Discomfort
Digital characters
Want to use different characters with a possible comedic or abstract approach to exaggerate these insights into the often overlooked experience of discomfort.
Press:
@_Drawfashion The Shortlist
@Fidaworldwide The Shortlist
Clo 3D
Daz 3D
Research
About "A philosophy of Discomfort"
In the rapid development of modern social life, each person has special concepts and attitudes toward their life. Some people are living in an environment that’s busy and full of happiness, while other people's lives might contain a certain degree of disappointment and helpless. One reason might be some unimpressive details.
A part of people might not paying attention to these small details, maybe influencing other people’s feelings or behaviours. As a result, afeeling of discomfort can begin to appear in our daily lives. Another reason might be various attitudes from people;
different attitudes towards the same thing might bring various consequences. There are numerous emergency issues and situations that happen in daily life, which might lead to various uncomfortable environments. However, people may not mention it when they faced with discomfort. Some might be caused by their different positions towards the same thing, while another might be origin from some unnoticed small details. Due to the differences in these problems, people might be easier to get into a situation of feeling vacant, anxious and manic. With the development of society, technologies and the exchange of various cultures, people might become more different in their development process, which might increase the feeling of discomfort when they handle certain issues or make friends with people. Some people might become confused when they are in the process of dealing the interpersonal relationships. Personally, I feel if everyone could find an outlet for them at an appropriate stage and eliminate mental pressure gradually, life might become more colourful and comfortable.
The main point of research was 'A Philosophy of Discomfort' which discusses the different forms of comfort and discomfort in manydifferent ways. One of the things that was significant for me was the mention of "There could never be a theory or use of comfort that does not begin from the body". This made me think about comfort in a more personal way and it's effects on the body. Reading further, the book also discusses in relation to the senses; "physical impressions- hot or cold, noise or silence, dampness or dryness, light or dark". (Pezeu-Massabuau, 2012) From reading I wanted to make some pictures exploring the comparison of the senses. Also looking how these things relate to people in the everyday life.
Discomfort displays five life sized prints of digital characters in an abstract and comedic form to give an insight into the often overlooked experiences of discomfort. Each image references parts of cultural and social norms and environmental issues, visually communicating discomforts centered around these topics.
The characters and poses they hold also provide a feeling of discomfort. The exaggerated features and body shapes form strange figures, which also allude to the different discomforts the work explores.
1
This character explores the idea of politeness, specifically looking at the moment when you ‘cheers’ and clink glasses when drinking.
This is something I have experienced since being in the UK, it’s considered rude if you do not look the other person or people in the eye when you complete this action. The character exaggerates this and being surrounded by eyes further highlights the importance of the eye contact.
2
The inspiration for this character came from the effects of global warming on everyday life. The results of this left us with a unusually hot summer in the UK. It’s interesting to see how the country deals with the unexpected hot weather. A lot of people find this heat uncomfortable as it is not the norm for the UK, therefore don’t know how deal with it. The sun and disfigured, melting body of the character exaggerates the concept of heat and the effects of global warming. The lower part of the figure is covered by discs of smoke referencing the smog and pollution created by power stations.
3
This character is based on my personal experience, it highlights the moment when waiting for someone to pass in a small doorway for example and not being acknowledged or thanked for this gesture. The characters strong, wide pose emphasises the idea of people expecting you to step aside and let them walk through, this self-righteous behaviour can easily cause annoyance or irritation as you realise not everyone is respectful of one another. The characters headdress is also reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty, referring to the feeling of self-importance people have.
4
This character explores environmental issues, focusing on the use of plastics and there pollution of the sea. It references the discomfort people feel when being given these items, when being aware of the environmental impacts. The figure is trapped in a square of plastic and its stomach is large referencing the effects the sea life suffer due to this waste. The trousers are made from plastic bags and shaped like fins further connecting this issue, the overall shape and materials offer a strange hybrid of human, fish and plastic which creates something uncomfortable to view.
5
This character references the discomfort of eating in public, especially foods that create a lot of noise when you eat, such as crisps. The character is dressed in simple ‘everyday’ entire to place them in a public setting. The character bares multiple heads exaggerating the volume one feels thy are creating when eating such foods. This also refers to the feeling of embarrassment that also comes with this, the other faces refer to the desire to not be seen when eating in public.
