Gaya
Project 1
Gaya’s Project 1 was developed in response to the starting point ‘Fragile’. Divided into four chapters, her project explored fragility through different perspectives: broken objects, the mind, the human body and storytelling. As her ideas evolved, she developed a thoughtful exploration of identity and emotional vulnerability, culminating in a series of portraits reflecting the delicate nature of human emotions. Throughout the project, Gaya experimented with a range of materials, media and techniques, including three-dimensional processes, to explore how she could most effectively communicate emotional fragility through her artwork.
“The self is not a single, unbreakable shape, but something fragile and shifting, constantly formed and reformed through perception, connection and experience. Every thought, gaze, memory alters it slightly, leaving behind new traces and erasing others”
Project 2
Gaya’s Project 2 was developed in response to the starting point ‘Woman’. Gaya said that through her project she wanted to ‘challenge surface-level perceptions and instead communicate a more complex and introspective representation of womanhood’. Inspired by the work of Jenny Saville and Egon Schiele, she explored painted portraiture, investigating how colour, mark-making and the expressive qualities of paint could be used to communicate both the physical and emotional vulnerability of women. Throughout the project, Gaya developed her understanding of how portraiture can move beyond physical appearance to explore deeper themes of identity, emotion and the complexities of womanhood.
“Egon Schiele often portrayed women in a way that felt unfiltered and psychologically exposed rather than idealised. In my piece, the hunched posture, direct gaze and distorted proportions suggest emotional exhaustion and inner conflict, reflecting how women can feel pressure, fragility and scrutiny within society”
