LILY M-C

Often, we as humans battle with ourselves the question: is it better to stand out or to fit in?

My use of patten for me challenges the concepts of hiding in plain sight, while reflecting my own personal portrayal of myself. I use the use of pattern as a tool to submerge my living models into a new environment by doing this I alter the ordinariness of a space and creating my own camouflaged reality. Having a living element to my work is extremely important, for me I am quite literally giving my work life, which helps me capture my personal battle of wanting to stand out while blending in. Throughout my practice I found my affection for camouflage has no limits. I love how camouflage is originally designed to conceal, but my work is guaranteed to do anything but.

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My work is presented through multiple layers, often starting with a live one-off performance/installation. My work lives on through what I refer to as my ‘relics’ of my shoots, either being the previously worn morph suit, painted flat sheet or the structure of a shoot, which I often display in a gallery setting. I document my live work in the form of photography, capturing powerful images of my living sculptures. I am stimulated by work of Yayoi Kusuma. My previous work used to be pattern for patterns sake but Kusuma’s compulsive use of dots used to convey her childhood trauma and hallucinations made me reflect and realize my own subconsciousness reflection of myself through my work, leading me to challenge this sense of perceived reality.