Rationale
Les songes des petites filles
(Little girls’ dreams)
Complete breakdown and symbolism
Overview & Introduction
There are many reasons for me choosing rape as the subject for my artwork. The main reason is that rape infuriates, frustrates and drives me mad. The simple word makes me want to rip myself apart in pure frustration and helplessness. The simple idea of the act of rape sends chills through me. When thinking more in depth about the act of rape I battle to maintain a thought process on the topic because of the sickening effect it evokes in me.
Another reason is that too many people look upon a newspaper headline of “Nine year old school girl raped” and say to themselves “Ag shame” then carry on with their day as normal. Do they even realize what that girl has been through? Do they know what she had to deal with?
The whole idea of showing the after effects of a rape and the constant “haunting” of the real rape came to mind as well as to haunt the viewer and make him or her more aware of rape.
The title
There are two complexes around the title, the language and the meaning behind the words.
The reason for the title being written in French is that French is said to be the language of love. This is ironic as rape is anything but love. Although love can be expressed through sexual means, rape is criminal and nowhere near love. Another link to the language and its representation of love is that, all her life a young girl dreams (the non-real thoughts of a girl) of finding her prince charming (love). This dream is crushed by the reality of the horrifying rape.
The meaning behind the words “Little girls’ dreams” links to the previous idea of love. Also ironic in that rape is not any girls dream but a nightmare that drives fear into every girl.
The “Room”
The ‘room’ I have constructed to display my work serves several purposes:
· The room represents the girl’s mind and how she is continually haunted by her terrifying ordeal. It is bad enough that she had to go through the rape, but now, for the rest of her life she has to be haunted by it. The construction of the room is to try replicate this haunting and let the viewer experience it in a small instance.
· The ‘childish’ flowers painted on the outside represent the girl’s innocence and childishness. It shows what in an ideal situation should be a young girl’s biggest concern, that of having fun and flowers.
· Along with this ideology the outside of the room looks to be a giant dolls house, which a young girl would spend most of her days playing and bringing her dreams to reality through her dolls.
· The flowers give the viewer the preconceived idea that my work is watery and jovial; however the total opposite, is only realized when the viewer steps into the room and views the interior. The total contrast between the interior and exterior creates a gut wrenching shock.
· The interior is painted black to symbolize the truth behind reality and the girl, darkness. The lack of light (light representing hope and all things good) shows the true affects of rape.
· The structural elements of the room (pillars and joining pieces) have been highlighted with matt blackboard paint. The 1st reason for this is to emphasize the structure thus creating and emphasizing an isolated claustrophobic feeling. The words “Stop, Stop Please Stop!” have been written in red chalk on the paint to resemble a school girl writing on a school blackboard. This poses as a twist and brings about another “real” tangible affect. The choice of the words “Stop, Stop Please Stop!” is what a girl would be shouting, screaming and or even thinking when she is being raped. When the strobe light flashes the contrast between the light red chalk and blackboard paint is emphasized. Another effect that is created is that of the words”jumping” toward the viewer and the words can almost be heard. The reasoning for using red chalk (other than that of trying to create a school like setting) is to resemble the fact that even the girls words are full of hurt, pain etc that is associated with blood.
· The strobe light inside allows the viewer to be haunted as the girls would be. By “haunting” the viewer the effect is to ensure that my image of rape is stuck with the viewer.
· The room allows the viewer to view my piece and become a part of it privately, and let it affect him / her fully and individually.
The Hands and Sheets
The two sets of moulded hands represent the actual rape. One of the simplest parts of our body can represent emotion and action.
The 1st set of hands resemble the girl in the early stages of being raped, when she still has the hope and energy to try fight. As seen her nail polish is still intact and shows the fun and innocence of the young girl (shown by the multi-coloured nail polish) that is being raped. Both the hands and the sheeting are a crisp white which resembles their purity.
The 2nd set of hands serve as a huge contrast to that of those above. The 2nd set of hands are tied up with a belt. The belt gives a sexual value to the piece as well as giving an idea to the viewer of how callous the rapist is in his actions. As also seen the multi-colour nail polish is now worn away in the girl’s struggle, again representing the violence associated with a rape. Also the bright white has become slightly duller. The whiteness of the hands becoming duller does not mean that the girl has become impure but shows that that her life was beginning to be destroyed and her lust for life lost. The gory overdone bloody sheeting is to give a super real element of rape. By using an unrealistic amount of blood it shows not how much blood really gets spilt during a rape but the callousness and extreme violence of the act. The blood stained sheets are in a huge contrast to the pure girl’s hands and previous white sheets.
Both of the hands are a crisp white which is to avoid giving the “hands a race” because rape effects all women of all races. As well as showing the purity of the girl being raped.
The use of sheets as a backing for both sets of hands adds another sexual value to them and the piece as a whole. When the strobe flashes the crinkles and creases are highlighted, again representing the struggle and violence.
The Stool
The stool is a typical stool that would be found in most homes that have a breakfast bar. The stool brings about a general familiarity of home life which comfort and protection is associated. The chair has been hacked and destroyed to give it a battered up raw appearance. When the viewer sits on the stool it feels uncomfortable and the viewer feels uneasy which is to be expected with remembrance of the topic we are dealing with.
Miscellaneous
On the door is a typical charge form which would be filled out in the case of reporting a rape. Bellow the rape charge is the annexure to the charge sheet detailing the specifics of this particular rape.
Bellow the charge sheet and annexure is a big smiley which is to continue with the whole happy, joyous and innocent theme.
There is no floor as seen when entering the room. The main reason for this is to incorporate the various surroundings of where my piece is displayed, in hope of reinforcing the fact that rape occurs everywhere, world wide.
amazing!
