“From the idea that the self is not given to us, I think there is only one practical consequence: we have to create ourselves as a work of art.” Michel Foucault.
Click here for the "Living With Project"
The more I explore the alter ego, the more questions it raises about the merging and the fluidity of identity. What sticks, what is simply a vehicle to express and how does it affect the artist's core and their work? My PhD explores “What are the implications for an artist using an alter ego as an alternative space?" To explore the subject I used Michel Foucault’s definition of space and heterotopia (Foucault, Michel. 1986. Of Other Spaces). He suggested space can exist outside 'normal' social constructs which fired my imagination into how the alter ego fitted his descriptions of space. My PhD exhibition (Summer 2025) explores conceptualised notions of space using my alter egos. Over the last four years I have become more entrenched within my alter egos and from this each has created a body of work that would not have been made without them. A switch flicked when I realised I should let my alter egos generate the work and for me to stop directing them. This realisation enabled new creativity. Let me introduce ...
Eva / Ava who work together and you can follow their story @eva_ava_artist
Jack Lawrence who is my voice of logic. He cuts to the chase and offers clarity @Jacklawrenceartist
Eva / Ava who work together and you can follow their story @eva_ava_artist
Jack Lawrence who is my voice of logic. He cuts to the chase and offers clarity @Jacklawrenceartist
Eva / Ava
About the artist: Eva and Ava are a collaborative team whose work explores oppositional spaces. Eva discovered her father had been secretly filming every aspect of her family life from a hidden room in their house. He had amassed 100,000 images, representing years of footage. He was arrested and committed suicide before his trial. Ava rescued Eva. @eva_ava_artist
Watch Tower I (Eva)
"My ‘narratives’ inform my work. I discovered a hidden door at the back of the airing cupboard in the family home which led to a secret attic room. As I entered, I could feel my heart beating … thump, thump, thump. At the top of the stairs was another door. My mouth was dry and I wanted to cry, I had an intuition that this hidden space held terrible things. I stood, very still and gathered myself. The door was unlocked, I entered and discovered a room filled with banks of monitors. On display was EVERY room in the house. We found out my father had been filming us, his family for years, 24 hours every day, every moment, the mundane and the private. Hundreds of thousands of hours of footage. The Watch Tower is my response to being watched, and my hatred of cameras and surveillance. The fabric used to create the tower (children’s bed linen) was printed with symbols of a watchful eye and a surveillance camera".
Watch Tower II (Ava)
"Unlike Eva, I crave to be watched as for me, the gaze represents power. Freud would fill his boots with my clichéd behaviour that stems from my childhood (Freud, 2015). My mother ran a strict household and was a committed vegan, which enabled her to eat little while consuming generous quantities of gin and slimline tonic. This was not driven by political or health motives but by the need to be thin to the point of emaciation as thin equated beauty. Part of the domestic set-up consisted of systems and rules which if not followed, would result in the transgressor being punished. For my father, the punishment was the withdrawal of sexual activity by my mother. For the rest of the family, the penalty for rule-breaking was either more chores or the removal of pleasure such as sweets or TV".
"My ‘narratives’ inform my work. I discovered a hidden door at the back of the airing cupboard in the family home which led to a secret attic room. As I entered, I could feel my heart beating … thump, thump, thump. At the top of the stairs was another door. My mouth was dry and I wanted to cry, I had an intuition that this hidden space held terrible things. I stood, very still and gathered myself. The door was unlocked, I entered and discovered a room filled with banks of monitors. On display was EVERY room in the house. We found out my father had been filming us, his family for years, 24 hours every day, every moment, the mundane and the private. Hundreds of thousands of hours of footage. The Watch Tower is my response to being watched, and my hatred of cameras and surveillance. The fabric used to create the tower (children’s bed linen) was printed with symbols of a watchful eye and a surveillance camera".
Watch Tower II (Ava)
"Unlike Eva, I crave to be watched as for me, the gaze represents power. Freud would fill his boots with my clichéd behaviour that stems from my childhood (Freud, 2015). My mother ran a strict household and was a committed vegan, which enabled her to eat little while consuming generous quantities of gin and slimline tonic. This was not driven by political or health motives but by the need to be thin to the point of emaciation as thin equated beauty. Part of the domestic set-up consisted of systems and rules which if not followed, would result in the transgressor being punished. For my father, the punishment was the withdrawal of sexual activity by my mother. For the rest of the family, the penalty for rule-breaking was either more chores or the removal of pleasure such as sweets or TV".
|
|
Eva-Ava @ eva_ava_artist
Eva (2025)Millie's Tent [soft toys, wood and canvas, 100cm x 100cm] At University of Reading. With permission from the artist.
Eva: I created a tent made of my sister's soft toys and teddy bears tot keep her safe. She can close the door and hide inside.
Eva (2025)Millie's Tent [soft toys, wood and canvas, 100cm x 100cm] At University of Reading. With permission from the artist.
Eva: I created a tent made of my sister's soft toys and teddy bears tot keep her safe. She can close the door and hide inside.
Jack Lawrence
About the artist. Jack Lawrence is a British artist with a PhD from Goldsmiths. His research combines philosophy and myth. His book Becoming Jesus followed the journey of a shamanic cult and their transubstantiation. He controversially participated in the tribe's use of hallucinogenic substances, which proved problematic for his research, yet his book became an underground must-read for trendy art school students. He has worked with Imperial College on the narrative of cells, and The National Archives which resulted in the paper Imagine if we can hold reality. @jacklawrenceartist
Jack didn’t need friends to play with. He was at his most happy lining his soldiers up in rows. Perfectly straight, side by side. Once they were in perfected linear form, he would scramble them up and start again. He was quiet and contained. His mother sent him to psychologists. They labelled him. They talked of the “black dog”. He ignored it all and continued playing with his soldiers.
Jack didn’t need friends to play with. He was at his most happy lining his soldiers up in rows. Perfectly straight, side by side. Once they were in perfected linear form, he would scramble them up and start again. He was quiet and contained. His mother sent him to psychologists. They labelled him. They talked of the “black dog”. He ignored it all and continued playing with his soldiers.
|
|
Lawrence, Jack (2024) Cover Up [Terracotta vase, mood-altering drugs and glue] At: University of Reading. With Permission from the artist.
The vase is covered with mood-altering medications such as stimulants, antidepressants, mood stabilisers and antipsychotic drugs. (Figure 9). My mother sent me to psychologists. They labelled me. They talked of the ‘black dog’ and gave me pills. My mother wanted the pills to make me gregarious to fit her definitions of normality. She hoped the pills would cover up who I was and create the type of child she wanted. My mother continued to use drugs to alter her children’s behaviour. She gave my sister, who she called ‘the howler’, sleeping pills when we flew to Scotland. She basked in the comments of fellow passengers, that her children were so quiet and well-behaved.
The vase is covered with mood-altering medications such as stimulants, antidepressants, mood stabilisers and antipsychotic drugs. (Figure 9). My mother sent me to psychologists. They labelled me. They talked of the ‘black dog’ and gave me pills. My mother wanted the pills to make me gregarious to fit her definitions of normality. She hoped the pills would cover up who I was and create the type of child she wanted. My mother continued to use drugs to alter her children’s behaviour. She gave my sister, who she called ‘the howler’, sleeping pills when we flew to Scotland. She basked in the comments of fellow passengers, that her children were so quiet and well-behaved.
