To evaluate this project thoroughly I have to talk through the problems that also occurred with it. Firstly, I jumped into the project head first with creating visual content with the view of making it into a print, this was exciting for me but it meant that I missed out on a lot of the research which was very important to this project, as if my facts weren’t right then I was still creating a misconduct of facts.

It felt like I was going around in circles trying to get my print to incorporate into new work, and knowing that the services for that type of print wouldn’t be available for the rest of the semester I was feeling a bit stumped. In some ways it was as though I had made a final outcome before a project. It was an awkward start to the project and I was left feeling unsatisfied.

So, I started working from the beginning I researched my topic, had some fears that a climate change denier was an outdated term and that people had fully learned from their mistakes. But, found some more recent evidence that now people aren’t denying so much that climate change is a thing but more they are denying that it’s happening to avoid having to think about it. This made me consider what type of format would appropriately present this concept.

As talked about in my previous post I had been considering making a calendar. However, I also had my eye on possible creating another animation, yet I felt this may be slightly overwhelming with two other animation projects for myself (Rap ‘n’ Rhymers and Text and Context). I also considered that I could possibly make a clock and record it working and going through the motions of scare tactics towards climate change deniers. But, this felt a bit too abstract for something which is supposed to be a clear communication of a topic.

So I stuck with the calendar idea and ran with it. Through researching first hand around Brighton and at the Tate Britain (previous blog posts) I identified that I wanted to make something with transfer techniques to create a degrading quality to the images. This I felt would show the fleeting nature of how our earth is being treated and how nothing is permanent no matter how hard someone can try and believe so.

Also through the mark making that is naturally created through the technique it presents a struggle and strength of something trying to break through and create its mark.

Overall, I am pleased with how this project has gone – I would have like it to include more initial drawings and thoughts how the technique I was using prompts immediacy and trial and error on the page. I’m proud with how this project has gone because I wasn’t looking forward to it. However, I overcame my fears and created a practical, functional final piece.

Some downfalls of the final outcome is that to print it successfully I needed to have it imposed and therefore it needed 28 pages, however due to the fixed nature of the calendar format I had to add in extra pages where they were unnecessary. This has ruined the affect of the calendar, however I have tried to DIY fix it. With some extra time and thought I could have possibly overcome this.

Over the days I’ve had some trials and tribulations with finding the right technique for this project, I wanted to do something with collage and found images. But, I felt like simple collage was too basic and something I’ve done before, I wanted to push myself.

Tetra-Pak printing

Tetra-Pak printing appealed to me because it was reusing juice bottles made of Tetra-Pak this material is versatile. I like how it included recycling as this project would benefit from a positive portrayal of how to use recycling in everyday life. However, it was difficult to create, first you cut into or mark the shiny side of Tetra-Pak with a scapel or pencil, ink it and wipe off the excess. Then, after putting this through a printing press it should come out successfully. But, mine just didn’t they were light and blurred and unidentifiable. It was annoying but I was more into the actually Tetra-Pak (or the “plate”) after it was inked up. They looked cool and have a distressed look – I think I will more likely use this them than the actual prints.

Acetone printing

Now, acetone printing was a complete experiment for me and I was so glad that I attempted it. I used a cheap nail polish remover (which actually didn’t have any acetone in it? Confusing) with print outs you could create a strong print with mark making over the top. I was inspired to do this techniques after seeing Robert Rauschenberg prints in the Tate Britain I like the overlay technique and it personally I think it instantly says that the artwork is a social commentary as it’s direct photos of people, also it has a newspaper quality to it which already reuses a sense of the mundane which people respect and listen to. It in many ways demands attention.

Rubbings

I quickly did some rubbings of trees and urban spaces, interestingly you can barely tell the difference between them. I wanted to make them so that I had the opportunity to create some texture in my pieces. But, upon doing them I think they will be left unused, they look too similar and aren’t fully identifiable as anything.

I have been considering making a calendar as a final piece for a while as the format intrigues me. For this particular project I thought it would be a good way to show the aspect of time on climate change. Many climate change deniers can hide away from the responsibilities of climate change by alluding to fact that it won’t happen in their lifetime. However, many changes have already occurred in the landscape, environment and animals species.

By having a calendar its saying that you can’t avoid this its a circumstance which keeps happening day after day, although the impact is slight daily it still occurs. The calendar would have an ironic purpose as nobody would actually want a calendar which was so depressing and foreboding – therefore its a practical item without a use. This is quite an interesting concept and I think relates to the fact that we have so much information of climate change and don’t really understand what to do with it. I want to suggest that we should comb through the information ourselves and actually investigate what we think is true and how reliable our sources are.

I’m trying to encourage people to stay curious and question everything, the media feeds us and we without realising take it in. This calendar is supposed to everyday make us consider actually that “fact” that I’ve been telling everyone is it actually true? Where did I hear it from? Why have I been telling people?

I have been looking for inspiration in everyday life. I’ve been trying to stay open minded and look for inspiration everywhere and anywhere. I found some amazing pasted posters in the lanes which have a powerful and clear identity, the block images appear like woodcuts or lino and have a similarity to French protest banners.

While I’ve also been looking in unlikely places such as deterioration of paint and peeling walls, also the contrast of graffiti and against environmental backdrops. I’m not normally attracted to images like this I find them slightly mundane but for this project they seem to have given me a light bulb moment.

I have been wanting to create a more textural, worn down and deteriorated style for this project to mimic how climate change is slowly wearing the earth out.

For this I took inspiration from my trip to the Tate Britain and Robert Rauschenberg, I loved his acetone prints against lithography. I think its such a great layering of techniques and I’m keen to try out the acetone printing. Its the rubbings I love, the aggressive mark making. I took so many pictures of them at the gallery as the more you look at them the more you can see, I’d really like to create a similar feeling of all is not what it seems.

Another artist who I’ve been interested in is Chris Ashworth, I love his textural collage and the use of type in his work. He has an eye for composition that I would like to learn from, I think this is the type of degradation through collage that I’m looking for. Where you can see what the thing is but it has a layer of mystery. 

I recently completed a photo lithography plate print for the Manifesto project. Below is what I wrote in lithography diary entry:

“To begin the process, I planned a simple collage which could be used on the photolitho plate. The collage is based around my Manifesto project, as I felt this was a great opportunity to combine the two. With the Manifesto project revolving around protest and the print medium prevalent for protest, I felt there was a strong connection between the two. Therefore, the collage is digitally made using images of environment damage and destruction. I thought this would be a great starting point to build my image from. This layer was printed on acetate, I then worked further on the layer on tracing paper; using similar drawing mediums to the first plate we created. On the tracing paper layer, I drew around the digital collage, I composed people, ladders and graphic symbols to imply that we are using our world as a playground without consequence and waiting for future generations to solve our problems.”

I really like my print however, I feel like it has a long way to go. I think that what I’m trying to communicate just isn’t coming through visually. I want to go in a different direction and maybe look into collage and photo montage. I think collage works well for protest art because it has an affinity with the posters and banners used for protest marches. It has a homemade aspect which gives a power to the people vibe.

Below are some sources I’ve been looking at into climate change deniers, I was concerned that climate change deniers is an outdated term as most people will now admit that with more recent research that climate change is well and truly happening. Some articles date from 2010 and I feel like maybe that was a more current time for the term. However, I think that by bringing the term back in this campaign it will be suggesting how our everyday actions haven’t come that far to appreciating the immediacy of climate change.

Climate change and biocracy-1vqbyvo

Climate change deniers occuring more in Europe-uifwf0

Climate deniers and the media-17pn9fj

Climate deniers and who helps it-12ls8qx

To continue my research into the Manifesto I wanted to create I have been looking into footage of marches on the BFI website. This has been informing as it presents how humans react under pressures and how they protest. I’m interested in the visual language of protest, the body language, the faces contorted in shouts and chants and the raised fists. I feel like using this visual language will create a feeling of importance in my work. You can see the images I’ve chosen in my research book.

Climate Change deniers is an interesting subject because it includes many facades of social commentary. There’s the environmental side and how the longer we deny and avoid the subject of climate change the more our world is deteriorating. There’s the political side of world leaders communicating false commentary on climate change (yes I’m looking at you Trump).

May Day Protest

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-may-day-protest-march-1973-online

Knitwear Workers Protest

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-knitwear-workers-protest-march-1981-online

March!

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-march-1971-online

On receiving this brief I was met with some apprehension, as I have never made work as a response to social, political or environmental issues affecting the world. Although I think visual culture is incredibly important in responding to the issues in our modern world. I find that I avoid subjects which could be controversial, as I am concerned of a viewer misreading my intentions. I also believe that to authentically respond to something you have to be very well informed and I’ve felt that accurate, unbiased information can be hard to come by.

However, this is an excellent opportunity to bring my work into critical view because if anything it will be a learning curve and an important one. My initial thoughts are to look into something that is centred around the environment, recycling, global warming as this is something I want to be better informed on.

My first steps in this project have been unusual to my other projects as I’ve started at visual material rather than texts and informing myself. This seems ironic as I feel very uninformed on the subject however I wanted to get some visual stimuli down quickly and it coincided with my Lithography Module Option. For the module I decided to focus it towards this project, I feel that printed material has always had a strong place in protest art and it felt like a good foot to start on.

Also, I’m eager to use more collage and juxtaposition in this project and I think lithography would be a great place to achieve these skills.

My influences for this project are health and safety posters by Bernard Chadebec, as they are so clear and functional and yet very graphically informed.  Health and safety posters interest me because they have a  concise message which they must quickly get through to the viewer. This quick relay of message, thought and action I think would be beneficial in a campaign geared towards the environment. As often I find information on the environment can be convoluted and confusing.