COUSIN
COUSIN is a sculptural and film based project I completed in my first term of General Foundation. It’s a consideration of personal space, nascent creativity, and childhood bonds. My cousin and I went out and played in the woods again, for the first time in ten years.
COUSIN consists of three main components:
SCULPTURE
The final outcome of the project took the shape of a small den, made of found materials from within the woods and supplemented with various objects from my childhood.
FILM
As part of the brief, we were instructed to carefully document the production and final state of our sculptures. COUSIN’s film aspect came to be as a result of this, and in my opinion provides the core of the project.
SKETCHBOOK
I noted down the details and intricacies of the creative process in a sketchbook during the inception of the idea, the production of the sculpture, and after its presentation to my lecturers and peers.
I note in my sketchbook that, in hindsight, COUSIN became an unconscious representation of my homesickness. It was the manifestation of a desire to feel safe, hidden, comfortable and free to play, triggered by leaving home for the first time.
Our brief directed us to study the Arte Povera movement, and I found particular inspiration in the work of Mario Merz. His igloos considered our most basic needs: shelter, food, safety. Considering this in the context of the new life and environment I was constructing for myself at university, I found I was once again repeating the actions of my childhood, and that perhaps I had much to learn from the unhindered creativity of my younger self- and the companionship I had shared with my cousin,
