Female Evolution - sand sculpture

in OnChainArt4 years ago

Every time you see a representation of evolution it will probably be of a monkey slowly transforming into a man. You could be forgiven for thinking that women have never evolved. Instead, they just popped into being, the wonderful creatures they are.

Being somewhat of a science buff I've always been fascinated by the theory of the 'Descent of man' as well as all the different artistic interpretations of its famous imagery. When asked to reproduce this iconic image in a sculpture for a sand sculpture festival in Bogata, Columbia I thought it was high time to show what the ladies were up to while all this was going on ie. Pretty much the same thing. Call me a feminist if you must but it was really that I find it more interesting to carve naked women, no matter what their evolutionary stage.)

It was a pretty standard composition based on the traditional illustrations but I did add a spiralling DNA like structure as a way of connecting them all physically and metaphorically. This element also allowed me to go a bit mad with cut-troughs while keeping the overall sculpture safe and supported. It did have to last 6 months after all.

It took me about 10 days to create the whole sculpture and it was tough work. Bogata is at 8,675 feet, 2,644m above sea level so the lack of air did take some getting used to but all in all it was a nice challenge. I had a lot of fun trying to think about how the face and body of the ancestors would have looked while trying to keep them in some way feminine.











Each Figure was created with no real source material. I just tried to work them all at the same time till I had some kind of balance between human and ape. The work light in the tent was pretty harsh to work by and every pebble of clay in the sand made it very difficult to resolve the surfaces like I would have liked especially for the last figure. These were all small niggles but I worked through them and was quite happy with the results.

The world is not a scary as you think

My loved ones and I did have some reservation before I went to Columbia, thinking that it would be a very dangerous place to work and visit but I never had one problem while there. The locals were so friendly and I really enjoyed the culture. We enjoyed many evening out in great bars and nightclubs with no issues and even got to attend A Miss Tanga competition (Like Miss World) which was great inspiration for my sculpture.

Screwed again

I'll just add this so we all have a complete picture of what happened during this project I'm sure my regular readers will be thinking, 'Not again?' but here goes. Unfortunately, the group of around 30 carvers who went to create the sand sculptures didn't get paid for the work they had done. This was entirely due to the mismanagement of the Dutch organiser who had used all the money from the project to pay off one of their debts. The Host in Columbia was the brother of the president (As far as I remember) and we were all treated very well by him. I could be bitter by the whole thing but, I had such a great time working with all the other carvers from around the world and our Columbian hosts that I just chalked it up to a great Holiday on which I had also made a sculpture that I liked.





Ps

Thanks for reading. I use PeakD to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, amongst other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Hive Blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.

Poles Apart - sand sculpture

Knights of the round table - sand sculpture

Colosseum - sand sculpture

I hope you'll join me again soon
@ammonite

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 4 years ago  

Getting it out there on the Twitter

when many people protest with jobs that we think are positive things. then that's where our level of popularity will appear.

I've seen your extraordinary level of thinking. and it can't be done with many people.

 4 years ago  

Thanks @dedigobelz. As with all things it is just a matter of practice and I always feel I have more to do.
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Why would people rage/accolade you with being a feminist just because you decided to do the evolution diagram with a woman instead of a man? 🤨

The woman doesn’t look terribly impressed about evolving 😆

Yay for having fun! Not about being screwed in the not nice way but I guess the good thing about that is knowing who not to work with again? 🙃

 4 years ago  

My writings about my work are usually more streams of conscience so I don't take me too seriously. I know the whole thing of male v female is very big in some peoples eyes and from my own point of view I find it interesting that the info on female evolution is more scarce. Write into that what you will. In the type of work I do there are luckily as many of both and the playing field is very even.

You are right about her looking a unimpressed, We probably should have stayed in the trees.

It is very true what you say about the lessons on who not to work for, I just wish these lessons were not so expensive.
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This is amazing and gosh you really have got to travel to some awesome places with your craft. Love the detail in this, you continue to blow me away with your talent my friend xx

 4 years ago  

Thanks, I have been very lucky to have been able to see so many amazing places through my work. This year, of course, all that has stopped for now.
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 4 years ago  

Thank you very much.

Uh my this looks like so much sand to work with! No wonder it took you 10 days