28/3/14

Today I didn't manage to get much done due to having made other plans, however I did manage to fit in a small amount of work. After taking my photographs yesterday I carried on with the Laura Mulvey research and development. Through out the week I had been listening to Beyonce's new album and usually I wouldn't find something like this relevant to my work but whilst listening to the lyrics to her song Flawless, I found them very inspiring because in the break down they were discussing the way woman are treated in society particularly on their looks and how woman should act. The lyrics are meant to be empowering to woman, and the main message of the song is that woman are perfect and 'Flawless' no matter what they look or act like and that they should be strong and fearless.

The songs meaning enabled me to develop the Laura Mulvey argument of whether woman or idealised or objectified, and this element focussed on them being idealised. I brain stormed key words from the lyrics which are: Fearless, Intimidating and Strong and then found imagery to represent this. I wanted the imagery to portray a strong intimidating female so I looked into photographer I knew would focus on these elements. Therefore I looked into Damien Vignaux and Terry Richardson. The images have similarities as they both portray independent woman with braids in their hair. I felt like these braids represented strength and intimidation as they reminded me how people in gangs would wear their hair.

I also then created some samples inspired by the braiding. The first samples I plaited some string together which created a nice texture. For the second I plaited some fabric. To do this I needed a stretch fabric so I used a stretch jersey then cut multiple lines in it which I could then use to weave with each other. I really like the plaited fabrics aesthetic as it looks really interesting and it could also make an interesting surface decoration due to its texture.

Although small I like todays progress as I'm enjoying the direction its taking. I think that looking into societies views on woman is interesting especially within the media when their looks are concerned, therefore I think this will be the next step into my research and development.

27/3/14

Up until today I had been working on separate sheets, where I would just collect my research. However today I decided on filtering through my research and transferring it into a sketchbook. This wasn't difficult to do but quite time consuming as filtering through my research and placing it in my book took time. It was time consuming because I was printing in different sizes and on three different types of fabrics as I have decided to use card, tracing paper and tissue paper. But I feel like it was worth the time because eI'm quite happy with how it looks. This probably took up about half of the day. So for the rest of the evening I

conducted my three photo shoots for the Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella and Voyeurism VS Fetishism ideas. For my Cinderella idea I waited till the evening as I needed to take the photos when it was dark outside. As I took the photos in my parents room where they had fairy lights on the windows. I used this because the lights shone through the muslin curtain making it look hazy. I also experimented with different fabrics over the lens to create a different blurred effect. I found that using a cream chiffon created an interesting blur and it also work better than the other fabrics which were a lace and a pink organza. However whilst I was waiting to take those photos I was taking the pictures for the Voyeurism VS Fetishism. For this I was brainstorming ideas and I settled on the idea of something pure becoming corrupted. This lead me to thinking of how when I am cleaning my paintbrush in water the ink will slowly pollute the water. To take the photos of this I filled up my bathroom sink and dropped 2 drops of ink in it and then gently stirred it around so the ink spread throughout the water. I liked this but thought it wasn't very exciting so to improve from this I filled up a glass bowl with water put in the drops of ink and some purple glitter I took photos of this and then gradually added more glitter to it. I added different colours of acrylic to represent the purity and how its bright and clean but then gets corrupted by the impurity of the ink. I preferred these photos compared to my first ones because I think they represented my idea a lot clearer and was more interesting to look at.

Voyeurism VS Fetishism

Cinderella

26/3/14

Today has been a big step up compared to last week. Due to starting easter break last week, my work ethic has been completely demotivated as I allowed myself to get distracted by friends and family therefore leading to my work becoming neglected. So today in order to manage my distractions I took control by ordering my work and identifying what I was last up doing because I wanted to get back into the motions of working. I looked at all of my gathered research and blog to understand my last ideas so I can pick up where I left off. I also bought a sketchbook as up until now I have been working on separate sheets, this way I'll be able to gather my ideas clearly and concisely.

So carrying on from last week I used the fabric I bought as a filter, I filmed the scene from Cinderella where she is singing - 'A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep'.

I filmed this through the fabrics in order to get the hazy blurred effect as this relates to my research on dreams, particularly from my interviews exploring how people would describe dreams. This idea was inspired by one of the exhibits in the Saatchi gallery which I mentioned in a previous post. I liked how the filming of the video distorted the footage, so carrying on with the idea of distorting images in a dream like way I created my own version. I created four different versions each featuring different fabrics as filters.

I really like the effect the different fabrics create I think my favourite are the last two especially when it's been filmed through the matte PVC. I think its interesting how you can't see the film but the colours and light still come through which create an interesting effect because it distorts the original film. I like the distortion because this reminds me of dreams, due to how its so unclear what the original film looked like. I think that by me doing this I am able to further my research as I've researched into moving image as well as developing that. However now I am unsure of what to do with this research. I have a few ideas the main one being I'll take stills from my films and develop off of that or even possible interview more people asking them what they think of the film.

So moving on from this and exploring a different aspect of my research. I looked at my three main focusses of research which are the Romeo and Juliet quote, the Cinderella Quote and the Laura Mulvey theory of Voyeurism and Fetishism. To develop these I wanted to take my own photographs that represented these key ideas.  So I started brainstorming ideas first looking into the main ideas I had from the Romeo and Juliet quote, looking at my interviews and imagery. I also wanted to incorporate the Levi Strauss theory of binary opposites. In order to do this I chose the most significant elements so for Romeo and Juliet I thought of Beauty VS Destruction, for Cinderella I decided on Hazy VS Bright and for Laurau Mulveys theory I went from Voyeaurism VS Fetishism to The Modonna VS The Whore. I then developed these initial ideas into how I could represent them in photography.

For Romeo and Juliet I thought of the having flowers burning to represent the natural beauty of their love being the flowers, being consumed and destroyed by their irresponsible haste which would be represented by the fire as this is the destructive element. For cinderella I liked the idea of light trying to shine through fabric that distorts and blurs it much like my dreams idea. Such as the blurring and unclear haziness that distort to bright shiny hope that dreams possess. Lastly my idea behind The Modonna VS The Whore, I struggled on initially because I couldn't really think of an inventive and simple way to portray this so I started thinking along the lines of something pure being corrupted and infecting and destroying the innocence which lead me onto how ink or oil would destroy the purity in water.

So after that initial planning I'm going to carry them out tomorrow and hopefully end up with three of my own images that reflect my ideas. Today was a good day I feel. Although I didn't achieve much it really allowed me to focus on my project and get my head back into thinking of work and research and I'm beginning to enjoy it again and I've started getting ideas that will hopefully allow me to be motivated again.

15/3/14

This afternoon I ventured to Berwick street in search for fabric. As yesterday I mentioned I couldn't carry on with my task as I needed to go fabric shopping. I went into a few shops but bought fabric from two shops. I was looking for fabric that related to my dreams idea so I wanted fabrics that represented the hazy and shiny idea. I looked mainly into transparent and translucent fabrics. Unfortunately I forgot to ask the names of the fabric I bought, this will be difficult if I need to find this fabric again in the future. But from looking at them I can tell that one is like an organza, another one a transparent PVC,  the third appears to be a matte translucent PVC and the last one I am unsure of what fabric it is but it has a metallic aesthetic. All four of these fabrics cost me just under £10 for 20-25 cm. I think this is a reasonable price because I had looked at another fabric that was £70 per panel. Which is out of my budget and I'm sure I could find a similar fabric for a much cheaper price if I looked around. I also got samples of three latex fabrics, I didn't buy them at the time but I really think they make an interesting aesthetic as they are translucent and have an unusual texture compared to my other fabrics.

I found today beneficial as although it is still very much so the early stages of my project having an understanding of fabric is crucial, because when I come to developing and designing I will need to know what fabrics are appropriate for my project.

14/3/14 - 2

So starting to look into my earlier idea, before going to the library I checked on the CLR to check if there were any books that could be helpful. I found three books; Richard Hamilton by the Tate Gallery, Paper dreams: The art and artists of Disney Storyboards by John Canemaker and Translucent materials: glass, plastics, metals by Frank Kaltenback. Turned out that after looking at all three of them none of them offered any particular help as the Richard Hamilton book did feature the piece that I was looking for, also I hoped to find a section on Disney's Cinderella but the book didn't include any and the the Translucent materials book didn't offer me anything note worthy. This is frustrating as I feel like I know have a set back, but to carry on I will resort to using the internet to help me. Luckily I don't need to gather much research and the information I do need is not greatly important.

Unfortunately I can't carry on with my other idea of filming cinderella through a translucent material as I don't have the correct materials for this  activity at the moment as I'll need to buy some of the translucent fabric and I'll also need a large television to play the Cinderella film off of.

For now I think I'll carry on with yesterdays research and leave this idea for a more convenient time.

14/3/14 - 1

So I had a thought about the Richard Hamilton exhibition that I went to at the ICA, at the time I didn't find helpful at all, but now 'm starting to see how I could link it into my work. As one room featured several hanging transparent and translucent sheets. Which I think relates to my idea of dreams and how they're hazy as the sheets had a haziness to them. So I'm going to look further into this by going to the library later. Another thought I had was taken from a video I took of one of the pieces at the Saatchi Gallery.

This video was made from when I filmed a translucent sheet, that had a television behind it, therefore allowing the light to shine through however when it did it had been distorted. I think that this is really interesting to look at and represents my dreams idea in a different way so I feel what I might develop off of this is doing the same technique of filming through a translucent material but having Disney's Cinderella as this then relates back to my quote.

13/3/14

Following on from yesterday I wanted to carry on with the dreams idea, so to develop this I interviewed six people asking them the question 'How would you describe dreams?' I received the following response:

Eloise:

Strange, Surreal, Scary, intriguing.

Georgia:

Fantasy, an escape, being in a sub-conscious state. Quite often they can be like metaphor for how you really feel. Otherworldly, fantastical  

Helen:

Trance like, Elusive, desirous.

Hannah:

Relieving stress, emotional, subliminal

Steve: Misty, Disjointed

Cam: Limitless, Powerful

These adjectives are mostly helpful, some I feel may not be as inspiring as others but the ones I find the most beneficial would be; Limitless, Misty and Elusive. I like the imagery and meaning that these words represent. They remind me of how dreams are unclear but portray our biggest desires and biggest fears. I like this idea because I think it's really interesting by the way it explores different meanings which I think I could make my final outcome something with layers of meaning which is what I'm hoping for. To create a line up and hopefully a final look that represents these different elements and that has a lot of meaning.

After break I had my first group critique of the project, it went well I feel, my group gave me positive comments about my research and my tutor Andrea appeared to like the idea. I was happy with the positive comments however I didn't really receive much constructive criticism, which although is a good thing, I think I would prefer getting constructive criticism as it would allow me to improve and develop further. Therefore in my next critique if a similar thing happens I will make sure to ask the group how they think I could improve. Although one comment I did receive was to look into other mediums such as moving image. I did collect some moving image research however I feel reluctant to put it in because I don't know how to present it. But I will defiantly think about this comment and try to work through my issue of presenting it.

After my critique with trying to portray meaning in my work in mind I asked people what they thought about the Romeo and Juliet quote:

“These violent delights have violent ends

And in their triumph die, like fire and powder

Which, as they kiss, consume”

- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet.

I chose this quote because to me it has a lot of meaning. I think it's about how Romeo and Juliet fell in love however because it happened so quickly it was reckless and concluded in both of their deaths. The quote is very emotive to me but I wanted to see how it made other people feel, as everyones opinions are different. 

Eloise: Reckless, once you play with fire you will get burned

Angelica: ignited, explosive, passionate

Hannah: Your ultimate desire will be your end. It won’t make you as happy as you think. Destructive. Aggressive exhilarating.

Ibby:  Revenge, beautiful death, when they kiss they become one, consume each other. Stimulating.

Steve: Tragic, lamentable, sanguine

Helen: Passionate, destructive

The response was quite different, but I found it really interesting listening to people describe how it made them feel as everyone felt different about it but in some ways they all felt similar because it appears that they all felt like the quote although sounding beautiful has negative connotations as it represents destruction, either of the characters, of their love or of the whole situation. 

I found today really helpful, thought it was a big step up in my research because I am really enjoying the research I am gathering where as in other projects I haven't spent so much time on the research section, yet in this project I am aiming to exhaust every area so my primary research can be strong that allows my secondary research and therefore developments to be strong. 

12/3/14

Today I carried on with my research. I carried on with looking into the Kate Domaille theory so I chose another story. This time I looked into the Cinderella narrative which is based on dreams. I looked further into the cinderella narrative reading over the Brothers Grimm version. I liked the idea of having the dreams aspect verse reality. I further found a quote from the 1950 film interpretation as follows:

"A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep." 

I felt that this quote reflected my idea nicely because it focusses on dreams and they're meaning giving it a depth. Also because I wanted to link in Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposites, therefore I thought I would look into dreams verse reality. I collected imagery from different artists mainly photographers that I felt represented these themes.

Furthermore carrying on with the dreams research I thought about the combination of dreams as in our hopes and dreams and what we dream of when we're asleep. I started brainstorming words what I associated with dreams my favourite were Hazy, Sparkly and Shiny.

This lead me onto brainstorming what fabrics I would use to represent these words, however I only looked at Hazy and Shiny as shiny and Sparkly are very similar. For hazy I found that translucent fabrics represented this best. Therefore I though about Latex, and luckily I had some Latex samples, so this was a good fabric although I am planning on going out one day next week to gather a larger variety of fabrics. The main fabric that I though about for shiny was metallics, but when I go out fabric shopping I will hopefully be able to find out some fabrics that represent this clearly and in a more interesting way.

After this I started to look into Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze mainly focussing on the Voyeursim VS Fetishism aspect. I then narrowed this down to how this is interpreted as the Madonna VS the Whore. I did this because these are two conflicting themes of binary opposites that related to the Strauss theory. I collected imagery that portrayed this idea in order for me to develop off of further. 

10/3/14

So far into my second lot of research I would say that I am struggling. I have 3 theories that I would like to look further into and gather imagery that reflect my thoughts. The first being Kate Domailles narrative theory. I briefly researched into this and found the following quote:  

“These violent delights have violent ends

And in their triumph die, like fire and powder

Which, as they kiss, consume” 
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet.

I found this quote really interesting and full of meaning because of the similes and imagery. For me it is highlighting that all good things come to an end, as they are being consumed. Also I find the conflicting themes to be very expressive. So I've collected images from artists that I feel represent these themes of something beautiful being consumed and destroyed.

I've now wanted to move on to look into the narrative type of Faust, so I've researched into the story and now I want to find a quote that could represent the key themes and that I could tie into my work. I've found two quotes that I like, although I am having difficulty of choosing which one to use. 

First quote: 

“I nothing had, and yet enough for youth--Joy in Illusion, ardent thirst for Truth. Give unrestrained, the old emotion, 

The bliss that touched the verge of pain, The strength of Hate, Love's deep devotion,--O, give me back my youth again!” 

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust

Second quote: 

“What matters creative endless toil, When, at a snatch, oblivion ends the coil?”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust

I think by comparing the two the second quote is probably more relevant to my other research. As it too reflects the idea of something beautiful being consumed. Although I feel that as I already have this theme from the Shakespeare quote it would be pointless having two quotes that have similar meanings.

Although I do like the overall meaning of the Faust narrative, as I feel it suggests how the protagonist goes from Riches to Ruins, as Faust sells his soul for riches yet ends with Faust regretting this and being in ruins. I think that its a theme thats too similar to Romeo and Juliet as they both end tragically, where as for my project I believe that having different and conflicting themes might make for a more interesting concept. 

Project Concept

Here is my projects initial concept, it discusses my initial thoughts and possible outcomes for the project and also what I hope to achieve.