Catherine McCaw-Aldworth

We got given a new brief this week called bleeding at the edges. It was quite an interesting brief in that we had to make expansions and adaptions to our bodies. I did this in a more unique way because I made body cages. Although they don’t necessarily expand the body they definitely adapt to it and they also cause the body to adapt to them as they restrict the freedom of movement in the body. I am really happy with these pieces and I think that it was a good start on exploring the body in my work. my favourite one would have to be the ear piece because of the prettiness of it and because of the meaning of trapped sound and blocked hearing behind it. I think the worst one is probably the breast cage, it doesn’t look very good, but are cages meant to look good in the first place? I was influenced by Frida Kahlo and her body corsets and also by paddy Hartley face corsets. They both have similar ideas where they contort the body, although my work doesn’t do this I can still see some...

We were given a new brief called translate/mistranslate. We had to dig up an old piece of work and reinterpret it. the piece of old work I used was a poem called ‘The Steinway’ And so you play me, Like the old Steinway Heaving notes and semi quavers, Dancing fingers, dripping in rhythm, Tapping notes with jerks and reaching fingers. You buckle me over the lid Expertly manipulate a chord, D minus, F flat, GGGG A sharp And pressing the key that pushes the hammer That hit’s the string, that vibrates this music inside me You play me and play me and play me You know this tune by heart Each crescendo, undulation, change in tempo And you play me, my love Like the old Steinway This poem is quite sexual and also quite painful, its longing but not having. The piece I created for this poem I think so far is some of my best work. I am extremely proud of it and it turned out better than I thought it would. I made the hands using alginate moulds and para...