research activity

Consisting of nine images, ‘Scarred for Life’ is one of Moffatt’s best known series of photograph. For this series, Moffat used “photolithograph technique on cream paper”. The characters depictions are actors, chosen and positioned by Moffatt herself. In each image, ordeal from physical or verbal abuse during childhood continues to hunt us throughout our lives. The nine photos cover a wide variety of past dates (from 1956 to 1977). Beneath each image, captions describing the ordeals they went through are written in a matter-of-fact way. Such as the artwork that I have chosen, “Useless” (1974), the caption is, “Her father’s nickname for her was useless”. Moffatt’s aim is to probe the trauma inflicted on children by their parents or siblings in a deadpan way. This deadpan re-enactment is the usual Moffatt.

In “Directives”, Gascoigne used yellow and orange retro-reflective road signs. This road sign will flash and radiate in the light. Gascoigne used regularly found materials such as wood, metal, iron and feathers. However the yellow and orange retro-reflective road signs are the most famous material. According to Gascoigne, her materials for art “need to have been open to the weather”. Hence she used found objects to create her assemblages. Gascoigne’s rearrangement of found objects suggests some impression of landscape to her and the viewers. Her honesty to her assemblages resonate the viewers. For Gascoigne, honesty is important in her artwork.