Thomas
Huw
Evans

Détournement

2016 - Ongoing

The term Détournement, in French translates to hijacking or rerouting, is a radical approach created in the 1950’s by the Letterist international who were a cumulative group of Paris Based artists. Mainly it has been described as a disparity between that of the original art work and that of the new artwork, the meaning being adversary or contradictory to the archetypal. But as well, the viewer must be able to recognise the original piece, in order to gain the reasoning behind the opposition of the new message.

The 'Detournement' project is currently an ongoing series of collaged images using found imagery that in essence act as a contradictory from their original pieces. By using symbols in modern society that capture an almost satirical play on what the public considers as a 'Norm'. I was inspired by John Stezaker's collage work, using imagery that seamlessly blend in with the original pieces. It's this technique that I applied to my collages, some more subtly than others. It's the pause in the process of thinking that I want to harness, in an attempt to show how easily it is for people to automatically assume something is conventional.