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.