from Bill, to Coo
A personal project influenced by the word ‘you’. I became engrossed with how different people’s mannerisms and body movements define them as individuals and allow them to become instantly recognisable. After meticulous research, I started to delve into how various gestures, in a range of cultures, are used to initiate mating rituals and courtships. I then found similarities between the courtship rituals of both humans and animals, in particular birds. Birds tend to use elaborate dances, gifts and displays of ability to attract a mate. The fundamental aim of my project was to take it into unexplored and playful tangents and finding inspiration from artist Isabella Rosellina’s ‘Green Porno’, the next step was to ‘become a bird’. Research into the Bower Bird motivated me to use found materials to create a giant 6ft wide bird costume and dance in it. I then illustrated and screen printed a small book of dating advice according to birds, entitled ‘from Bill, to Coo’ - a subtle play on words (to bill and coo is to flirt) to sum up the project.
