Italian Residency 2004:Studying at the Libera Accademia Di Belle Arti, in Spring 2004, I produced a body of work in response to my period there. The introspective responses dealt with ideas concerning identity, communication and isolation. Confronted with a communication barrier, time was spent exploring the nature of words and language, and their lack of effect in a foreign location. Manipulating this idea, I set out to invade public space with foreign text, exploiting the ineffectiveness in communication. Developing this further, I turned to the spoken language, and confronted members of the public with personal questions concerning identity and society. Using typical phrasebook wording I questioned members of the public and documented their reaction. Exposing a feeling of confusion and isolation, this represented my struggle within a foreign place, and the futility of an unknown language. As part of my collaboration with an Italian fashion photographer, I directed the gaze towards the self. Relating to personal concerns, feelings of confusion and lack of identity, I used the body as the focal point. Presenting a foreign language scribbled on the surface of the skin became a visual metaphor for the tension I experienced. Presented with the photographs, are personal feelings and accounts of my experience. Further emphasising the sense of exclusion, the foreign text acts like a barrier, a wall of words.
