Aesthetics and Morality

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Aesthetics and Morality part 1

This project aimed to explore the human face; it challenged the public’s perception of beauty, aesthetics and truth in modern society and attempted to reinvent social conventions surrounding appearance and reaffirm lost identities throughout history.

It focused on the concept of people being involuntarily branded because of unwarranted negative publicity or unattractive physical attributes and looked into how this branding contributed to their loss of identity. It then went onto explore the relationship between aesthetics and morality, examining the correlation between positive branding and an attractive exterior despite questionable morals.

Through my art I attempted to give power and status back to those who had been unfairly branded in past and present societies. One of my subjects was Joseph Merrick or as most people know him “The Elephant Man”. I aimed to transport Joseph into contemporary society in order to reaffirm his identity and give him his name back, in the process allowing my audience to see the harmless, real human being before them. Joseph died as he lived trying to be like everyone else. His death caused by his overwhelming need to be a normal man , even in sleep. My portrait acted as a memorial for the kind hearted soul that nobody knew.

It immortalised a misunderstood man and finally gave him the status and dignity he always deserved.

This project also attempted to expose those who had been given respect, power and trust despite their questionable morals merely because of their aesthetically pleasing attributes. I examined the way in which propaganda acted as a branding tool in order to mislead public opinion and discovered how aesthetics could only act as a disguise for a brief amount of time. Ultimately an attractive exterior is never enough to conceal true immorality. I questioned weather a modern day audience would favour aesthetics over history and hoped to establish how society influenced an art works whole character, aiming to conclude if a morally flawed subject matter could persuade an audience to discredit what would otherwise be a skilled and aesthetically pleasing art work.