MY QUOTE. Now I'm a real artist.

“Dare to cross the bridge that holds apart and brings together the realms of dream and reality” – Daniela Tamman 2012

Rose Skinner's Fantastical Installations - Imaginapolis

IMAGE FROM ROSE SKINNER INSTALLATION: LLAMALAND





My interview with the artist for my thesis:


QUESTIONS TO THE ARTIST

1) What is the intention of the spaces you create in your installations?

I’m bored with living in the urban environment. I question why form and function has become more important than our ability to connect with the spaces around us. Why creativity, wonder and play are being designed out of our experiences. Why liability and profit trump experience. I question the implications of living in a world designed by these factors by creating nonsensical escapist environments base purely on the sensory experience.

For me escapism is an intriguing topic within contemporary society. Multifarious socially expectable forms of escapism are deeply rooted into our contemporary way of living so much so that escapist ideologies have become a lucrative commodity, package ingeniously into our everyday lives. My installations are a child-like wanderlust to escape the urban environment; to sink with-in a self-created fantastical world which turns the everyday banal into a candy flavoured psychedelic adventure; a place where things aren’t logical and sense doesn’t need to be sought.

2) Would you say that they are an expression, a realisation, or a simulation of the landscape of the imagination? (or if not how might they relate to imagination for you)

Could I say a manifestation of the imagination?

The imagination doesn’t always make sense. Well, mine doesn’t. It’s a surreal mind-trip, a complex web of conscious and sub-conscious desires and fears that influence the way I think and live my life. Imagining and dreaming are a fluid non-committed way for me to explore artistic concepts and scenarios before manifesting them into reality.

My works are essential an exploration into the unconscious. Imaginopolis in particular was an experiment in creative visualization using the naff technique discussed in new age philosophies such as: The Secret, What The Bleep Do We Know an Creative Visualization?

3) Is the outsider's 'experience' of the installation important to the intention/effect of the work, and is the work meant to be experienced as something separate than their 'reality'?

The audience completes the work. Or to be more accurate, the audience’s experience of the work is the work of art. Viewing pictures or watching a video of the installations never really equate to walking into the environments and being immersed in a cacophony of sounds, smells, tastes, colours and intervening interactions that make up the worlds.

My intention is to create an alternate reality, something that steps outside of the everyday experience but the individuals perception of the space is the real reality and the constructed environment is the means to that unique perspective. . does that make sense?

4) How do you want (if at all) the viewer to relate to the worlds you create?

I would like the audience to find their own relation to the environments. The eclectic and intricate nature of the works and the use of everyday materials allows for broad interpretations.

5) Do you use juxtaposition? (i.e. of negative/positive elements or dream/reality structures)

Juxtapositions aren’t something I construct into my work but it inevitably happens. One end of the spectrum gives the other a psychological context.



Good luck with your studies.

Best,
Rose

Ephemeral

a few experiments from dreams project

more from bedtime photoshoot in august

Snow

The snow is silent.
Beyond my window, the world stretches out
In white – a landscape that no one
Has touched.
And in the night,
There is a peace
Of the quiet that muffles all awe
An unfurling veil of pale mist and shadow
Like a soft carpet of smoke unfurling into the distance
Meandering the trees,
And the world is half-buried beneath it.
And all is eerily still.
The wind moves nothing as if
Careful
That even the slightest breath
Might disturb the downy calm that settled
Or perhaps swirl the drifting snowflakes
In their slow spiraling fall, gently
From a cloudless sky.
My garden is painted white
A porcelain orchard of branches and trees
Leaves frosted like pale bells
That seem to want to tinkle like glass
If any whisper could stir them at all
From their frozen arrangement.

If I could wander without reserve
The solace of this un-treaded world
Where not a footstep
Dares to leave its mark
Not a sound can trouble
It’s silence.
As elsewhere, people snuggle inside
in the warmth,
Leaving this wintery
Wonderland
For me.
Here I might belong.

Rain go away

The calm after the storm
Is only calm besides the rage
That swelled the sea to violence.
In the night that settles
But does not rest
So many things have been lost.
And what is found is an absence
A wound, an abscess
A hole in the ground
Whose deep, dark hollow
Is filled with Nothing,
Unlike anything - so thick
And deep, and heavy and solid -
You can feel its silent empty
Presence in the air
Clinging to your bones
Like the ghost of something
Not even there
But it's silence, its stillness
Is as loud and clear
As the thunder that swore that
The storm
Was here.

Oh how it rained, and poured.
As if the sky had some frustration
Swelling deep in its chest of clouds -
An agonised torment it could not express
Darkening the pretty sur-face of sky.
And when the sun could bear to look no more
It withdrew and blinded its eye.
The fog of mist rolling through
Like a chariot pulling a train of clouded thoughts
Roiling and swilling the atmosphere -
Stirring the sea to disarray
And the titans inside her clashed and fought
For the sake of single clarity
To brush the tension away.
How the sky spilled and wrought
Tears like a weeping vein -
Struck by the slap
Of the best intentions
That threw all the chance in the fray.
And how the storm seemed
To struggle against its own swiping strength
In a wind that howled in pain -
Like a beast, a monster
Bowed down and broken before itself
Unleashing the outbreak of a world suppressed
And contained in its head.

How the water is so still
It seems
And the murky darkness
Like ink swirling
Sinking beneath
Never to be seen again, so hoped.
But like a smile
That hides it's teeth
A dangerous shadow
that hides in the light.
Returning within
Itself again
With no more
And no less
of a blight.
But harder
And darker
And less trusting -
Less open

The mouth of the tempest
Is shy.
How to express
The torment and stress
Of the weather
That lives under the skin
Of the sky.
We put up our shelters
We put up our tents
We shield ourselves from the rain
We shut our windows, and close
Our doors -
And hear only the sound of it drip-drip away
Only the lightening that cracks
On the frame
Only the crackle of our warm
Fireplace.
The wind is so lonely
It calls out in vain
The rain in its motion
Is trying to say
The lightening that tries
To connect to the world
So lost, and disjointed
So misunderstood.

Withdraw to the clouds
And never return
For the more that you try
That more that you'll burn
The very last bridge
To cinders and ash
So take one step back
And know
You were never ever
Made to pass.

Family

Ok not very lucid right now but i know one thing and thays that inlove my family. I also jnow that id i dont finish ny dissertation tomorrow im
Scrweed. My dads tje best for Spending time to help me with it...
Basically family appreciation up
In here while it still feels like an idea that makes semse while everything around ne is spinning!


love my family they are amazing, greatest most special father the in the world who does sp much for us, amaZing mother who is kind and giving and does her best for us, a kind amd wise nonna tjat always makes time for me amd thinks about me, a big hearted grandma who is strong and funny and loveable, amanda unique and special and strong and independant and adorable who
I can hv the best time with wjen
We arent biting each ithers heads off but we only di that cos we are so similar.
Stephanie that drives me mad but has taken Care of me and shared amd sacrificed so much for me in the past and still does.
My beautiful ezra who
Is gentle and sweet and affectionate and special and who i love more tjan anything.
Yasmeen and her unique amd clever and grown up perspective and maturitty yet how she still is fun and nuts - stay young at heart forever. How she apways tjinks if otjer people ajd is helpful and giving and sharing.
Rebecca who is also unique and clever amd has also her own fascinating way of seeing things, akd is very individual and creative and has a huge warm heart And amazing loyalty for thosw she loves.
Laura whp always there for ke even
Wjen she doesnt know how, amf makes me laugh and smile and brings some calm to my out of control, and is beautuful amd kind and funny
Daniella who is my double abd understands me and makes me laugh amd
Kniws always wjat to say amd jave the best time with me!
I love my family all of the crazy fun amazing and nervewrecking i oove them wouldnt change them
For the world. And all my friends thank you for doing your besrs.
Xxxx gooood might

The aftertaste of a dream

I once had a dream
That appeared to me
Like the impression of a rainbow’s beam
Shining sun-bright -
In the monochrome shaded folds of sleep
Laced with the misty eyes of clouded heads
And sense shut-out by
The blinds that framed my bed -
Yet still I was dazed by some halo glare
Of light
That dazzled all shadowed lines
To dim them cleanly out of sight
And sweep
Them out of mind –

And so my world became a blur
Of happy hazy thoughts on wings
And a summer warmth in winter air
That I never felt the cold stir -
And I ventured without coat, or care
With hands so open, skin so bare
Holding nothing back.
Oh to feel the future firm
It’s uncertain and wavering track.
The path I walked was soft as silk
Suspended in the wind
As sure as stone I told myself
As I walked the line
Half asleep, eyes shut half blind
But never did I feel more alive
My world so vivid, so bright, so lit
With your beacon blazing by my side -

How came a dream that left a dent
Heavy, in my pillow
It wafted sweetly into my head
And pretended to cement.
Stealing into the chamber door
Until it left its scent
Latched, locked, sealed,
And then, as sudden as it came
As sudden as that, it went.
And all the world that seemed so real,
It broke awake like the break of dawn
At the tolling ring of truth.
And awoke unto what seemed a dream
A folly, a nightmare, a feverish fright
As what was a whole world to me
Unravelled at the fraying seams

And turned pale, like a living dream -
That had quite lost it’s breath -
The ghostly fragments faded and
Disintegrated into the purple night
And left me with the faint impression
That all colour and light had been drained away
As the waking world drew into focus
And felt so sharp, in black and white
And clear, outlined in grey.
The shadows formed, stark in my mind
Twisting like black ink through the mixture
Of pretty memories that trickled out of my grasp
And tried to be forgotten –
But left behind the tantalizing aftertaste
So bitter and sweet on my tongue.

Take the high ground

Taking the high ground does not mean running away and hiding to the mountains.
It doesnt mean not fighting back, or not reacting.
It means being aware that you can see things that they dont see from where you are standing, and that from where they are standing they cant see the bigger picture.
It means taking the ground you have and not fighting for more, for something small and stupid.
It means letting things go, even if you know that you are right.
But not letting them go, saying nothing, letting them strike and walking away.
It means letting them know that they cannot strike at you, no matter how hard they try, and knowing that they will try, but that it wont affect you.
It means taking what crappy version of peace or sorry they offer, and walking away with it, even if its not enough, not because its okay, but because you know better than them, and because they cant do any better.
It doesnt mean forgiving them and letting them do it again.
It means letting it go and being aware for next time.
It means not pointlessly fighting a battle that you already know you have won, even if they still dont believe that they are losing, even if they are still fighting.
It means, not needing the shitty little piece of land that they have to offer, because you have everything you need, and walking away, without wanting for, or needing more from them.
Its about letting there be peace, even if they dont deserve it. Peace for yourself, because theres no point for anything else.
Stand your ground. Defend yourself. Fight for whats right. But when you do, always take the high ground.

There is a difference

Between
Feeling sorry
And feeling sorry for yourself.

Dragon

2012.
Its my year.
The year of the dragon.
You can expect great things from me.
I expect great things for myself...
Please g-d.
This is my year.
The start of great things bh.
The start of many more great positive things to come bh.
I won't let it be any other way.
Life is full of lessons and nothing ever comes easily.
But I choose to rise above it, and not let it get me down.
I can't change the world, I can't change anyone else,
I can't make anyone treat me differently or better, I can't erase my past, or expect anyone else to make up for it, and I can't be certain of my future.
But I can try, and never give up.
I can choose to look at the world differently, and see what always had the power to hurt me, as something harmless and powerless.
I can let go of my past, and never let it weigh me down again, never let it tell me who to be or where I'm going, or what I can or can't do, it will never make me, it will never break me, never again.
I do trust, I trust in myself. And I trust in something bigger than myself, I trust in the one that's always going to look out for me, no matter how lost I get.
And I know, even if the road gets dark and twisted, I will find my way in the end.
I'm not perfect, and no one else has to like that. No one else has to understand me. No one else has to listen. No one else has to give me love, or take care of me.
Because I dont need them to.
I accept me. I love me. I have everything I need, right her. And I dont need to try to be any more, or any less, for anything, or anyone.
Yes.
I said it once, but now it really fits.
Sometimes things have to fall apart, for them to fall into place.
Sometimes, you have to hit rock bottom, only to know that there's nowhere to go here but up. And then to realise that the sky is the limit.

So yes. Today I have no poetry, no pictures.
I have clarity, and its a poetry, an art in itself. It brings me more peace, more release, than anything ever has B"H.

I lost me, for a long while. A long long time, never even realising. But I found me again.
Yup. 'Daniela's back' as she said. And she told me she was happy to see me again. I'm happy to see me again too.
And I am not going anywhere, ever again.

PS working on the fairy tale biography.... coming soon.

The little book of feeling big

A few pages from my latest creation.