My chosen topic is Dream core, an aesthetic revolving around nostalgia images.
I chose this topic because the word “unlovely” remind me of a childhood memory. When I was in primary school, one night I was playing on the playground slides outside of my house, and suddenly I saw a women in a bright red dress walked right up to me and tried to hit me for no reason. I freaked out and run toward my home as fast as I can. From then on I began to be scared of the color red and playground slides. Pictures themed with dream Core often make me feel uneasy, because they usually contain empty abandoned amusement parks and narrow Spaces, which is a panic-inducing aesthetic. Seeing these pictures often reminds me of bad memories of my childhood.
As for the research part, I will first look for some pictures of Dream core on the Internet, because this word is emerging on the Internet, and I can hardly find books about it. However, I will carry out some relevant research on the extension of this theme, such as human psychology and so on. I have researched the beta brain waves of people when they are frightened, and I think the fluctuating shape of brain waves can be used in my fabric and silhouette design. I also go to an amusement park and an art exhibition to take some photos and draw inspiration from them and extend some ideas.
I will also go to some interesting places to do my first-hand research. The first place I’m visiting is an amusement park that is very similar to the playground I had in front of my house when I was a kid, there are some simple facilities for children to play, including a net for people to climb on, and when we look at it from different angles, the way the ropes crosses is different, and I think I can extract some inspiration for woven fabrics or silhouettes. I will also go to an exhibition by artist Rana Begum. One of her works also includes mesh fabrics and rich colors, but rather than the unease feeling of the colors in the dream core pictures, her works always try to find a way to express beauty. I think it fits the project topic of making unlovely things into something lovely.
The BA course I chose is Knit.
These researches will be helpful to my course because it has rich colours and distinctive shapes, which will give my fabric design more possibilities. For example, dark or bright colours in dream Core pictures, Rana’s colourful and fluffy mesh, and the interlaced net for people to climb in the amusement park, which are like wool wound together, all these elements can be extracted and used in the fabric, which I find very interesting.