For my FMP I am interested in communicating an idea using data. My main goal for this project is to create a campaign that discourages the sale of fast fashion and promotes a sustainable way to purchase fast fashion. I would really like to be able to incorporate this into instagram filters as a final outcome of the campaign.
Because I have been focused on filters that are designed for faces, I began my research by looking at Pat McGrath’s work. She is one of my favourite make up artists, her work is very theatrical and dramatic, even the looks she creates that are more simple. Her work is the definition of editorial make up. I think created filters for instagram is essentially creating virtual make up, so I wanted to look for inspiration at the kind of messages that can be communicated through them. I made quite a simple filter that is suppose to communicate global warming, but it doesn’t use any data- the idea in itself is quite simple. hotter than hell
My stage stage to really push the why to my work is to interoperate some data on global warming and climate change into a filter. Because making a filter is quite time consuming, I’m going to be drawing concepts by hand so I can start to build inspiration. This will be useful for my to be able to understand how data can be visualised because at the moment it seems really complicated.
Along side this I have been thinking about what I want to exhibit in the show. This has been useful as it has got the ball rolling for me, especially after Christmas. For this show I want to persuede a really simple idea- stop buying new denim. There are countless reasons why buying new denim is bad as I found out when researching such as; the huge amount of water that goes into just 1 pair of jeans, the amount of chemicals that are used to dye and finish jeans, the amount of chemical wastewater this then puts into ecosystems, the carbon footprint of 1 pair of jeans. There are lots of problems that are occurring in the cities that produce vast amounts of denim, but there isn’t much readily available data on this.However, in 2010 Greenpeace collected water samples from around Xintang, a city in China that produces 1/3 of the worlds denim. One article states “Greenpeace found that at three sampling sites in Xintang, the amounts of lead, copper and cadmium in the riverbed exceeded national “soil environmental quality standards”. One sample of river mud contained cadmium levels 128 times over the safe limit, and in another, the water’s pH level was 11.95″. This report is no longer available to view, and there also hasn’t been any data published of the state of the water since this point that I can find. There are also the problems that I haven’t been able to find mathematic data on such as; the amount of sickness (and in some cases death) of workers involved in various toxic denim processes and the number of residents facing health complications the can be traced back to the denim process. Below is a table of the data I collated of the denim process; I broke down some data so it could be applied to 1 pair of jeans. Obviously this isn’t the best way to display it right now.
My next step is to think about how I can communicate why this is bad and how I’m going to do that. I think the best way to express why each of these points is bad is by finding key areas of comparison which is what I need to work on. For the show I am aiming to create visual representations of 3 these data posts. I did have the idea to exhibit a pair of jeans, and a filter to accompany them for the show. If you moved the filter of the jeans some of these points would be expressed, maybe the some areas of the jeans would show images of polluted rivers? but I was stuck on what my data rule would be- so this is still a goal but for after the show I think. I also like the idea of virtual denim patches that communicate some of these points? It could also be interesting to use embroidery too.
To do;
Experimental data visualisation through face filter ideas.
Create 3 visualisations of data.
Sources of denim information
Weihua, Chen. “Xintang Pays Heavy Price for Putting World in Blue Jeans – China.” China Daily, 31 July 2017, www.chinadaily.com.cn/kindle/2017-07/31/content_30305246.htm.
“Waste & Recycling- The Pollution of Jeans: Environmental Investigation into Two Textile Townships.” Green Earth Volunteers, 21 Jan. 2011, eng.greensos.cn/Content.aspx?articleId=746&c=84.
River Blue. Dir. McIlvreide, David. Paddle Productions, 2016, Film.
Clean Clothes Campaign,”Dirty Denim”. March, 2012/ https://ethique-sur-etiquette.org/IMG/pdf/CCC_Deadly_Denim.pdf
