Adaptation beyond an ideal, a sculptural enquiry

To survive and travel within environments that do not accommodate the body, humans have designed tools that allow for adaptation. Through sculptural processes I have investigated the idea that humans construct various aspects of the external world based on a reflected understanding of the internal workings of the human body and its limitations. By drawing on forms such as the lifeboat, sleeping bag, hammock and aeronautical equipment, together with utilising my own dimensions as a design tool I have created a group of non-representational sculptures. It is my intention to explore how these sculptures can evoke possible shelters, adaptive vehicles and imaginary human carapaces. Conceptually this process alludes to structures and vehicles that transport the occupant beyond an imaginary set of physiological confinements. Various industrial materials such as rubber, timber, steel and fabric have been utilised, their inherent qualities contributing to design choices made within the construction process. I have investigated materials and construction techniques that reveal the making process, and present form and surface as problems to be resolved on an equal footing. A significant aspect of the project is the contribution made to the content of the work by time intensive methods of labour, together with specific material choices. Collectively the works share aspects of construction in that a skeletal framework configures each piece: cladding or exposure of this framework varying with each sculpture. Within the project I have researched the work of Lucy Orta, Antony Gormley and Martin Puryear to inform my research about shelter, dimensional design and formal concerns regarding material use and form.