After I met Nadia and had a chat and henna done by her, I gave her an email to see if she wouldn't mind me asking her some questions about her artistry . ( For my part C) From the email interview I learned that inspiration is a big thing for her, in terms of traveling and that for her henna gives her a connection to other people. I was really in treated about the fact that she wants to go more into henna as a form of beauty treatment and educate people on the physical benefits of the substance as well. A big thing I learned is that its an art form which requires daily practice and refinement, which could be something you could say for most art forms also. However I think the difference is that with body art you are using peoples bodies and skin as your canvas ( as Nadia says ) and this means you have to work with a different canvas each time, as everyones skin and body is individual to them. This reminded me of a really interesting point Gemma made ( a tattoo artist I interviewed) when she said that 'you have to work with peoples bodies on the day of the tattoo' and links with the fact that she too said that a tattooist never stops working. They are constantly creating and drawing and refining to make sure it works on the skin, but it changes again on the day of the actually tattoo.
How is this going to develop my work? I feel like this interview is going to help me in the future be reminding me that body art is in general a practice which you have to practice non stop , and when I get to a stage I am happy with I need to remember to not stop there. Its also inspired me to potentially work with the body in a different way, as with henna I have only ever stuck to very common places such as hands and arms. So moving it to different areas of the body is also going to help develop my work as I will be working with different shapes in the body also. Looking into the future of my project I have been really inspired about what Nadia said about creating henna as part of a routine, so for my second unit it has got me thinking about what I could potentially do with henna that will help people who could use it on a deeper level. As henna brings such positivity, meaning that it has benefits which are not just physical but also mental. Can I use this idea some way for my second unit when I'm looking at leading my own project?
Henna is so mesmerising to me...great interview!