Vivienne Loraine

MA Fine Art

Vivienne Loraine explores the hidden nature of emotions using a variety of media, including clay and salvaged household materials.

Her inspiration germinates from her fascination with museum artefacts and archives: relating to archaeology, anthropology, history and ethnography. Here, layers of similarity and difference are peeled back to reveal human development. Her work also incorporates wider questions regarding humanity, personal narratives and methods of construction and repair. Working with and through familiar and everyday materials to find appropriate methods and construction solutions, the emotional content of her work remains paramount.

The exhibition and book Assembling Bodies: Art, Science and Imagination, 2009, Anita Herle et al, captivated her attention and substantiated her intentions. These displayed various perceptions of the human body through different disciplines and cultures that revealed biological systems, spiritual beliefs and emotional thoughts that hide behind our skin.

Vivienne makes connections between the body and emotions: combining the understood and physically evidenced anatomical structure with the often disregarded, misunderstood and intangible emotional drives. She feels reassured that other cultures are spiritually and emotionally compelled and they have made artefacts to support these beliefs. She considers her artwork to be an extension of Assembling Bodies aims.

Strengthening the importance of our emotions and mental health to the Western World is Vivienne’s aim. She strives to appeal to the general public, in a simple way that everyone can relate to. Vivienne process evokes questions such as:
What if emotions and mental pain were visible like physical injuries?
Would it help mental illness become acceptable if other people could see the trauma of it?

Vivienne brings attention to the human body and its emotional content in a celebratory way. A positive and successful outcome that embraces humans being emotional, accepting that emotions are part of our lives and they are the essence of humanity. The person we portray is not always how we feel inside, but it is important to look inside because that is where the real person resides.