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Adam Woollands- Infection

As a primarily mixed media artist, I utilise self-portraiture as a surface to work on with an applied medium. The act of disfiguring one’s appearance has a negative connotation, which is the main influence behind my practice. The application of mixed media is a performance between the artist and the photograph which alludes to issues such as anxiety, insecurity, identity, and self-representation. As a result of applying mixed media onto my photographs, I transform the work into tactile three-dimensional photographs. The tactile quality is vital to my work; the ability to touch the photograph creates a physical connection between the image and the viewer. My practice makes use of cliché self-representations and forces a new narrative to be created, leaving a surreal, disturbing, uncanny effect. As a primarily mixed media artist, I utilise self-portraiture as a surface to work on with an applied medium. The act of disfiguring one’s appearance has a negative connotation, which is the main influence behind my practice. The application of mixed media is a performance between the artist and the photograph which alludes to issues such as anxiety, insecurity, identity, and self-representation. As a result of applying mixed media onto my photographs, I transform the work into tactile three-dimensional photographs. The tactile quality is vital to my work; the ability to touch the photograph creates a physical connection between the image and the viewer. My practice makes use of cliché self-representations and forces a new narrative to be created, leaving a surreal, disturbing, uncanny effect.

The work titled Infection is the remnant of a performance which gives the feeling of insecurity a physical form. It is a method of expressing uncertainty and anxiety as an evolving entity, which can persist throughout our lives unless it is recognised. The act of painting small dots onto the self-portraits is obsessive and controlled, making reference to the artist’s fixation on appearing in a way which is deemed aesthetically pleasing. The painted layers are made to appear as an unknown skin infection alluding to the idea of insecurity growing, spreading, and damaging the host body. The tactile quality of the work is a way of confiding in the viewer, in which they are invited to touch the painted layers as a means of connection.

Instagram: @adamwool


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