These abstract figures celebrate the female form and reflect my personal journey towards gaining an understanding of what it means to be free and what it means to be empowered and liberated by embracing femininity. There were no second chances with this process and it took incredible concentration, a steady hand and an intrinsic ability to create free flowing lines that express the ebb and flow of the ocean and its promise of freedom. These images were superimposed with thin, white lined, abstract figures I created using white acrylic paint and a potters’ slip trailing tool. The art pieces have been created on images captured at surfing locations in Fiji and Western Australia where segments of the performance art project were filmed. This project challenged me to step out of my comfort zone, to literally bare my all, and to expose my vulnerability in the quest for self-discovery and the pursuit of freedom.
The Skin Deep art pieces are a reflection of the emotions I experienced during the filming of the Skin Deep audio-visual performance art project. For me, surfing creates a natural synergy between self-expression, freedom and raw emotion that defies words and it is these sensations, or the perception of them, that inspired the Skin Deep art pieces. Fortunately, my two passions do not struggle for supremacy and their reciprocal relationship never ceases to amaze me. Skin Deep Visual Art Art and surfing are my two greatest passions, and I am never sure whether I am an artist who surfs, or a surfer who creates art. Filming Skin Deep was a journey of self-discovery that made it possible for me to truly embrace the truth of this phrase by literally stripping away all artificial enhancements and challenging me to step out of my comfort zone in pursuit of the freedom to simply be myself.
The film’s title, Skin Deep, is intentionally tongue-in-cheek, but also chosen to evoke a connection with the phrase ‘beauty is only skin deep’. The project explores the themes of freedom, self-expression, self-discovery and vulnerability through the interplay of film, music and still images. A small, dedicated and talented team of professionals shaped my initial concept for Skin Deep into a four-minute film that, when combined with my own art pieces, creates an intense, multi-sensory and provocative audio-visual performance art project. Skin Deep is the unification of these passions – the ocean inspired the form, mediums, palette and lines of my art, and art guided and influenced the surfboard design and colours, the choice of locations, the musical score and the times of day for shooting the film. Artist Statement Skin Deep Audio Visual I have been drawing ever since I was old enough to hold a pencil, and surfing ever since my father gave me a foamy for my fourth birthday, needless to say, art and surfing are my two greatest passions.