The Life Cycle of a Condom

Analysis of objects in a condom

I chose objects that I think people turn to when suffering from Isoloneliness, yet I don’t know why I put them in condoms. I could have used the objects in their own context, and feel like that it doesn’t work by putting them in condoms. My focus for this project was to illustrate sex and one night stands as a cure, not other cures. If I am to return to this project, I will extract the objects from the condom and use them in another way.

RISK ASSESMENT; The hypodermic syringe I used was brand new, and free from sharps. A friend who uses insulin provided the needle, and he handled it at all times, including putting it in the condom. It was disposed of in his sharp box carefully and responsibly.

The Life Cycle of a Condom/Mid term review

The idea for this creation was inspired by using condoms to capture ‘life’. My aim was to represent a cure; a one night stand. By creating a brief time line of a condom in its different stages of use, would represent been used for sex. I wanted to represent the gratifications of sex, and how we see sex as intimacy. Between the times of sex, we are as close to another person, physically, as any other activity. This craving for intimacy might be seen as a need, an escape from been lonely. Based on personal experience, one night stands can be deconstructed as a temporary cure for loneliness. The life cycle intentions were to illustrate this idea.

Behind the controversy

The instalment did cause a bit of a controversy when people found out that the last condom contained real seamen. I feel that I had to use real seamen because it represented the capture of life, creating another lonely vessel (life). I wanted to create a piece that was realist, and if I used a substitute, it would have lost its values.

However, I presented this idea to my peers at the midterm review and received mixed comments. Although several people liked the concept, the work was classed as subjective. A situation that did not occur to me at the time of creation. The problem with my work was that it wasn’t clear to the viewer the intentions of the piece. One comment that I took on board was that it could be evidence of a loving relationship, when the work is supposed to represent a one night stand. I looked at the piece after and could see that it was hard to understand what was going on. In my mind, I knew what the significance was, but failed to notify the viewer.

The development of The Life Cycle of a Condom

Taking in to consideration on what was said at the midyear review, I decided to try develop the piece. One of my ideas was to add the time on the life cycle, and turn it in to a time line. From the first part, I placed a time on the back ground, and on each one until the end was 5 minutes ahead of the first one. I wanted to try and create a time scale of 5 minutes that would signify a one night stand, or a ‘quickie’. I then framed the condoms, not to create an impact on meaning of the piece, but to keep the condoms safe. Upon self assessment, I felt that it still didn’t work, and I started to struggle coming up with ideas to represent a one night stand. At this point, I decided to move on to another part of the project because time was running out, and the cycle project was becoming very time consuming.