Origami devil

Waste and Carnival

"The carnival mentality seriously, solemnly dedicates itself to the concept of waste, ephemera, of built-in obsolescence, but this is not the built-in obsolescence of manufacture but of art, because in Carnival the creative energy is strictly regulated to its own season. Last year’s intricate sculptures are discarded as immediately valueless when it is midnight on Shrove Tuesday …"

pg 55 Critcial Perspectives on Derek Walcott by Robert D. Hameer

"And every year we dance and sing,

And every year we kill the king,

Because the old king must be slain

For the new king to rise again. "

from "Batai" by Derek Walcott (Unpublished manuscript in author's files)

Gathering

I'm going to start gathering things. Random things, things that have no relevance, things that hold a memory, things to build with, pull apart and put back together again. With these things I will begin to play, like a child would, trying to step away from all the intellectual research about why,where and when we play. Basically I'm trying not to over analyze the situation. I would attempt to truly play. It's easier said than done, because I keep telling myself I need a reason why. As of now I have decided that the process and its result will be analyzed in the future, but I would leave that for after I play.

I want to play with materials I have not used before, try techniques I have not tried before. This would help me step away from the conscious efforts for tastefulness and respectability that I aim towards in my other art work where I am comfortable and familiar with my media and technique.

I also scanned all my sketches I have produced over the past few days. I may not yet know their significance to the larger picture of what my thesis may be, but I do know that my obsession with drawing these dragon and devil scenes will be useful to the process and development of my thesis. I will post some images I created with the scans.

I Often sing this song by the Calypsonian Penguin, everytime I draw devils and dragon scene:

You ‘fraid de devil? You ‘fraid him bad?

Well look de devil right in your yard!

An’ he grinning while you saying grace

Shaking up he tail in people face

Wey de devil dey? Wey de devil dey?

Look de devil dey!

The costume

I started flipping through the book: Analyzing Performance: dance, theatre and performance by Patrice Pavis. I found a a few quotes about costuming that i've written down. In addition to making my own notes , i think analyzing the costume in respect to the body and the space it occupies will aid in the development of my proposed re - creation of the dragon costume and prehaps another project that will be a contemporary costume relating to a specific theme unknown at the moment. I think contrasting the traditional dragon and devil mas and costume performance against the contemporary costume (a king or queen individual) will be great grounds from which to view the effects of festival setting and theatre and its effect on how the wearer performs the given costume and its cultural significance.

Like any sign of performance, a costume is both a signifier (pure materiality) and signified ( element intergrate into a system of meaning). In fact this is exactly how Roland Barthes conceives of the “ good costume” : it “must be material enough to signify and transparent enough not to turn its signs into parasites.”

Pg 174 (Analyzing Performance: dance, theatre and performance by Patrice Pavis)

Costume and Body

A body is "worn" and "carried" by a costume as much as a costume is worn and carried by the body. Actors develop their character and refine their underscore while exploring their costumes; one helps the other find its identity:

A sleeve that is too wider or too narrow, too long or too short, can alter the stage projection of a character , and require from th actor a modification of his attitude; this then provokes subsequent inventions/constructions in terms of the costume, and so it goes on.

Costume and Space

Costume often constitutes a kind of traveling scenography, a set reduced to a human scale that moves with the actor: a decorcostume, as the costume designer Claude Lemaire calls it.

With the above quotes, I will try to create a series of diagrams that illustrate the relationship of the costume to body and space.

To begin ...

I decided the best way to get the ball rolling on this project, is to document all my sketches and ideas that will lead up to the dragon costume I will create ( I envision this as one project in a series of design projects I would undertake to examine my thesis aims) . I want to be able to document step by step, hour by hour all that takes place . If in the spirit of "Priesthood" I gather a few "Acolytes" the more the merrier. The idea of group work and forming of communities in 'mas camp' (where costumes are made) will also be developed and explored.

The idea is to create something from scratch and envision the space the body will soon occupy. Therefore paying attention to materiality, flexibility and movement. Also with the use of limited materials the folding and manipulation of the material ( paper or rigid fabric) will have to show the textures of the dragon costume and aid in animating the costume. Something that would usually be done with the addition of paint, glitter and sequins. I would like to explore costume making in its raw state, minusing all the layers of beads and sequins that cover up the body and structure of the costume itself. Whatever its framework, it is this arquitectonic costume space that the body occupies that will be examined.

Folding and costuming techniques

I made attempts at origami to experiment with various folding techniques that may be incorporated in making a costume. The motivation here was to draw attention to the use of basic and cheap materials but with an intensive labor technique, to create an end costume result that was reflection of the time, energy and patience that goes into traditional costuming. Folding is not usually found in Trinidad carnival costuming techniques however I wanted to introduce a new technique to help futher develop the arquitectonic nature that the carnival costume shape and space can create.

"In truth, it was in a spirit of priesthood that Aldrick addressed his work; for, the making of his dragon costume was to him always a new miracle, a new test not only of his skill but of his faith: for though he knew exactly what he had to do, it was only by faith that he could bring alive from these scraps of cloth and tin that dragon, its mouth breathing fire, its tail threshing the ground, its nine chains rattling, that would contain the beauty and threat and terror that was the message he took each year to Port of Spain. It was in this message that he asserted before the world his self. It was through it that he demanded that others see him, recognize his personhood, be warned of his dangerousness.” (35-36)

- 'The Dragon Can't Dance' by Earl Lovelace

Pulling inspiration from the protagonistic character "Aldrick" in Earl Lovelace's book " The Dragon Can't Dance" I would like to place myself in the role of Aldrick the Dragon costume designer and performer and imagine what the process was for him to create the dragon costume from scratch each year. The book describes the dedication and faith he had in the costume making process as being in the spirit of "priesthood". I hope the patience, intricacies and discipline of folding will help to discover this "spirit of priesthood."It should also aid in developing a project that goes through a creative thought process that is stimulating for future projects and encourages the designer to have a greater awareness of the spaces he creates, as he is more in tune due to the focus and patience that folding requires.