In our latest project we were given the opportunity to completely design the brief ourselves, and choose our own starting point instead of being given one. I had recently read the book 'Rethinking Sitting' by Peter Obsvik and had been very taken with some of his thoughts about posture and how we have changed as a race from a constantly moving state to a sedentary state. This led me to make some simple posture sketches while on work experience, as there were a lot of people lounging around the reception of the hostel where I was staying.
When I looked at the sketches, I saw the most defining feature of the poses was how the back was positioned, and this led me to research and look at the human spine in more detail. I looked at drawing books, anatomy books and made sketches and diagrams myself to gain a better understanding of how it works, why it works, how it affects the rest of the body etc.
The elements from this research that I found the most interesting are how each bone interlocks with the others and how they stack on top of each other to create a highly flexible structure that still provides support for the body. However how vulnerable the spinal cord is in this structure is another element that really interests me, for something that is so crucial to the rest of our body, it is bizarre that it is so exposed and as a result we are very susceptible to back problems. Next I will start to work in 3d and try to create a body of work that can express the elements that I have chosen.
