Artist Statement
Inge Jacobsen
The work I am currently making is an intervention into found images through embroidery, cutting, and collaging. The images I use are from women’s high fashion magazines and pornographic images found on the internet. These make up the basis of most of my work although I am starting to explore newspaper imagery as well. My main concern as an artist is how one responds to the mass of imagery in the world. Altering these is central to a lot of my work.
I’m particularly interested in exploring the different contexts in which photography can be used. I like to stray from the conventional perceptions of what photography can and can’t be. With the over saturation of images, my practice seeks to intervene in this overwhelming consumption from the mass produced and alter it to create something unique.
I have created a series consisting of covers of Vogue magazines that I have cross-stitched into. The process involves making holes with a needle to prevent the paper from getting damaged when I start sewing into it. This is all done by eye. Then it’s a case of very carefully cross-stitching the whole thing. It takes roughly 50 hours to create one piece, but this does depend on the image. This process makes the covers very tactile and it creates something that is impossible to reproduce on a large scale. Each piece is unique and handmade and I feel I have taken it out of circulation and made it something of my own.
I want the viewer to recognise the obsessiveness of these pieces and gain some understanding and appreciation of the time and effort that was spent on it. It reminds me of what Lyle Rexer said in his book ‘The Edge of Vision’ about Marco Breuer’s abstract photographs where the surface of the unexposed photographic paper was scratched, burnt, and inscribed on. Rexer said; ..these “photograph” present evidence of their own decisive moments, however – moments not witnessed but physically endured. The stitching on the photograph shows the endurance not of the photograph but of the artist in this case.
Although images of these covers have ended up on many different websites around the world and have subsequently become part of the mass produced world, the originals cannot be reproduced. Experiencing this work in the flesh is quite different from looking at a scanned image. Its glossiness is gone in the flesh and is replaced with a soft cloth surface. On a conceptual level I also feel it removes the gloss and glamour from the world of high fashion and replaces it with an old fashioned homely feel.
Another theme and concept I’m exploring in my work is the ‘objectness’ of a photograph. By bringing the surface of the image to the attention of the viewer I want them to acknowledge the stitched pieces as objects rather than just images. It seems appropriate to be using fashion magazines as women are often objectified within them. There is also a link between the feminine craft of cross stitching and the women’s magazine. I’d like the viewer to see the connection between women’s hobbies from generations ago and the hobbies and past-times of my generation. I can, and have, spent long periods of time reading Vogue magazines just like my grandmother and her sisters spent a long time cross-stitching
Women are also objectified in porn, and I am also exploring this using embroidery, cutting and collaging. The work has political connotations whilst allowing the viewer to decide whether the work is a critique of the fashion industry or pornography or something more celebratory. I would also hope that the viewer might see an element of humour in the work. A lot of images found in fashion magazines already have sexual undertones; I’m just making it more obvious.
The image of the cut up reclining woman here was also created from a found image, this time from the internet. I prefer to use found images because there are so many of them available. I like the idea of using and changing what is already out there, it doesn’t make sense to me at this point in my practice to shoot my own images, that is not what interests me at this time.
I have used cutting and collaging to create this series of pornographic images. I cut away areas of muscles leaving outlines of the figure. I made two separate pieces from this using the cut out areas to form images like the one shown here. This work is an exploration of how women, or actors in porn in general, are treated like pieces of meat. They are intended to be anti-climactic by leaving the viewer with the knowledge of what was there, which was an aid to masturbation, but without the visual stimuli required to fulfil its purpose.
I come from a Fine Art background, I would consider myself a Fine Art artist who uses photography rather than a photographer who uses Fine Art techniques. My work has been greatly inspired by artist such as John Baldessari, Vik Muniz, John Stezaker and Aliki Braine. Their non-traditional use of photography and use of other mediums have helped expand my knowledge and further my work. I’m particularly interested in making objects and images – or images made from objects - as it helps me become more involved in the process.
The work I am currently making is an intervention into found images through embroidery, cutting, and collaging. The images I use are from women’s high fashion magazines and pornographic images found on the internet. These make up the basis of most of my work although I am starting to explore newspaper imagery as well. My main concern as an artist is how one responds to the mass of imagery in the world. Altering these is central to a lot of my work.
I’m particularly interested in exploring the different contexts in which photography can be used. I like to stray from the conventional perceptions of what photography can and can’t be. With the over saturation of images, my practice seeks to intervene in this overwhelming consumption from the mass produced and alter it to create something unique.
I have created a series consisting of covers of Vogue magazines that I have cross-stitched into. The process involves making holes with a needle to prevent the paper from getting damaged when I start sewing into it. This is all done by eye. Then it’s a case of very carefully cross-stitching the whole thing. It takes roughly 50 hours to create one piece, but this does depend on the image. This process makes the covers very tactile and it creates something that is impossible to reproduce on a large scale. Each piece is unique and handmade and I feel I have taken it out of circulation and made it something of my own.
I want the viewer to recognise the obsessiveness of these pieces and gain some understanding and appreciation of the time and effort that was spent on it. It reminds me of what Lyle Rexer said in his book ‘The Edge of Vision’ about Marco Breuer’s abstract photographs where the surface of the unexposed photographic paper was scratched, burnt, and inscribed on. Rexer said; ..these “photograph” present evidence of their own decisive moments, however – moments not witnessed but physically endured. The stitching on the photograph shows the endurance not of the photograph but of the artist in this case.
Although images of these covers have ended up on many different websites around the world and have subsequently become part of the mass produced world, the originals cannot be reproduced. Experiencing this work in the flesh is quite different from looking at a scanned image. Its glossiness is gone in the flesh and is replaced with a soft cloth surface. On a conceptual level I also feel it removes the gloss and glamour from the world of high fashion and replaces it with an old fashioned homely feel.
Another theme and concept I’m exploring in my work is the ‘objectness’ of a photograph. By bringing the surface of the image to the attention of the viewer I want them to acknowledge the stitched pieces as objects rather than just images. It seems appropriate to be using fashion magazines as women are often objectified within them. There is also a link between the feminine craft of cross stitching and the women’s magazine. I’d like the viewer to see the connection between women’s hobbies from generations ago and the hobbies and past-times of my generation. I can, and have, spent long periods of time reading Vogue magazines just like my grandmother and her sisters spent a long time cross-stitching
Women are also objectified in porn, and I am also exploring this using embroidery, cutting and collaging. The work has political connotations whilst allowing the viewer to decide whether the work is a critique of the fashion industry or pornography or something more celebratory. I would also hope that the viewer might see an element of humour in the work. A lot of images found in fashion magazines already have sexual undertones; I’m just making it more obvious.
The image of the cut up reclining woman here was also created from a found image, this time from the internet. I prefer to use found images because there are so many of them available. I like the idea of using and changing what is already out there, it doesn’t make sense to me at this point in my practice to shoot my own images, that is not what interests me at this time.
I have used cutting and collaging to create this series of pornographic images. I cut away areas of muscles leaving outlines of the figure. I made two separate pieces from this using the cut out areas to form images like the one shown here. This work is an exploration of how women, or actors in porn in general, are treated like pieces of meat. They are intended to be anti-climactic by leaving the viewer with the knowledge of what was there, which was an aid to masturbation, but without the visual stimuli required to fulfil its purpose.
I come from a Fine Art background, I would consider myself a Fine Art artist who uses photography rather than a photographer who uses Fine Art techniques. My work has been greatly inspired by artist such as John Baldessari, Vik Muniz, John Stezaker and Aliki Braine. Their non-traditional use of photography and use of other mediums have helped expand my knowledge and further my work. I’m particularly interested in making objects and images – or images made from objects - as it helps me become more involved in the process.