Tagged: colour

portfolio: creating an identity

(a collation of a few selected images of my work, with recognisable colour and theme similarities)

After examining our current collections of work as a group in Daniela’s workshop, it was easy for me to spot repetitive themes, styles and colour palettes in my work that help tie it all together. This helps me recognise that I do have a personal style and identity to my work, for example I often feature pastel or feminine colours in my images, as well as experimental text and textures.

My work is more centred around still life and art directed shots, as well as creative collage and illustration in my more tactile pieces. There are also recognisable themes and concepts in my project, including topics of femininity, sexuality and wellbeing/mental health.

I recognise my portfolio of work as quite young and contemporary, often commenting on youth culture, lifestyle trends and attitudes towards sex, the body, social media, nature. I was pleased that this is clear in my work as I often worried that my interests within fashion communication were quite broad, and that it isn’t clear where my interests lie – but when looking at my work laid out next to each other it is obvious that I do have themes and ideas I return to and enjoy working around.

This has helped me to think about forming and developing my own visual identity for my portfolio, online presence and promotion of myself/my work. The repetition of pink and feminine qualities in my images mean there is a simple starting point for an aesthetic that would compliment my work, and the contemporary nature of my images mean that I can start thinking about designs for my website, portfolio and promotional material that complement this.

ACTIVISM: W E E K 1 initial research

I begun my research for this brief with Li Edelkoort’s trend forecasting, someone I constantly return to for inspiration and research in the area of future fashion and lifestyles. Edelkoort’s Anti-Fashion Manifesto highlights how fashion is becoming repetitive and no longer capturing the interests of consumers, especially of our generation that are now more concerned with altruism – working together and helping each other, not necessarily being at the top…and I therefore became set on an idea of perhaps helping the planet or environment, something not typically associated with fashion but a trend that is definitely appearing in our attitudes and lifestyles, particularly of my generation.

To begin gathering exciting visual/artistic research I visited exhibitions that interested me in London:

Basquiat BOOM FOR REAL at the Barbican allowed me to learn more about this artist, his values, techniques and processes. Basquiat’s often surreal messages formed in his work were created by the use of mixed media, often layering appropriated images or photocopies with paint, photography and text to create large pieces of work with many different thoughtful visual elements. I was particularly inspired by his work as it made me think about pushing boundaries with my image-making, taking risks and experimenting more, rather than sticking to safe practices that I know well already (which is something I often struggle with).

I also visited Rachel Whiteread’s exhibition at the Tate Britain – a sculpture artist whose work I’ve always loved for its aesthetic qualities but also the intrigue behind her processes – most of her pieces are so large you cannot imagine how she possibly constructs them. I especially like the colour palettes of her work; when seen collectively in an exhibition I could admire the pastel colours of her sculptures, in purples, blues, yellows and pinks – which helped me to think about placing pleasing colours and shapes together in my work, especially as I’ve started to think about creating more of a trend or look book rather than a typical magazine.

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