful and easy, 2) the reality: it’s still lovely, but more grounded, 3) the breakdown: it’s starting to fall apart, 4) the immediate aftermath: the raw reality after a breakup, 5) the recovery – the empowerment and hopefulness of beginning to move on. I decided to use the imagery in Both Sides Now in the narrative, as it linked so well to the concept of a façade/not seeing the whole truth.

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My initial idea was to take inspiration from the imagery in the song, and turn each plant pot into the depiction of a world that fit each stage of the relationship. I thought that, for example, #1 would feature an ice cream castle that by #3 had started to crack and by #5 had been reduced to rubble. Each pot would have a distinct colour identity that was relevant to it’s story in the narrative arc. I felt that by keeping a reasonable proportion of each pot identical - such as the presence of the castle - and perhaps the overall style too, they would remain visually linked even if some elements, and the colours, varied. I decided to add some form of border on the top and bottom of each pot, so that there would be one uniform element to the design. I also decided to add block colour to each pot, in order to clearly established five individual visual identities. I considered using a different colour on the interior of each pot; I felt that the outer colour to represent the façade or the projected image, and the inner colour could represent the true internal feeling.

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I also experimented with some additional details, such as the ground and the sky. I considered depicting some form of water that rose with each pot, to represent the sense of drowning as the relationship dissolved. Ultimately I felt that logically it wouldn’t work, as it would mean solid ground turning to water and I thought it could get a little confusing or unclear. Additionally, I considered using the weather depicted by the clouds as pathetic fallacy according to the narrative element of each pot. During the breakup the clouds would be dark and stormy, but during the recovery they would be starting to clear and there would be hints of rainbows. In order to ensure that the elements featured on all the pots - such as the castle - remained the same size five times over, I began to experiment with means of transferring a design on a pot. I also experimented with forming the pots themselves; I wanted to move away from anything too manufactured or co-ordinated, as I felt that the pots should be an antithesis to the nature of stock images. I wanted them to be raw and real and predictably imperfect, much like a real relationship. I discovered that by shaping air dry clay around the base of a can of spray paint that I’d wrapped in plastic and shaping it with the back of a teaspoon, I could easily create a plant pot that I could remove from the mould after 24 hours. I therefore rolled out a selection of small pieces of the air dry clay that I could trial different mediums on to test how best I could transfer a design onto each pot. I found that a wide variety of mediums will stay on the clay, but in terms of transferring a design, printing an image through a basic printer and dabbing it with water to transfer it onto the clay yielded good enough results to provide basic lines, although it certainly wasn’t perfect. I was reluctant to draw any sort of design entirely freehand though, as I wanted to avoid any significant discrepancies in size between elements on different pots. I also experimented with breaking the clay and sewing it back together. I intended to crack #3 to represent a relationship falling apart, and then sew the majority of #4 back together to signify trying to hold oneself together, before gluing the majority of breaks but with the crack lines still visible on #5 to represent an attempt to move on. I used a minuscule hand drill bit that was designed to jewellery making to create the holes, then used a regular needled to thread the cotton through.

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At this point, I realised that I wasn’t happy with my design; I felt that the inclusion of multiple elements with the view of depicting an entire world was too convoluted and detailed for a small surface area and wouldn’t communicate effectively enough. In Both Sides Now, Joni Mitchell re- fers to clouds as a metaphor for love, and I decided to do something similar. Instead of creating a landscape, I chose to just create a sky. I wanted to use colours very intentionally to depict five different skies that each represented a chapter in the narrative. I knew that I was going to use acrylic paint as it took best on the clay, but created some quick mock ups using watercolours, and very much preferred them to my original design. I felt that it was a far subtler and open to interpretation approach; I think that stock images are very often completely blatant and self explanatory and was keen to challenge that with the design. Although I wanted the pots themselves to look reasonably rough and raw, I didn’t want them to look careless, so I took some time to lightly sand out some of the more blatant imperfections and bumps. I didn’t want to remove too much character, but I was keen to ensure that I achieved a reasonably professional finish.  

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I achieved the final design by simply painting each pot a solid colour using acrylic paint, before stippling and sponging on upwards of about 15 thin layers of paint to create the appearance of the sky. I then created a simple border using black ink, and painted the inside of the pots using acrylic too.

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#1) The Honeymoon Phase: This is the first chapter in the narrative and represents the blissful, simple phase of initially falling for someone. Everything seems perfect and feels like a fairy-tale, as reflected in the choice of colours and the style of the sky. It’s also the thickest pot out of the five, to reflect the confident, headstrong nature of falling in love. The colours are unnatural, and represent the idea of the initial easy days of new a relationship, before it’s challenged by the monotony and responsibility of real, everyday life. This is enhanced by the use silver ink that adds a degree of fantasy-like iridescence to the sky, and forms small, subtle stars. The pale pink is light and fresh, and reflects the sense of easy, simple love.

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#2) The Reality: The second chapter is slightly more realistic that the first; the sky is still light and breezy, but is much more natural and everyday. This reflects the changing and maturing of the relation- ship as it becomes less idyllic fantasy and more regular, every day life. The pink is still present but is deeper and richer, and represents the depth of trust and love that replaces the initial, giddy early love. The pot itself isn’t quite as thick; it’s now closer to a more normal, regular depth which reflects the shift in narrative.

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#3) The Breakdown: The third chapter is notably darker; the sky is largely stormy and temperamental, with very little blue sky breaking through. It’s rawer, and reflects a relationship that’s breaking down. The pink has been replaced by purple; blue, widely recognised as a colour of sadness and sorrow has been added to it. The pot is thinner and slightly more fragile – it would crack far more easily now.

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#4) The Immediate Aftermath: The fourth chapter is the most raw, red and angry, to reflect the pain and anguish of the immediate aftermath of a relationship ending. The sky is unnatural, to reflect the sense that nothing is quite right, nothing is the same. The red reflects the rawness of the situation, and the depth of the emotion. The pot is at it’s absolute thinnest and most delicate.

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#5) The Recovery: The fifth and final chapter is dark and gloomy, but underneath and within the dark clouds are all the colours of the rainbow, which reflect hope and potential. The red has been replaced by orange; yellow, widely associated with happiness, has been added to it and has tempered it. It’s still quite an emotive colour, but it’s also vibrant. The pot it slightly thicker – it’s less fragile and wouldn’t break quite as easily now.

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