Project Cornucopia - An Interview with the Voiceless
"This series of photographers were taken for my final piece for Unit 1 of A-Level Art. The theme of my project is celebrity and class, exploring the influence of celebrity lifestyle within our own lives, the concept of luxury and extravagance and the eventual downfall within the community of highflyers through the access of drugs, alcohol and the exposure of every detail within the media. Throughout this project, I explored how money was truly the route of all evil. The belief of superiority due to examples of prestigious schools, extraordinary lifestyles and how deep the pocket goes. I have always wanted my artwork to have a message, to inspire, to create a conversation and for people to reflect upon their own actions. Inspired by political activist Jenny Holzer, I created Projected Cornucopia. The Cornucopia is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce. I walked along the streets of London passing by numerous homeless men and women. Men and women whom I would have never paid a seconds thought towards, feeling guilty as the smell of unwashed bodies and cigarettes evaded my nostrils then getting pissed off as someone almost barges into me and my life keeps going. For this project, I painted satirical messages onto paper bags which I let the homeless choose, then filled in with whatever they asked for. The concept was to create street art messages in a way in which It cannot be taken down. I initially thought of the Hoarding disorder - where someone acquires an excessive number of items and stores them in a chaotic manner, usually resulting in unmanageable amounts of clutter. The items can be of little or no monetary value. I then thought that the homeless don't hoard due to a disorder but in fact, it's a necessity, keeping their possessions with them at all times. I planned to create the bags, fill them with food and hand them to the homeless around London. My message staying days after I left with no reason to come down. This project made me understand the fault within our society, these men and women I met where some of the kindest people I have ever felt the pleasure of meeting. They didn't want me to spend "too much" on them and only asked for coffee and soup to keep warm in the bitter February weather. We tend to just walk past these people, turn our noses away and clutch our wallets and purses for dear life dreading something were to happen. As I photographed each model I began asking questions. "What's your name?" "Where are you from?" "What caused you to be here today?" These men were running from broken homes, from war, from a life that was destroying them... some just couldn't pay their bills. One of the most powerful areas I took the photos was outside of the Ritz Hotel. The perfect juxtaposition, men with overgrown beards, dirty and cold as women in fur coats strutted past, Louis Vuitton bags swinging like a pendulum and men prim and proper turned their nose as their tucked their wrist adorned with Rolex's and Cartier's' into their pockets.