Reading..

Bayley, S. 2004 - Ugly; The Aesthetics of Everything

Dutten, D. 2009 - Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure and Human Evolution.

Kemp, M & Wallace, C. 2002 - Spectacular Bodies ; The Art and Science of the human body from Leonardo to now.

Kristeva, J 1982 - The Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection

Kutzbach, K & Mueller, M 2007 - The Abject of Desire: The Aestheticiration of the Unaesthetic in Contemporary Literature and Culture.

JUST SOME QUOTES

As advised I have just read Natalie Fife's dissertation - which may I say is very well written and formative.

I stole some of her research - naturally.

"The body is the earth, territory of violent metamorphosis and substitution. We are all in peril of becoming thing. The grotesque gap between our humanity and this thing - the body killed, damaged, wounded is held open by metaphors." (Kutzbach & Mueller, 2007 pg 89)

"The monsterous feminine is a fragmentation of disjointed oppression and feminine self - loathing associated with the female body" (Kristeva, 1982)

"the 'other' as abjection, expelling what we find grotesque, violently through the body. The understanding of 'self' is associated with the ability to separate 'I' from the 'other' and in order to realise true sense of 'self' the borders between 'I' and 'other' must be tested" (Kristeva, 1818)

"Is society ready for an image of the idealised human?" (Bann 1994 & Nietsche & Mencken 2008)

"Abjection challenges the borders of selfhood what we find grotesque defining what is the 'real' other. The abject does not respect the 'self' no the 'other'; it uses the other in order to experiment and test interpretations of the grotesque and the disgusting in order to create distinctive borders between the two." (Kristeva, 1982)

"Disruptive material forces that is operative in the subject and in culture [...] There is a fundamental inherent disruption to abject and that points beyond cultural abjections. Abjects drain the life out of organic systems. Foul things tend to be abject for instance because of its foulness, an abundance of life is rotting from within." (Kutzback & Mueller 2007 pg 11)

Raluca Grada - Emandi

RALUCA GRADA-EMANDI (ABOUT)

Jewellery artist and spatial performance designer Raluca Grada graduated from the Interprofessional Studio at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and received her MA in Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery from the Royal College of Art, London.

Her work has been exhibited in the UK, The Netherlands, Italy and Germany.

Raluca works and lives in London.

http://ralucagrada.net/

Works:

4 ACTS JEWELLERY

"The collection describes sequences of meaning in the life of the final piece. Each act represents the slow renunciation of familiar formal interpretations of beauty and value to reveal new poetics within jewellery. It plays with material and immaterial, static and dynamic, jewellery and space using silver as a symbolic neutral material for jewellery."

material: silver
size: undefined

THE 5TH ACT - OF A JEWELL

Ineffable conditions one cannot express in words, for they refer to aspects of existence too abstract to be adequately communicated. Ineffability can be described by what it is not, rather than by what it is.
Capturing glimpses of the ineffable in jewellery necessitates dematerialization, allowing beauty and value to move away from the qualities and expressions given to the material, into a more abstract, intengible realm. The ephemeral appearance of this jewellery inspires the unsettling play of an undefinable possession.

The jewellery is the play of silver dust particles in the air, slowly released from a device hidden behind the ear.
The silver powder adorns the body through its performative appearance and through the temporary forms it creates while accumulating on the body. Its presence as adornment is wrapped in uncertainty, while its value constantly dissipates in the wind leaving the body naked of jewellery. This challenges the issue of possession regarding the ownership of both the ornament and value, triggering fascination within discomfort, highlighting both the necessity of social extravagance and of possessions. This jewellery celebrates the beauty and not the possession, while its value ironically increases by letting go of the value.

FINELY GRAFTED JEWELLERY

Wearing a sample of foreign skin on the natural skin of the body questions the relevance of the material. Highlighting the human skin as a material valuable on its own, apart from the body, raises questions such as: Is it skin? Who's skin? Why dark and fair skin? Is it a reaction of the body which transformed itself into jewellery to respond to our needs?


The owner and the viewer experience the unsettling contradiction between wearing an eccentric piece of jewellery and its overall subtle, quiet look which questions the very existence of any jewellery.

WEARING SKIN, YOUNG SKIN

To illustrate youth, I have played with the contrast between the young skin captured in a necklace shaped jewellery and the older skin of the aged body. The preciousness of the jewellery relies on the indisputable value of youth, being able to replace diamonds in value at a senior age. The focus on material and form seems to fade only to give way to thoughts about our own relation to youth.

material: skin textured silicone