During our visit to the Victoria and Albert museum, we were asked to consider the word taxonomy. This word can be used as a classification of things, schemes or concepts. At the V&A we were confronted with a plethora of taxonomies defining a variety of objects. This helped us contemplate the meaning of words. Our task consisted of choosing five items that we wanted to draw. We then had to align these items with five of our words from our automatic writing sheet. The words that I’ve chosen have the ability to decontextualise and reimagine the pieces I’ve selected and are able to give them new meanings. The idea was to be inventive, intelligent and conceptual about the connection between image and text. 

The first item I decided to draw was a model of the Mahabodhi Temple. I was drawn to the amount of detail that was captured in the statue. This temple in particular is the holiest of Buddhist pilgrimage sites and marks where the Buddha gained enlightenment. It is a one of a kind temple and models were made for pilgrims to take home as sacred souvenirs. Even though there’s only one temple that exists exactly in this form, the amount of remakes prove the meaning that this temple carries, especially when replicate examples have been found in other cities that serve as alternative pilgrim sites for those who could not make the journey. I’ve aligned the word ‘original’ from my automatic writing sheet, because it fascinates me how one thing can create such a significance to a large number of people. 

My next item I chose to draw was a nude figure. The human figure is something I’ve always found extraordinary and I’ve enjoyed life drawing for a long time. Although some might consider the statues to be simplistic, I find that they carry a certain grace. The word I found most suitable was ‘form’. 

In this task it wasn’t specified whether we were just allowed to draw one item. I was also interested in capturing the environment and atmosphere that some of the rooms in the museum carried. I found a spot in a room where I had enough paintings and people in my field of vision. Instead of choosing the word atmosphere for this piece, I decided ‘variety’ would be more relevant, because it relates to both the audience and paintings on display. 

“Chance and Control in the Age of Computers” was on display in one of the rooms, where artists created computer-generated images between the 1960’s and early 2000’s. While some artists developed their own software, others artists like Damien Borowik would create their own hand-built drawing machines. It was interesting to note what influenced the artists, for example Georg Nees was fascinated by the relationship between order and disorder, whereas Manfred Mohr began his career as a jazz musician and expressionist painter, where he started exploring the use of geometric imagery. Overall, each piece is completely unique and inspired me to create my fourth piece of work which I aligned with the word “expressive”. 

Within the fashion display there was one piece in particular that caught my attention. Instead of being an item of clothing, there were a number of letters and postcards attached to a mannequin. The title of this piece was called “Letters to Miss Philippa Barnes” by Charles James. I really liked the idea of portraying words as a form of clothing, because I find that each of us carries words with us in one way or another, be it a thought we might have or something that has been said to us. For this item I decided to pick the word ‘personal.’