A project within a project

An assemblage of samurai armour, British Museum

As aforementioned, I chose the artifact in question for a number of reasons. It has definitive corellations with my studio interests and design leanings thus far. As I have been looking at the bodies relative positionings in space, and how its physicality is thus potentially subjugated through prosthetic navigations. In effect, exploring the 'trope' of corporeality dissolving through 'extensions of man'. Conversely, the suit of armour represents an affirmation of the human anatomy through stylised means. It connotes an augmented anatomy, an object with transformative potential imbued with a spiritual nobility. 

The actual suit in this instance is an assemblage of parts - pieces of armour from three eras of japanese history- A triptych. The resultant response was envisaged as a sculptural triptych taking cues from the somatological implications of the armour and its inhabitant. The armour is a protective exoskeleton, a carapace for its wearer that affirms the physical nature of the human being and implicates almost supernatural potential for the wearer. The piece in response takes the form of a trialectic exoskeleton, that suggests an anatomical schema transcribed through a series of striations. The adoption of the suggestive striated pattern, was an aesthetic gesture recalling the lamellar structure of the armour itself, that so characterises its protective potential. The form was also inspired in part by the work of artist Claude Heath (http://www.claudeheath.com), who in his work 'Thorax' articulates the human thorax as a succession of structural wrappings unravelling. Similarly japanese designer Issey Miyake envisages a structural encircling of human form. The proliferation of these forms also calls to mind the notion that the armour itself is only as successful as the spaces between. The idea of having three elements to the piece is an acknowledgment to the fact that the suit itself is a composite from three eras of japanese history. The three individual parts of the piece connote and suggest either specific anatomical locales - the head: the thorax : the arm which correlate directly to the components of the suit that are from the three eras - the helmet; the cuirass and the sleeve. Ideally I would have liked to a established a more profound distinction between the components- be it material or time (in a way to suggest evolution or development- in a way, the formal language of the pieces in succession suggests growth or development).