Whilst planning articles i want to cover a range of topics which embody self care through honest conversations about people’s experiences throughout their life. Upon reflection i have found it harder to reach out to people as we have got so used to staying within our comfortable boundaries which i feel has made this project harder for me. I watched Travis Alabanza perform a year ago and i knew that their show embodied a meaningful and emotional stance of self acceptance and gender.  They initially said no due to struggling with their mental health , which i really i appreciated the honesty and it also highlighted the intentions of my project further by looking after yourself.  However, some time after they got back in touch with me and said they were more than happy to answer some questions for me which i was really grateful for. I wanted to show the struggle people go through but how far they have come. The questions unveiled the relationship a trans person has with their body and mind and how they approach to look after their mental health. The answers were really insightful and hopefully can be relatable for someone who is reading them. We didn’t get round to doing a photoshoot for the same reasons mentioned previously but I got in-touch with a photography student who had recently photographed Travis and they were happy to have their images on the site along side the article. Upon reflection it was nice to bring all the different elements together from different people to create an outcome.

The second article will be on black minds matter a charity set up during the BLM movement. I am hoping to get in touch with the founder and see if she will answer some questions on how the charity started and what their goals are. I want the page to be inclusive and this mental health in the black community is something that is not often spoken about so this can hopefully be a charity someone will want to get involved with.So far I have not been able to reach the founder but I have written a small article myself highlighting the importance of the charity and what they are trying to do in the future.

The third interview will be with Barney Perret ‘Fancy a chat mate’ an instagram page started up to highlight mens mental health, i am interested to know the story behind this and hopefully show the importance of men opening up and speaking to people. Mens mental health , toxic masculinity and the effects it has on both men and women In society are Important to highlight so it was interesting to hear Barneys perspective on this issue.

I will then create a short series of survival stories highlighting different mental and physical issues people have overcome to gain insight into each others lives and be transparent with certain things that have helped us move forward. I will contract interviews but would like to see if I can find poetry or other creative outcomes to bring this section together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“As a discipline, psychology is defined by its location in the ambiguous space between mind and body”

By combining the two images on a split screen i wanted to represent the relationship between the body and mind. I wanted the viewer to create their own narrative of this comparison of body  and mind. The collaged images on the objects through the journeys they have been on throughout their life showed many layers , stories and almost chaos. By collaging the images i wanted to create an abstract and almost confusing feel to all of what goes through the mind as that is how we feel for a lot of our lives.

As an act of self love which is what i will discuss through interviews in this project i will find out different relationships people have with their mind and body however ultimately it will open the discussion to how the two simultaneously go together and the more accepting and content you are with your mind the healthier and happier your relationship with your body will be.

Visually i think the imagery stands stronger alone so i am still working on a representation of the two together as i would like to try out moving image on both sides of the screen or different images standing still.  As a storyboard i feel its an interesting composition and the colour on either side compliments each other and works better as images rather than film.

As my brand identity starts to become stronger it is clear this colour palette and composition would not work on the site but were beneficial to the process of creating the content.

 

Through shooting this film i have started to create an aesthetic i will want for my website and further the meaning behind it .When i planned the shoot i wanted to focus on shapes and colour using the body as a canvas for photography and not using full body shots so the viewer could interpret certain images in a more  neutral way than how the body may usually be seen. The feedback i had was that it seemed as if i was analysing the body which i felt represented an interesting angle on my project. A few people who watched couldn’t always tell what body part there was on the screen. As i reflected the imagery on a full screen the small movements of breath made me want to push this further, as it almost made me focus on my breath which is a part of wellness and meditation. This instantly made me join the comparison to analysing the mind which is part of what my previous still life photography represented.I had been using the split screen for a visual aspect from what i had been researching how ever this then took on a new creative meaning as i now want to represent the body and the mind.

In general this shoot was difficult due to space and lighting in my living room but as i was using close up images and cropping them once they were brightened slightly i was ok with the outcome as a starting point of inspiration. I did not edit any ‘imperfections’ and was cautious of tampering with skin colours due to lighting enhancement. Although i knew my models felt a bit insecure about certain things,  that was what was making the imagery interesting to me, the creases, stretch marks, scars gave the film more depth and emphasised my main point of self acceptance which is of course an ongoing journey These things that made each body individual helped me create a more authentic body of work. I would hope to shoot a more diverse range of models if i have the opportunity too but i am unsure at this point whether it will be possible due to the pandemic. Luckily we are close friends and i think that helped them feel more comfortable however, by the end of shoot one said it almost felt calming to come to terms with being exposed. I hope to show bodys in a more functional and humanising way and i want to learn about people’s relationship to their bodys in comparison to their mind.

 

 

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These Giffs were part of experimentation for colour blocking to match or contrast the images i took of the still life objects in the first shoot.I wanted to start creating a profile for the people i am going to interview as visuals to accompany the words. The location was in our courtyard on an extremely windy day so this made things more difficult and visually was not what i wanted however the styling worked well as i cut and collaged i tried to distract from the location. After editing and creating the giffs they did not feel very true to my project as they felt as if they were for instagram and fashion promotion. i will use these in my portfolio but not for my final piece as i don’t feel it portrays a slow and thought provoking story i am trying to tell. 

“Instagram can’t replace therapy, but it can shrink knowledge gaps about mental and emotional health”

Something that has stood out to me throughout the last couple years is the new way me and my friends have approached self care. We often discuss staying off social media or at least re following accounts to change our feed to a more positive algorithm. Instagram therapy is something i have noticed a lot of which people are engaging with showing me that there is a big interest around this subject. i think this is really important to be normalising this way of thinking as it seems distant for many. Self help books are becoming more common in trying to learn from and understand the experiences we have been through. Honest conversations around therapy and counselling / a similar way of thinking are becoming more easily accessible which is vital to our society as it is uncomfortable yet vital to our society but people do not want to take the steps as it is really daunting. Therapy is a very personal journey to each individual but opening up conversations around these topics can expand people’s mindsets so by normalising the conversation around this i feel i can create a community which can help others.

Even those who felt as they had not suffered with bad mental health started experiencing it during lock down. There was many reasons ,but one of them was by having distractions taken away were taken away we had to face ourselves more than ever before. There is always room to speak more openly about mindsets , self care and mental health therefore i think more than ever this is a time to start up brands like the one i am starting to create. By having this unique pause we learnt to prioritise ourselves and our mental health so i hope to create content through this way of thinking.

The Art director Josefina Sierra Guzman inspired my still life shoot with the use of storytelling and colour. I asked my house mates to collate objects they felt represented journeys they had been through in their lives. Once we could see them all laid out it was interesting to see the narratives through medication , photographs, jewellery etc. but they all represented memories and acceptance of various emotions. Some of the objects started taking colour form on their own which felt representative of their styles and identities so by using a bold colour pallette and back drop i wanted to showcase separate identities and stories.

The first image on the yellow background stood out to me as representing the journey of afro hair. We often have conversations covering the topic of hair and through living with alana i witnessed her process and commitment to nurturing her hair as part of her life style as an african women.  Growing up we find it hard to accept many things about our physical appearance especially when it doesn’t fit the ideal beauty standard but it will be interesting to find out more about this relationship and journey. She is also on antidepressants which is a journey within itself and hopefully can be touched upon further in the future.

The second image i felt was the strongest in identity as the pink colour palette revealed itself through the objects. However it was a contrast to the story of grief i was seeing in front of me. I had feedback in a tutorial that it positively challenged the viewer to see grief in another light and it reminded me further how we share so many journeys but it can be expressed so differently to one another. Jess also mentioned she felt unusually exposed when seeing her objects laid out in front of her, i was grateful she chose such personal items as it was as authentic as it could be. I was on parts of this journey with jess but what interests me now is how her perspective on life has changed and her relationship with herself and her mind.

Finally , The third journey was a long and scary process which lead fran to find out she had an autoimmune disease. She spent a lot of time in the hospital which caused a lot of anxiety and pain. I witnessed Fran overcome so many obstacles throughout this period of time such as graduating uni and rebuilding herself back into society but we are often communicating about working on ourselves,triggers and boundaries to become better versions of ourselves which is something i would like to explore more.

 

I am trying find a visual theme in my project to give me inspiration but im finding it really hard envision photoshoots in these circumstances. I personally have a very neutral toned style throughout my life however colour is something i really enjoy working with. I started looking through old travel photos i had taken to for  inspiration as I often gravitate towards bold colour palettes when taking pictures for my personal use and found many i had captured. I may incorporate these into my professional instagram if i create one, as i would like it to be more of a visual journal.

I then realised through out both my placements there was a strong theme of colour theory and colour blocking. Although known for their strong neutral tones and suits MaxMara also use colour blocking through out their showrooms which i worked with. They visually merchandise with colour trends and often tell stories with there marketing and which customer they want to reach.

Imogen heath also worked with a lot of colour in her interior design and i spent a lot of time colour coordinating social media and researching pallettles and designers. She used inspiration from lots of different natural places and one photo shoot i did for the brand was around brighton using architecture and nature. Whilst then researching the specific colour and shade name to create a series.  I collated all the images i took for research to start think about how i want my body of work to be presented and the colour themes i may choose to work with.

 

 

Attempting to balance all three modules at this point of the course and the pandemic has been really challenging. I first thought as there was no distractions this would mean i could fill my time with work but i quickly realised to not give myself breaks and time time to pause would be detrimental. However, i am now struggling more than ever with motivation and creativity/ concepts. I find my inspiration through conversations and experiences and although contact has become harder i have also found my confidence to put myself out there has as a visual promoter has become more difficult. I have started to think about how i will incorporate my housemates further into my project and utilise conversations we have to create a body of work.I still want to focus on growth and mental health for my FMP.  Being vulnerable at these times is important to connect with one another after the year we’ve had so i hope to create work which we can work through and learn from one another.

This film is a conversation around mental health and the pandemic, it shows the journey each item goes on to be handmade along with a personal journey of growth.

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This is a short promotional film displaying a journey of how an item is made whilst also representing a story of kindness and connection during the pandemic.

short advert final music Larnz@home

This is the first version i edited and is slightly longer but should not have lost quality once the link is followed to Vimeo.

Over all, i think being able to cut down the information and footage was the biggest challenge for me because often i think information is taken in better in smaller clips so i thought it was important to show a version that could be used similarly to an advert, however , i enjoyed making the slightly longer ones and feel this is more suited to my project as it not rushed and the viewer can be more mindful when thinking about the film and taking in the information.

Whilst thinking about my fmp i have had a few different ideas as to how i want to approach it. One being a collation of short videos to make a series surrounding mental health, this could be lots of voices ideas and conversations layered over some visuals .I am concerned that my work revolves a lot around meeting people so i may figure out a way of only using audio.I will research into healing and plants as the visual element of the film which can be used as a metaphor for growth and journey. Another idea is to speak to specific individuals and tell a more detailed journey giving my interviewees an identity which i think is a good way to connect with an audience if you can see yourself in someone you are watching. I initially wanted to use creatives to showcase a creative journey alongside the conversation like how i have been experimenting with in this project but i will see depending on who i can speak too and how comfortable everyone feels. Finally i would like to take portraits of the people i speak to which represent hope and happiness. I also want to show the comparison of people looking happy whilst talking about something serious to represent the hidden journeys people go on and often can not tell through the versions of themselves people represent. I want to show identity so the interviewees are not defined purely by their mental health which is how people can feel when suffering but this is something which i find uncomfortable to discuss often therefore i know others might. I felt inspired by Susan Meiselas ’20 dirhams or one photo’ through giving the models choice and control over their decisions so will find a way to bring this forward with me to fmp. My aim will be to create a hopeful and relatable body of work.