Carly Morrison Flesh (Being Human)

For this project, I grew to be interested in the physicality of being human. Looking at the human form for what it is, flesh and bone. I took inspiration through archive research, and particularly, a film entitled ‘Second Glance: Hands’. In the film, factory workers are seen to be signalling to each other through hand gestures and undertaking labour using their hands. It made me consider the capability of the human hand, for example, labour (as mentioned), the ability to connect with others through touch, communicate through sign language. The list is endless. This then led me to explore the capability of the human body. When watching the factory workers, I started to think of the human form as a mechanical instrument, used for purposes for a larger corporation, like a cog in a machine. This perhaps seems like a cynical way of thinking but I believe there is beauty to be found in this idea. I find a sense of comfort in that we are all equal in our making, made up of the same stuff. Flesh and bone. In my paintings, I wanted to capture the parallel between the biological simplicity of the bodies’ physicality and also the sense of calm in that we are replicates of the one before us, and after us.