Matilda Herd BA (Hons) Textiles in Practice
WHY BE ME WHEN YOU CAN BE YOU?
My project “why be me when you can be you?” Focusses on creating a false sense of reality, I focussed on how we can use social media to exaggerate our features and surroundings. I have utilized this to delve into ideas of vulgarity as beauty, as well as the pattern of extreme vanity. I use playful themes to convey ideas of identity, I portrayed this by using prosthetics to manipulate my fabric as well as distorting my own face and features. I have played with scale to create giant knitted forms. My work is multi-disciplinary even though my main avenue of practice is knitwear, I also use print heavily and embroidery, my work at its foremost, is heavily illustration based, I utilize this element through knit techniques such as punch-card designs. I’ve not only created garments but also knitted sculptural pieces Throughout this project I have focused on controlling every piece of my environment creating an extensive body of work.
I find inspiration from many areas including the female gaze and portrait photography such as Cindy Sherman, I have also explored cult cinema exploring dreamlike mise en scéne from films like Carrie 1976, I investigated this theme through my garments as I set up a prom concept I designed a prom king and queen. Exposing the pageantry of social media, I like to represent air romanticism in my work, Constructing a strange wacky immersive environment.
