Scream if you wanna go faster (2023)

This project was my final piece for my undergraduate fine art degree. it was the culmination of my explorations into puppetry and video, combined with a research project I was doing on the history and evolution of caricature as an art form. 'Scream If You Wanna Go Faster' explores the application of caricature in contemporary culture. Internet memes such as 'wojaks', utilize many of the same tropes reflected in caricature of the past. Deliberately crass drawings indicate the mocking tone whilst characters are differentiated through clothing, makeup and hairstyles denoting a series of character archetypes. This meme format ridicules contemporary trends whilst inadvertently acting as a form of social cohesion, defining what is ‘cringe’. By presenting the video in a Punch and Judy hut I juxtapose old and new, in doing so emphasising the evolution and continuity of caricature. Punch and Judy has been renounced in recent years due to its violent misogyny, by using it as a motif I am hinting at the way memes are used to express violent and bigoted views whilst maintaining a façade of harmless irony. 

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the video piece consists of live action footage featuring a large scale 'troll face' mask I made, as well as stop motion animation segments. I used rudimentary cardboard puppets as well as Punch and Judy character puppets which were  made of fabric and puppeteer-ed like marionettes against a green screen. this was a valuable experience in stop motion techniques, the importance of armature and use of stop motion pro software. For my final exhibition I projected the video in a Punch and Judy hut I constructed out of MDF.