The first incarnation of this lengthy project began in the second year of my

BA (Hons) Fine Art degree in 2019 and took eighteen months to complete.

It started with a meditation weekend, which was about developing creativity using Hemisync music, this allows your brain waves to synchronise, thus in an altered state, your creativity comes to the fore.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it gave me the first inkling of the ideas that I have gone on to establish here.

The development of my idea was manifested at “The Making Rooms”, Blackburn, where they built the first prototype; a hand cranked machine. From there I decided to develop it further and went to an electrical engineer, Peter, who did a wonderful job of building an electric edition, which works via a small computer program, and the prisms turn randomly every 1.5 seconds. Each prism consists of a male and female portrait and a mirror.

My thought process was looking at gender fluidity and how we identify ourselves. This is more prevalent in our society today; allowing us to be who we want to be.

The piece sits at head height and as the prisms turn, you can see your reflection in amongst the squares of the two portraits. Allowing you to share the gender fluidity within the piece.

The work is shown on a freestanding pedestal, so viewers can look at it from all sides, it has a clear acrylic frame with all the electrical work visible. This being a metaphor for having an open mind to all things and all people.

The front of the piece shows the flat surface as if seeing a normal portrait, however, the back shows the angles of the prisms and creates further perspectives and viewpoints of significance.