I'MPLANTED
About I'MPLANTED series…
Medium
I’MPLANTED is a mixed media art piece that combines pomegranate fruit prints and watercolour painting on watercolour paper. For this series I used a hot-pressed watercolour
paper.
Specifications
The main art pieces (unframed) measures 28cm x 18cm. However some of the prints are A4 sizes.
Process
For this series, I used slices of one pomegranate to print with to produce multiple original prints. The fruit slices are applied straight onto the watercolour paper and air dried. My printing process occurs during the pomegranate season, actually after the season when all the fruit start to rot, get eaten by the birds and flies and fall off the tree. I found that these rotten, abandoned and discarded fruit are the most bright and interesting to experiment with.
Once the prints are dry, the red watercolour paint is to added to the prints. This process is therapeutic for me. After the mess, the chaos and the rot... there is order and silence (mainly because I paint at night!) and calmness flowing through me. Mixing the paint to the right consistency and as I take note of each mark left by the fruit and noticing every unique pattern and splatter left by the fruit.
Collecting pomegranates.
Printing at my kitchen bench.
Painting over the air-dried fruit prints.
Colour Palette
The colour palette in this series is my happy place. Combining the natural colour of the fruit dye that changes all the time, from the time I start printing to the time, I complete the art piece, the colours are always changing.
The colours that I love the most is that of the print left by the most rotten fruit. The bright golden hues... It's the colours I grew up with. The golden sand along the lagoon and that of my skin tone, kissed by the sun as I somersault along the beach... I'MPLANTED
In this latest series, I used the Pantone Connect app to extract the colours and capture my colour story. I wanted to capture the colours I saw as soon as it was printed on the watercolour paper as the colours often evolve once the prints are air dried- sand, honey gold, clay, nugget, rattan...
Extracting colours from the rotten fruit.
Creating my colour palette.
Trying out different paint.
Artist Statement
I’MPLANTED is the second series of my pomegranate printing series. Through the process of creating I’MPLANTED, I continue to explore my body’s journey and to represent acceptance, growth and as I reflect on my femininity. To see previous work in this series, check out I'MPRINTED.
In this series, I tried to print some of the slices of pomegranate over each other. Two different pieces of the same fruit, coming together to make something else, something different, something new… from the same grit, of the same body…
A play on words
I’MPLANTED
I'M- I am!
PLANTED- The people who came before me and whose DNA is planted/imprinted within me.
IMPLANTED- Accepting who I am and accepting new ideas- being many things, all at once
I'M PLANTED- I'MPLANTED represents the idea of different parts of me, coming together, making something new and the endless possibilities.
This series reminds me that there are no errors when printing with nature. This raw process revels itself to me and every fruit, even rotten, leaves a mark worth being made, witnessed and celebrated.
Slices of the same fruit, coming together to make something else, something different, something new… from the same grit, from the same body… I'MPLANTED...
