Megumin Sato

On my return back to university I noticed that there was an exhibition taking place on the Lower Ground floor of the building. Megumin Sato, presented as 'Babie Sato' is a final year History of Art & Museum studies undergraduate who has put together a photographic self-portrait art exhibition; having spoke to her whilst I was looking around the work, she stated that the work was created in her spare time.

'A Girl who Smiles at Confi-dence Crisis' is an exhibition of photographs and collage works inspired by the artists thoughts, reflecting her identity with the message of how it is important to be yourself and to be confident about who you are. The exhibition visualises the artist Babie Sato's definition of being herself, illustrating common ego, desire, imperfections, sensitiveness as a girl and individuality such as the exotic and the quirk.

I found the information written about the theme of the exhibition and work intriguing alone before I even saw any of the work itself....the title and design of the advertisement poster caught my immediate attention, which I think gave me the first impression of a powerful show. On entering the room I was excited to see what was in front of me, the vibrant range of colour usage was the first aspect to catch my eye and my love for collage and photography was quickly followed as I spotted the range of individual pieces placed around the room.

I particularly enjoyed the piece titled 'Fruits on the Street'. There wasn't anything immediately exciting about this piece, it was simply snap shots of bits of fruit found on the street but I found the layout of the collage, the colour range and the randomness of the idea behind the work fantastic. Although I can't say I particularly know what I get from this piece, I have no idea what this piece is suggesting or how it links with the other works but I can wonder and make my own interpretation....I love it anyhow, and this piece alone has left me wanting to follow this artist to see future works and maybe ask for her advice on my own works and ideas. Her e-mail address and facebook account was available for us which I intend to acknowledge further www.facebook.com/babiesato.

Another piece I found instantly interesting was 'Heart Breaker- Confidence Crisis-', which she put together with the collaboration of Justyna Czasnowics (another fellow student).

This piece is very different to the previous, capturing herself rather than an object; whilst taking some of that control away from the artist herself as someone else is taking the photograph. I love the collection of images in this piece; which instantly made me smile, it's definitely got that sense of humour behind it....maybe capturing Megumin's personality. I also think the scale of the piece worked perfectly alone along with the other surrounding works. And again the use of colour works well, limiting the choice; creating a great contrast with the clothes in the photograph and the background painting.

This exhibition and artist hasn't particularly made me think any differently about my own work or ideas but she has made me think about myself, my identity and my own personal confidence; which I suppose is a positive aspect to gain from an exhibition.