Archive of ‘My Work’ category
So I’ve got my start point, I just need to not get bogged down stressing about my finish point.
As I focused on Playboy for my dissertation I’ve found it quite difficult to look at Playboy without associating it with all the academic references and gender study issues in which I found in my previous study.
In my research I have started by trying to disassociate it with my dissertation and concentrate purely on the photography element, this has meant looking past the nature and theme of the magazine as well. By ignoring the surrounding influences it has allowed me to appreciate the artistic approach to the editorial’s, thus creating a new outlook that doesn’t focus on the objectification/sexualisation of the women portrayed.
It’s helped me to look more into the composition/lighting and photographs more as artwork less like soft pornography, helping to turn my previous outlook around into a more creative view.
This has enabled me to analyse Playboy in a different way, still with a feminist stance but by stripping (oh the irony) all the surrounding predetermined thoughts and conclusions I had made.
Well now that I’ve given Playboy some new fresh eyes it’s time to start looking into the photographers/similar photographers & artists to broaden my research and relate it more back to art.
Not only a new project but a last project, cry cry.
So following on from the last project (creative research) I was pretty disappointed with my final outcome as I felt it was lacking content and depth. I did like the final illustrations and felt they were a good representation of the basis of my influence and research. With this project however I want to go more in-depth and have more context surrounding my final outcome.
So this project, FMP. The last one, the last push to get the postgrad status.
I’m going to continue on with my dissertation topic looking into Playboy, however I want this to be my starting point and to build upon this looking at Playboy in a different context to my dissertation.
I’m starting my research by looking at not only Covers from Playboy over the years but also their editorials and the way they promote women.
As Playboy is predominantly targeting a male audience, the photography and way in which the women are presented is for the male gaze. Looking at the what areas are emphasised, body language, aesthetic, the general tone of the photograph and focusing on how this represents women and portrays a feminine stereotype.
I hope to develop my research further by looking into the female gaze and how women look at women, this is inspired mostly by Naomi Wolfe’s Beauty Myth focusing on the challenges women face with beauty and societies expectation of a woman’s physical aesthetic.
So this post was meant to be the finale shall we say, a lil cheeky round up of how I’m feeling with my work and general reflection upon this project.
BUT before we get to that, let me tell you about my crazy mad dash to the Tate Britain to see Rachel Whitereads exhibition there, I KNOW HOW CRAZY OF ME.
I researched her quite a bit for my project and I knew she had an exhibition but I just didn’t know when I’d be able to go, then BAM I went and I did not regret. I’m really happy I went even though my project is finished now anyway I thought it would still be useful if not for this then for Final Major Project!
So back to the ol’summary, I want babble on too much I promise.
Taking a step back from my project and looking at it as a whole (I’m only looking at brief 1), I don’t know what I think to be honest. I think from the outset I lost my way and that meant that throughout I was a bit confused and didn’t really have my head in it.
In terms of my experimentation and outcomes, I definitely feel I could have had a lot more experimentation I focused a lot on research then with not finding my direction till late on in the project I left myself little time for my own body of work. I wish I could of expanded more and been able to get a lot more digital stuff into this project.
Looking at my final magazine I’m not sure how I feel about it, it’s not what I imagined and I’m not sure you can really call it a magazine, more of a illustration lookbook? Editorial? I don’t know. I think I focused too much on doing illustrations and then too much on the basis research of the women’s march and just sort of forgot along the way about the fact it was a magazine and that could include photos, articles, I could have included my peers work etc etc.
However looking on the other side of it, I did think a bit outside the generic magazine box, going for illustrations which are very time consuming, then making it a visual magazine with my subject of Women’s Marches I think having an essentially ‘silent’ in a way magazine is a revolt in itself, a peaceful protest. Throughout the magazine I have shown a lot of different techniques, I not only included photography but also some digital manipulation (less than I would have wanted) and my drawing/paint skills combining these all together to get the final illustrations.
I combined a lot into a small project, I just think I might have tried to do too much in too short a time unfortunately.
Wow, well that ended up a bit more negative than I first anticipated.
And just like that it’s end of Brief 1, Brief 2 it’s been a pleasure and welcome Final Major Project!
The deadline is coming and it’s coming quick, I’m feeling kind of alright about it which is surprising!
Brief 2 I’m feeling pretty happy with, sticking to what I know and using my dissertation as the foundation I’m really interested in Playboy anyway and I think I’m going to thoroughly enjoy being able to visualise this and go even deeper into the research.
For Brief 1, I am feeling alright I just feel I need more research but then I don’t want it to look like I’ve just crammed a load of random names in yanno. Everything I’ve looked at so far I’ve found to be relevant and has helped my project, even artists like Cornelia Parker who appears to have no relevance I found her work to be so useful in the way she makes things appear in a different way to what they necessarily are.
I’m feeling good with some of my experimentation as well, but I am still struggling with the magazine, I just don’t know what angle to take; should I go editorial, am I narrowing myself down too much doing illustrations, will the illustrations work in a magazine, do I do articles or just go visual, how to represent feminism and women’s marches, is this going to show my research.
These are all unanswered questions and I don’t have time for unanswered questions!
I think I’ve really struggled visualising this magazine and creating it, I’ve essentially finished the second brief yet I’m still struggling with the first which was meant to be finished two weeks ago!
I know that these questions are only going to be answered once I start putting my experimentation into action and actually start making final illustrations, I’m going to create ones I don’t like, I’m going to have to go through a process of eliminating the flaws and working through to produce something that does work and I’m proud of.
We will see anyway, the end is near something has to happen soon so we will find out!
I’m gonna change it up a bit and not just go into either a rant or just lengthy statement where I chat for probably too long so..
Brief 2 has come out and not as bad as first anticipated, especially now there’s no Social Media Campaign (thank you sweet jesus)!!
So like I said before gonna mix it up, so I’m going to write a lil quick bulleted pointed list of stuff that’s going well and stuff I need to work on to yanno motivate me, and to make myself feel better ha!
(Only for brief 1 though, haven’t even thought properly about brief 2 yet!)
Strengths of Brief 1:
- Started experimentation, digital as well as drawing/painting
- Been to a few exhibitions which has really helped look at things not directly linked to what I’m doing
- Found a lot of good artist inspo
- Nearly finished my sketchbook (yaaaaaaas)
- Research completely finished
- Making progress with final outcome
What I feel I need to work on going forward:
- Putting my magazine together/deciding if that’s the way I’m going then doing a plan
- Getting some final illustrations
- start research for Brief 2: choose to either continue with brief 1 or dissertation topic
- Getting things finalised, finished sketchbook & Experimentation
Yes I know not very detailed, but I know that it’s deffo gonna help me look back on the next week to help to more.
I also think it’s quite important to praise yourself every so often and not always put yourself down and worry/stress about whats going wrong.
Sometimes just look at what’s going right.
So Feminism, as we already discussed (or rather didn’t discuss) is pretty broad and because it’s so damn broad and I have 3 weeks (lol not stressing at all), I’m gonna focus on the Women’s March and the Marches that have taken place recently.
Reasonable place to start? I think so too.
So where do I start? Maybe at the beginning?
Well let me tell you that the first recorded Womens March was in Versailles in 1789 during the French Revolution, women been fighting for dem rights for some centuries. I feel all their views however were aligned with one goal.
So Women’s Marches aren’t this new thing that was created around the fact Donald Trump is an awful awful man, but they’ve been helping women fight for their rights for a long ass time.
So how can I relate Women’s Marches to art? Or portray such emotion and an expression of women fighting for their rights and what they believe in, that I haven’t conquered yet. I am however going to try and conjure up some inspiration by a couple of exhibitions that have caught my eye, more on that one later.
I did also in a complete moment of spontaneity go and see the Gregory Crewdson exhibition, I KNOW HOW BOLD, and what relevance does this hold I hear you say? Surprisingly quite a bit actually, I found the way he curated his photographs mesmerising and gave me food for thought with once I get started how I can put together my imagery.
I feel Womens Marches are very much an expression, like art in themselves really not just the signs of protest and the beautiful imagery/messages these signs hold but the actual act of them marching together.
Feminism.
Discuss..
IM KIDDING IM KIDDING, we’d be here all year if we did that.
But feminism, something I’m really interested in not just cause of the obvious with women’s rights and how men aren’t the dominant sex equality etc etc etc but how people perceive feminism, how they interpret and react to the word feminism.
Many feminists interpret being a feminist differently creating their own feminist ideology yet use this broad broad word ‘feminism’ to describe their opinion. This same word that someone else might use to describe their views which turn out to be opposing views compared to their feminist friend.
Yet these two people (cause not all feminist’s are women yanno) would both stand together calling themselves Feminists.
When you look up the definition of Feminist it is as follows:
Noun:
A person who supports Feminism
Not very enlightening, so what about feminism?
Feminism:
The advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.
Okay, a bit more descriptive but I’m still not feeling very enlightened, I’m feeling even more broad if anything.
I just find it super interesting how it can be interpreted in so many different ways, if you asked a group of people what feminism meant to them they would all say something different some would just regurgitate the standard definition. But it’s the personal feminist answer that say the most.
The downside to this like everything with such a broad array of answers you get some feminist’s having controversial opinions or trying to put the word into a nice little box with it meaning only x,y & z, no more no less. With these opinions (and let’s be honest misinterpretation) comes bad publicity that inevitably creates a stigma surrounding the word.
See I told you, SO INTERESTING.
Well this is what I’m doing my project on, how so many people can stand together fighting for Women and their rights, for this same cause with this feminist name tag. Yet most of them won’t have the same opinions or views, yet here they are a feminist at a Woman’s March, fighting for feminism what is that version of feminism they’re fighting for?
Or is this just a whole load of bullshit and actually feminism does fit into descriptions 1, 2 & 3?
