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Student work: Moira Ratmoko - The Open College of the Arts

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Student work: Moira Ratmoko

The Body as Medium

Moira Ratmoko recently completed Sculpture 1: Starting out in 3D, on the BA (Hons) Fine Art pathway, creating a wide range of work exploring the boundaries of what sculpture can be. Moira often utilised the human body as a medium, embracing sculpture as a process to engage with the environment through performative actions and temporary installations.

Moira Ratmoko, Playground, 2021. Digital HD Video, 3.49min.

Whilst tutoring Moira during the stages of the Covid pandemic, many works took on new associations and meanings, seeing the closeness of bodies and physical collaboration felt like a celebration of freedom, diversity and community. 

Moira is interested in developing an understanding of healing and the therapeutic through art, employing various materials and methods from clay, plaster and drawing, to video, performance and photography, in a way to blur the distinction between art practice and everyday life. I recently asked Moira a couple of questions about the work made during Sculpture 1, see our correspondence below;

(Adam Thompson) Whilst undertaking Sculpture 1 you became increasingly open to sculpture in the expanding field, embracing the importance of context, location, and the body as key parameters of the discipline, can you say something about your experience with sculptural materials during the course? 

(Moira Ratmoko) I expanded my understanding of materials when I first moulded a human body into a posture as if it was a clay sculpture. This curious new concept of applying traditional moulding and arranging techniques using the human body, its emotions and interactions as my media, was the base for the work I made during the course.

Moira Ratmoko, Soft Matter, 2021

(AT) Your work Playground is a delight, a celebration of diversity, inclusion and togetherness, made even more poignant by the covid pandemic and other ever-present global complexities. I wonder if you see your practice having any political agency, and how do important cultural and social issues become part of how you approach the creative process?

(Moira Ratmoko) My practice has political agency to a certain extent. Social and cultural issues revolving around the avoidance and neglect of mental health, specifically trauma treatment kept recurring, as I believe it is responsible for many current global conflicts. I felt the need to extensively develop space and time for myself and my surrounding to stabilise and enhance emotional healing. To create intimacy, connection and safety through my work was central and defines a big part of my creative process.

Moira Ratmoko, Asemic Ropedart, 2021

You can see more of Moira’s work on Instagram @moira.joy.ratmoko.art

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Posted by author: Adam Thompson

4 thoughts on “Student work: Moira Ratmoko

  • Playground is a very joyful film. The ‘actors’ performed a love of life and sense of freedom, acceptance and love. for humanity. How much is it a reflection of their daily lives? Is this an ideal, an aspiration, or a reality for the artist?

    • Thank you for the questions! Most individuals, as well as myself spend their free time there. It is my reality and the reality of all the performers in the video, nothing was acted, this was their genuine feeling towards this location as it is a safe space for individuals to unfold themselves freely outside of their responsibilities, I was just lucky enough to capture and experience it.

  • I really enjoyed watching the video and felt uplifted. These works demonstrate that we don’t need to be constrained by traditional fields or labels, or, indeed, degree path.

  • I enjoyed watching the video. The video depicted freedom in art and expressions. It really gives us an artistic freedom with no boundaries or limits.

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