What kind of Imagery and symbolism has she used?

As previously stated, the main focus of Stuntman's narrative works are women and she therefore relies on a lot of imagery which will depict the various aspects of created womenhood in order to express her narrative. 

Figure 26 Figure 27 Barbara Stutman, (1996) Stacking Reality Brooch. [ONLINE]

In her series entitled "Stacking Realities",  as seen above; she has created a womanlike figurine with a tray attached to her. 

Figure 28 Stutman, B (1993). One Being Female. Brooch [ONLINE]

Her work is a creative collection which uses a vast number of imageries all centred on that specific subject matter. An example of this is the 4 part brooch taken from her "One Being Female" series. With these Brooches, she has incorporated the use of tampons alongside fine silver, Spandex, colouredcopper wire, brass and copper. 

Figure 29 Stutman, B. (1998) It’s a girl! 2 Fine silver and coloured copper ring. [ONLINE]

She sometimes also used shoes, specifically high hills in order to mock media for their false idea of their ideal women.

As seen in the three examples provided, she has relied on the usage of various imagery based on the specific subject matter, but all pertaining to  women. 

Happily ever after

Cinderella 

When I embarked on the journey of creating a bridal themed collection, I was soon faced with the challenge, would I as a jeweller follow the status quo by creating jewellery which would paint a narrative identical to the one portrayed by media? Or would I create a collection of jewellery based on the narrative of millions of women and young girls who never find this Prince Charming?

The above picture is an example of what media portrays, as appealing as it may be create the Cinderella tale, I felt that there were some real stories which were being swept under the red carpet she walks on. 

Therefore with my work, I wanted to try to narrate the bridal/ umakoti narrative of those who never got to live that fairytale ending. I feel that as much as they are represented in statistics and numbers, that those were and are lives, which have stories and perspectives which need to be told. Their lives are not just more stories, but their reality.

I have therefore tried to use jewellery alongside poetry in order to capture these idea. Within a story, a movie to be specific its not just the words which express the story, but all the small pieces which inform one story, such as the lighting, the music, the props and clothing. In a similar way, the jewellery which I will be making will also rely on the colour, the textures, the words and the symbols in order to effectively portray the narratives.

Picture URL:https://sites.google.com/site/07cinderella23b/my-happily-ever-after