Mimi Soan
Textiles & Illustration
Venue: Email: Website: My Drawings and paintings are often of a girl character with an animal companion; I look to explore the connection that is held between human and beast. This theme partly came from Writer, Philip Pullmans ‘His Dark Materials’ where in the main characters world, the soul is physically manifested in the form of an animal called a dæmon. It has a separate identity from its respective human, despite being an integral part of the person (i.e. they are one entity, in two bodies). But partly the drawings are inspired by a fascination and observation of people who look like their pets. My ‘Girls’ look to have a variety of cultural backgrounds and influences. They often have wide set eyes and heavy eyelids which give them a sometimes contemplative or melancholy look. I have been told my work is autobiographical and although this is never intentional I think a little of me must go in to them. I work with water based brush pens on manila envelopes and love the variety and immediate skin tone the paper offers to work on to. I enjoy the repetitive nature of creating the texture of hair. There is a mixed media element to my work as I collage real material to create the clothes and this gives the work an almost tactile quality and allows me to play around with different outfits and colour combinations. I like to use material that has had a previous life and may have significant memories attached, for example a christening gown sleeve becomes the neckline of a blouse. This love of recycling also feeds in to my creation of plush toys, where I use vintage, secondhand clothes and materials to make a variety of characterful creatures. |
|
