George

Mapston

George Mapston is a London based artist, photographer and image maker specialising in fashion photography. He is also an award winning hairdresser. His work aims to push the boundaries of beauty and fashion, exploring gender identity, social justice and current affairs including sustainability and equality. With extensive experience in hair and makeup, George went back to UCA as a mature student to develop a skillset in photographic work.

 

Since childhood, George has been inspired by the Greek myths. Arguably some of the oldest and most poignant stories, which are the origins of a lot of modern stories and even day to day language. George’s partner Aaron Challis is currently creating his masters collection and while watching him create toiles for his designs, George noticed how the calico gathered on the mannequin looks like some of the ancient greek statues seen in museums. The aim of this work is to create an evocative photo series paired with a promotion of Vivienne Westwood jewellery to portray her message of sustainability metaphorically linked with the immortality of the Olympians.

While writing an essay for this unit, George decided to write a creative writing piece about the goddess Hestia, a seriously unrepresented and unappreciated Olympian, he wanted to create a feminist retelling of her story, opposing the misogynist message of some of the other male gods, for this reason, he chose to portray female and androgynous gods in this work. Inspiration from research into antiquity, contemporary practitioners and ancient narrative, lead to creating a fresh editorial. There are many layers to this project; it will be presented as a scroll, to comment on the amalgamation of the linear sequenced storytelling as well the more abstract and sporadic stories we get from images. 

@georgeboleyn
georgeboleyn.co.uk