Expansion of Self 2.0

Exhibition - Platform Graduate Award

Date - 11/08/22 - 31/08/22

Location - Print Studios, Arts University Plymouth

Scale - Body: Length: 5.5m Width: 1.4m Height: 3.6m

Tubular Extension: Length 6m Width 1.25m

Material - Mylar sheeting, Wall, 1 x Desk fan

About

“At the end of my degree studies, I was fortunate to be shortlisted as a nominated artist for The Platform Graduate Exhibition, alongside several other artists from both Arts University Plymouth and the University of Plymouth.”

Expansion of Self 2.0 is an evolution of Brooks’ previously exhibited work, Expansion of Self. Reimagined to inhabit a new space, the piece continues and deepens its original intent. As Brooks’ first autobiographical work, Expansion of Self 2.0 functions as a near self portrait, charting the artist’s internal journey toward self acceptance within his creative practice and his ongoing search for identity and place within the art world.

“During the exhibition of this work, I hated it. From the way it turned out to the way it looked, I thought it was a mess. I felt it didn’t stand well beside the other pieces on display, and despite being autobiographical, I felt no personal connection to it. But after stepping away from the studio and giving myself time to reflect, I absolutely love it. I now fully understand what I had only begun to grasp back then: it’s a piece built with passion, yet charged with all the anxieties and uncertainties of the past eight years. Today, it has become a work I can look back on and grow from.”