Month: October 2020

The Photograph as a Construct? – Lecture Notes and Analysis

The Photograph as a Construct?

NOTES:

• shared ideas of what photography is
• question how we may define it
• photography theory – truth in photography
• documentary photography has more authenticity and integrity than overly  constructed images
• nan goldin/ corrine day /
• gregory freedom – more carefully constructed, high production values – maybe more cinematic,
• could find value in either of these
• paul hyman – untitled, from ‘Sefrou’ series “the shopkeeper’s gesticulations appears to be aimed at the camera but were in fact directed at the drari, the crowd of young boys, gathered behind Hymanu
• reproduction of real events
• close to the truth ?
• simultaneously a truth and a lie – photography
• in the book “Photography and Anthropology” Christopher Pinney says – authoritative nature of the image – the truth that lies behind the image (referencing the quote above)
• good example showing that what you expect from an image is not what actually happens
• Jeff Wall – Mimic 1982 – observes moments in reality and the everyday and reconstructs them, appears to be snapshots / documentary style but they’re constructed images, reinvented and reappropriated to make you question something – in this image – an action in the street, questioning if something is racial aggression or a gesture, questioning the context behind it, what’s happening before and what’s happening after
• title “Mimic” reflects the way the photograph has come about and been built and set up
• difference between documentary and snapshot photography:
• “first, let us consider the snapshot, or instantaneous photograph. The snapshot is a theft: it steals life. Intended to signify natural movement, it only produces a petrified analogue of it.” – Thierry de Duve
• suggesting snapshot = fluency of time
• capturing an incident as it happens
• freezing time
• photo left behind from this moment – impossible posture, moment has been performed and the moment is frozen
• recollect images that have been captured as snapshots – candids- red eyes and things that you didn’t see before come to surface, funny faces- not reality but also super reality
• document – decisions on what to capture and what to include but the snapshot seems more informal and spontaneous = inner fakery if the audience assumes to much abt the element of chance involved
• capture – creating images with a camera – outside of ourselves, otherworldly quality
• snapshot – lo fi / amateur aesthetic – purposeful style
• Martin Parr – prejudicing in relation to photography – exploitation, utilising these if properly understood – “photography is a naturally exploited medium, i’m not ashamed at the fact that i exploit people. one of the things that i am very interested in is generating the idea that we are all part of the problem
• two way dialogue when looking at imagery; content / context – position that it’s given to us from, more sympathetic to image depending on what it is, bringing cultural understanding to image
• in praise of the snapshot : Bill Jay states “the snapshot has a dignity and an honesty that many professional photographers would dearly love to find in their own work”
• alternative way of looking at the snapshot
• example he suggested: mother watching over her children on the beach- he speculates she’s watching with concern as well as love = unexpected emotional response / drive in her to take a snapshot- argues that she is closer in spirit with the best photographers that she would realise = subject is the essential ingredient of the picture not the photographer or the process of the photography
• not concerned about her style of photography, she’s taking it in the purest form – like a recording than an imposition – construction vs reality
• Wolfgang Tillmans – Lutz & Alex climbing tree – documentary photography AESTHETIC = adds weight and personality and experience
• image FEELS natural, doesn’t matter if it’s constructed or not but looks fun and authenticity of the illusion, captures an expression on the girls face- expression of movement – what happened before and what’s going to happen
• Steven Meisel- Madonna, Like a Virgin album cover
• reveals itself as a portrait as an era in music and culture
• nostalgia to it
• idea of authentic = truth
• outtake from the shoot
• important to consider the photograph as a construct – power of photography as a construct, documentary pictures can appear to seem simple or pure might have been constructed to get the perfect “natural image” = might be more a deception than an image that you know of constructed because the audience is aware of it from the start – more honest and revealing truth about its intention
• converse ways of looking at truth in photography
• A good article – image flow called Artifice of Photography by Nathan Lomass (in study materials) – talks about a lot of contemporary photographers – questioning understanding of reality – truth in photography comes from the revelation of an artifice
• Clare Strand – A girl in two halves, from the series Conjurations 2007-9
• Photographic practice during lockdown :
• Julie Cockburn – balancing act – photographers gallery london
• uses found imagery and appropriates the image and therefore changes its meaning (close to what i enjoy doing)
• by mark making on the surface of the image (try this !)
• her work refers to covid – personally she finds it hard to look at her work without seeing it through the lens of the pandemic
• “like everyone, i carefully negotiated my way through the news bulletins and supermarket isles, cautious not to become overwhelmed with the enormity of the pandemic. while in isolation i noticed how much we connected by sharing our creativity on social media in an act of sharing and being seen, our bread, our gardens, our dances, our cardboard generated projects, this is my show and tell.
• Elena Helfrrcht – inwards – isolation diary during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak 2020-? Shown at 15 (fifteen gallery) as part of a group showcase called Hurry Up its Time
• Semblance – look at the artist statement in case you typed it wrong
• “inwards is a series of photographs, examining my time in isolation in london, uk, the images have been taken inside of the house and in nightly walks in my neighbourhood in london, focusing on symbols and representation of the world within and the events around me. when thinking about self isolation in quarantine, the concept of inside and outside changes its weight and context. the current circumstances forced me to retreat inside in a double sense; in house and into myself. as being secluded from the outside world and all of its distractions is an invitation for introspection which is almost impossible to decline. moreover, i am hiding inside because i fear something from the outside might enter my body, or the body of those i love, an uninvited guest, the thing unpredictable inhabiting me, making a home within my fresh nesting within my breathe until there is no space left for me”
• untitled by elena helfrecht / the onion tree by elena helfrecht
• Nick Knights zoom photography – linked article that explains his processes and a separate article on a models view on creating virtual photoshoots- several photographers have explored different ways of doing this through a computer screen/ video chat etc.

Undertaking this lecture, although not necessarily focusing on photography as my specialism, allows me to still understand the concept of different types of narratives used within the construction photography in terms of authenticity and capturing different moments whether that be for an editorial or a more candid style. I found this lecture particularly interesting because I have always been fascinated by the careful manufacturing that comes with a photographic shoot for an editorial as well as being interested in documentary photography/more candid and natural shots. Even though I might not want to focus on photography for my final major project, potentially including it within my own collage work could be an outcome I could work towards, as well as the fact that it is always useful to understand ways of critically analysing photography.

Photographers such as Corrine Day and Nan Goldin construct their images, but the way they present their subject appears in a more authentic way which comes in correlation with the way they position their models, the makeup, setting and context behind it. Such as Corrine Day’s several shoots with Kate Moss; she appears to be having a natural facial expression, not overly posing or creating a scowl or intimidating expression on her face similar to a lot of editorial modelling shoots, and the clothes she is instructed to wear are not usually flamboyant or overly glamorous, such as her being in something mundane such as jeans and a t shirt or her underwear, but not in a sexual tone. 

The argument between these images being more authentic compared to actual documentary photography intrigued me as the latter is seen as the ultimate natural style of photography, however seeking out the opportunity to photograph a specific scene in the hopes of finding people that fit the image that the documentary photographer wants to take, which is therefore planned, could be seen as more staged than if a model were to pose naturally in order to fit a brief. A documentary photograph could be seen as a reconstructed image, as it’s a snapshot of the real world but taken carefully and chosen to capture something in particular, similar to an editorial. However, the difference between a snapshot and documentary photography was also pointed out, a snapshot being far more candid and less thought out conceptually, a pure emotional response to a situation in order to freeze a feeling and hold on to an emotion forever saving it as a “fluency of time.”
 

Another argument suggests that snapshot photography could be seen as more informal, due to the fact that there haven’t been days spent seeking out a location, constructing outfits and styling with makeup and hair products and therefore is more unceremonious. This does not necessarily have to have a negative connotation though, this could add more legitimacy to an image and make the audience feel more accustomed to buy into this type of material as it could therefore having more meaning. 

SKETCHBOOK SO FAR – WEEK 4

Visually, I am feeling positive about my sketchbook as I enjoy the style of my presentation, which is very important to think about when showing my work to tutors or catering it for an audience for them to see it effectively and easily. I’ve explored a few online exhibitions and artists that have caught my eye.  

I feel as if I have a long way to go and believe that I haven’t put enough in my sketchbook considering we are on week 4. This has proven to me that I need to book some time in to focus on my sketchbook and therefore I have booked in to go to the studios on Monday as I am falling slightly behind on that. 

My goal is to do another 20 pages by this time next week with my own experimentation

TO DO:

 

 

 

 

 

 

TASK 1 TUTORIAL AND NEXT STEPS 

TASK 1 TUTORIAL AND NEXT STEPS 

In preparation for my Task 1 tutorial, I scanned in my sketchbook for my tutor to look at easily, however, next time I will be sure to make it into a PDF document instead of having the separate JPEGs as this would look more professional and seamless in terms of presentation, which I need to be very aware of at this stage. Prior to this meeting I had felt unsure of the direction of my work as I had not narrowed down my concepts to something niche, I had been doing general research to gain a wider understanding of art and design in different forms so that I could find something that catches my eye to expand on and investigate further. However, I had a lot of loose ideas floating around in my mind which made me unsure on how to progress.  

My tutorial was extremely helpful as my tutor made me focus on what my favourite projects have been during my time on fashion communication and to start with that as it is important to do something that I genuinely love and build from that point. Illustration, visual promotion and the magazine project were by far my favourites, I don’t particularly feel confident in styling and I enjoyed photography but I don’t feel as if I want to focus on that for my project; however I would like to incorporate it at some stage. My main focus is on collage and graphic design with hints of illustrations as this is what I am drawn to the most and I feel more effective working towards. The idea of a zine was highlighted to me as this would be perfect for my style of working. Writing my blogs has also been enjoyable for me and have previously done a bit of poetry for the illustration project and my level 5 option module which would be great to incorporate more within my creative practices. Improving my writing skills is something that I am keen to do, through the use of article writing, critical analysis, essays poetry and blog posts. 

Personally, I feel as if I need to go through my sketchbook and take notes on what to do next creatively as I haven’t actually created any creative outcomes or experimentation. My book is lacking in creative outcomes and therefore I need to dedicate a few days of doing solid work in either the studio or the library, as I can’t work that well in my own house, in order to keep up to date and find my feet within this project. 

TASK 2 TUTORIAL AND NEXT STEPS 

TASK 2 TUTORIAL AND NEXT STEPS 

Prior to my tutorial for task 2, the historical and contextual studies part of the module, I was really stuck on what direction I wanted to go in therefore I decided to do about 10 different points of research on my blog, in different areas of art and design that interested me in order to find some sort of theme or common ground to them refine my work and progress further into the module successfully. My main areas of interest were looking at Linderism, an exhibition by artist Linder, as I enjoyed the collage process she created, as well as the context pf the style of the work in relation to the era that she made it in; the provocative symbolism within her collages being realized in the 1970s which was around when women’s rights movement was at its peak.  

Artists like Nigel Henderson caught my attention due to the way he used photographs and distorted them manually along with creating photograms using a negative scanner; I appreciate the experimentation in creating something that looks unique and original, something I need to push myself to do further within my own creative practice. The HATE Zine I discovered on Dazed Digital also had imagery that stood out to me visually, the uncomfortableness of it all made me occupied in finding out more, and discovered that the zine pushes the narrative of talking about ‘taboo’ topics relating to sex and the body in order to normalise situations that are usually not discussed in depth as well as opening the discussion of sexuality and the body in a contemporary creative context that differs to a lot of magazines I have seen previously. Also, designer Juluis Raymund’s body typeface was another considerable influence of mine as I had not seen anyone do this before and once again the uncomfortableness made me want to explore it further. 

When coming to the tutorial, I was aware that I had not refined my idea as I should have already, and therefore sought out some guidance regarding this. Understanding the common imagery or themes within my research helped me to form the beginnings of an idea so I could refine my concept for my essay down. I suggested to my tutor that with Linder’s provocative images, researching into Pantone’s release of potentially taboo colour ‘Period Red,’ HATE Zine and their images of bodies covered in baked beans along with fruit dripping all over someone’s chest, my common theme was potentially provocative imagery, representation of the sexualism of content in editorials etc.  

Therefore, my next step that I was advised to do was gain some more academic written research such as journal articles, literature, and academic books as I was lacking in that when discussing my research with my tutor. I also need to brainstorm and start refining my ideas down further, I am feeling positive as my tutor gave me a good starting point, but I need to go to the library and find some books relating to my concept. 

NOTES FROM TUTORIAL

different depiction of the body

different methods of depicts of the body

task 2 – one vain to draw out as a theme

really drill down into

critical reading

planning how it’s going to look

what kind of delivery

linderism – bodies – provocative – sexuality

broad range what is it that you find interesting

dada – surrealism

increasing normalisation of sexually provocative imagery

been acceptable within the fine arts for a while

widely consumed by art lovers

worked it’s way into mainstream culture

real – not playboy

descriptive words that are used in specific imagery

mundane sexually provocative image

tupac’s

use of sexually provocative imagery in other artistic forms – early photography and collage

and how it’s crossed over into mainstream and editorial photography

READING

think of key words

think about the language they have used in the blog articles

journal articles

start to filter out what you find interesting

refine more

take forward for task 2

13th november

open a word document – use it as a dumping ground, collate all sources

find books

critical reading

journal articles

wrote down ideas in word document in full sentences

any question or topic that relates and forms to mind

or any new ideas or new takes on the topic

CLOSE READING – TACIT DIMENSION

• “Tacit knowing is the way in which we are aware of neural processes in terms of perceived objects”  
• Tacit means “understood or implied without being stated.” 
• Subsidiarily means “Serving to assist or supplement” 
• Structure of tacit knowledge – thoughts have elements where we are aware of the reason of our thoughts- existing in our bodies 
• Thinking is not only intentional – fraught with the roots that it embodies 
• From-to structure 
• Originality breeds new values- breeds them naturally. Can’t choose a new set of values but we create or adopt them based on what is needed 
• Soviet ideology under Stalin= denied justification to the pursuit of science = questions of philosophy – believed “science was a morbid symptom of a class society; under socialism the conception of science pursed for its own sake would disappear, for the interests of scientists would spontaneously turn to problems of the current Five Year Plan” saying the “conception of science” is interesting to me because science to me, is something that is usually factual, intellectual and done for a specific purpose to research or find out information and therefore doesn’t appear to be conceptual in my eyes. Also “the interest of scientists” is another interesting phrase as I feel like scientist should surely be neutral in their opinions if they are into factual topics and situations, their opinion would not affect what they were to find out anyway as research would back up all of the claims. 
• “denial of the very existence of independent scientific thought came from a socialist theory which derived its tremendous persuasive power from its claim to scientific certainty.” – this is also a very interesting approach as I just stated that I assumed how scientific facts are facts instead of having an ulterior socialist motive 
• No freedom of thought  
• “we can know more than we can tell”- science could have, and in my opinion definitely do have, the answer to a lot of things that would help save thousands of lives such as remedies to cure illnesses etc., however are being withheld due to money- begin able to prove these important pieces of information/products to people who can fund it and therefore creates a selfish and dystopian approach to science and something so ‘innocent’ as a cure for an illness 
• Recognizing a face amongst a million- but sometimes we can’t tell why we know this face- this knowledge cannot be put into words= police created something where we could select a variety of different facial features which a witness can select individually, to build up a face that they recognize– for example to find a criminal. “This very act of communication displays a knowledge that we cannot tell” 
• Recognizing the moods of a face without understanding why 
• “Ostensive definition” – ostensive meaning by direct demonstrating e.g. pointing,  
• Gestalt psychology says that we could understand a person’s facial features/ expression by understanding our awareness of the details without knowing what they are/what they mean 
• Physiognomy – a person’s facial features or expression, especially when regarded as indicative of character or ethnic origin 
• Knowing what vs knowing how – similar to intermingling bodies; these two work in conjunction with each other and influence each other’s direction to concept 
• Tools, probs, pointers=the art of knowing- verbal pointing 
• Psychological experiments revealing the diabolical machinery of hidden persuasion 
• Experiment – presented someone with many syllables that don’t make coherent sense, after showing certain of the syllables, administered an electric shock=anticipating the shock at the sight of “shock syllables”- but when questions couldn’t say what they were= expect the shock but not what made him expect it 
• Another experiment- exposed someone to shock when he happened to say things that related to certain “shock words” = person could anticipate shock by avoiding saying the associations, but they were doing it subconsciously 
• These above experiments prove that one can know more than tell 
• Subject vs observer 
• Basic structure of tacit knowing 
• Connecting two terms of words/sounds vs association and anticipation, relying on awareness of shock  
• Combining two kinds of knowing = shock syllables and shock associations formed the first term, and the electric shock formed the second term, “we know the first term only by relying on our awareness of it for attending to the second” 
• Disattending from certain things for attending to others – first term to second term, first term being proximal and the second term distal 
• Proximal – situated nearer to the center of the body or the point of attachment. 
• Distal – situated away from the center of the body or from the point of attachment. 
• Proximal term is having a knowledge that we may not be able to tell 
• “Relying on awareness of features for attending to the characteristic appearance of a face”, “likewise, relying on our awareness of a combination of muscular acts for attending to the performance of a skill” 
• Functional structure of tacit knowing 
• Begins to alter as we are anticipating an electric shock – learning what expect, looking out for it 
• Phenomenal structure of tacit knowing as shown above 
• Combining functional and phenomenal aspects, signify approach to shock when the sight of certain syllables makes us expect the shock – gives them meaning to the individual experiencing 
• Characteristic physiognomy = meaning of its features, physiognomy expresses a particular mood 
• Identifying physiognomy = understanding our knowledge of features for attending their meaning once placed together 
• Semantic aspect of tacit knowing “tends to displace all meaning away from ourselves. If we use a tool, and we are accustomed to it, we locate the tool’s effect (the meaning of its impact) on ourselves (e.g., our hand)” 
• Ontological aspect of tacit knowing  
• Ontological meaning “relating to the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being. “ontological arguments” 
• 2. showing the relations between the concepts and categories in a subject area or domain. “an ontological database” 
• The way we see objects is by awareness of efforts in our bodies which we can’t technically feel, we can determine the size, shape etc. of an object using our body without feeling it= internal process to qualities of outside objects 
• Understanding the dimensions etc. of an object naturally- eyesight vs using tools and probes 
• Extending subception to subliminal stimuli  
• Muscle twitches when there’s an uncomfortable noise= increasing frequency of twitches = tacit knowledge, internal instinct, automated response, u controllable 
• Philosophers have argued that perception does not involve projection 
• Tacit knowing relates to nervous system 
• Events in our brain = subliminal twitches; perception= tacit knowing 
• “our own body is the only thing in the world which we normally never experience as an object, but always experience in terms of the world to which we are attending from our body” understanding how our body reacts and exists in the world that we exist in 
• German thinkers stated – empathy=proper means of knowing man and their humanities 
• Repeat a word a lot = reduced care in how you say it = mistakes = loosing substance and confusion, examining something or going over it too many times can make us lose sight of it 
• “recovery never brings back original meaning” 
• Going over something too much with too much analysis and detail can destroy the meaning or bring a new meaning to it, but changes the way you thought of it before 
• “The experience of seeing a problem as a scientist sees it in his pursuit of discovery” “all research must start from a problem” – only successful if it’s a good problem/original, problems are hidden, a good solution is finding something so hidden no one else would have even thought it existed,  
• Plato, in Meno says searching for a solution is not needed because you know what you are searching into resulting in no problem, or unsure what you’re looking for and therefore can’t find a solution to something that you’re not looking for 
• Plato’s solution = “all discovery is a remembering of past lives”, explanation has hardly been accepted, neither has any though 
• Humans progressed by encountering problems and solving them 
• “if problems nevertheless exist, and discoveries can be made by solving them, we can know things, and important things, that we cannot tell” 
• Truth vs fruitfulness, recognizing true statements 
• “Anticipation of discovery, like discovery itself, may turn out to be a delusion” 

The Tacit Dimension was the second close reading that we were instructed to do by our tutors, and I had thought that after completing the first one, I could potentially find this slightly easier however I found it more difficult to comprehend. The language was very complex like before, but it took me a while to understand the different terms and ideas that were being explored as I hadn’t heard about them before. Once again, I still viewed this as a good thing due to the fact that it will allow me to improve my critical thinking, allow me to explore complicated types of thinking and reference important movements within philosophy that connect to the ideas of art and design movements.  

Tacit means understood without having it directly explained; therefore, automatically knowing something. Therefore, the idea of tacit knowledge reflects on automatic responses, sensory actions, the nervous system and anticipating results due to signals from the brain. The experiments that were discussed helped me visualize what the author was saying as he was giving examples for me to understand further. One of them being in an experiment, someone was used as a test for tacit knowledge by being given nonsense syllables to listen to and after a certain one they were then shocked with an electric shock. Although they did not know what the syllable meant as it had no prior meaning to them, they started to anticipate the shock without stating how they knew.  

Soviet ideology under Stalin meant that they believed in denying justification to the pursuit of science which were questions raised in general philosophy and therefore it was  believed that “science was a morbid symptom of a class society; under socialism the conception of science pursed for its own sake would disappear, for the interests of scientists would spontaneously turn to problems of the current Five Year Plan” saying the “conception of science” is interesting to me because science to me, is something that is usually factual, intellectual and done for a specific purpose to research or find out information and therefore doesn’t appear to be conceptual in my eyes. Also “the interest of scientists” is another interesting phrase as I feel like scientists should surely be neutral in their opinions if they are into factual topics and situations, their opinion would not affect what they were to find out anyway as research would back up all of the claims. “Denial of the very existence of independent scientific thought came from a socialist theory which derived its tremendous persuasive power from its claim to scientific certainty.” This is also a very interesting approach as I just stated that I assumed how scientific facts are facts instead of having an ulterior socialist motive. Science could have, and in my opinion definitely do have, the answer to a lot of things that would help save thousands of lives such as remedies to cure illnesses etc., however are being withheld due to money- begin able to prove these important pieces of information/products to people who can fund it and therefore creates a selfish and dystopian approach to science and something so ‘innocent’ as a cure for an illness. 

Knowing something subconsciously without understanding what that actual thing is, was discussed in length within this text which I thought was something interesting to debate. On one hand, the tests prove that we can indeed sense something happening, like the electric shocks even though we would be unsure on how to communicate how we know, but you could argue that it isn’t us knowing it in our brain, it’s us being fed signals to react to something, therefore making us not understand it at all as it is subconscious. 

“Anticipation of discovery, like discovery itself, may turn out to be a delusion”  

This quote stood out to me as this could mean a variety of things. The idea of searching for something that is not there creates some sort of fake delusion that we are trying to make up, and therefore is man-made. But on the other hand, you could argue that it wouldn’t be any sort of delusion if you’re discovering new information, even if it’s new to our particular brain and discovered by someone else previously. The act of discovering a problem could be delusional as everything has a solution already to our knowledge, there could be nothing left to discover as it is all already out there. Relating to the quote of “if problems nevertheless exist, and discoveries can be made by solving them, we can know things, and important things, that we cannot tell” because if we already know the thing (even if we can’t tell) then we have discovered it already? 

Overall the ideas discussed were very complex for me and therefore I am unsure if what I was discussing even made sense but I enjoyed reading this type of text even though it took me a few tries to get to grips with it. I will challenge myself to read more academic texts and attempt to critically analyse them like I have done with the past two as I am keen to improve my critical writing skills for my dissertation project. 

CLOSE READING – INTERMINGLED BODIES

• “through making we constitute the way we are in the world” 
• Connections between the body and the universe 
• Extend across space meaning synchronous and across time which is diachronous 
• Keywords: agency, material, narrative, tact, apparatus, network, meshwork 
• Everything is man-made, artificial, constructed 
• Understanding what the artificial vs natural entails when we’re born into a world like this 
• What we make changes the world around us whether that is on a large or small scale 
• Object orientated ontology (O.O.O) – philosophy 
• Social sciences and material culture- why we make and the way we make 
• “early making was prompted by the body’s awkwardness and fragility” – making things to fit in easier into the world and easier for our bodies 
• Referencing “The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World (1985), Elaine Scarry” 
• Making a chair is for a body- and the body adapts to the changes of sitting down, while being accustomed with extra artificial man-made legs 
• “altered surrogate” – body being awkward and not able to function I terms of sitting or holding stuff- which is why things are made to accustom the body – like a prosthetic 
• “pain is without object”, desire is to desire SOMETHING, fear is to fear SOMETHING, pain is pain 
• We do not feel the pain of others, or things that are not in our own bodies 
• “in any real understanding of making there needs to be an appreciation of the unmaking that shadows it”- counter reactions, or what would happen if this thing wasn’t made, or you tried to do the thing you want to do without the thing being made in the first place 
• Scarification of the earth through deforestation is pain on the earth which affects us bodies who exist on the earth and therefore allows us to become intermingling bodies with the events that occur where we exist even though we do not physically feel this pain- it will affect us and our successors etc. 
• Bandage= substitute for skin, aids pain, protects wound= making helps pain 
• “trans-corporeal pain” meaning the idea of pain beyond the physical sensation 
• “we may consider touch that has sensitivity, delicacy, diplomacy and seeks to produce harmony” 
• “tact is both ethical and poetic” 
• Ethical- aiding, helping bodies function etc., poetic tact meaning political, economic, social and cultural context- making takes place in those spaces 
• Making is the relationship between pain on one side and the imagined objects that help on the other side 
• Craft is dependent on unconscious skill from practice and repetition 
• Good that the usually provide physical examples of what philosophy they are talking about in order for me to understand and visualize a theory 
• Tacit knowledge is like understanding how a human can make a tool work from action to reaction and finished product/ reaction of the tool 
• Making pots is possible by a history of pottery- limitations of pottery make incredible reactions but when the skill is detached from the reason why they are making something, then you can question and reconfigure their work for new motivations and create things with more purposes. 
• “tacit knowledge is an incomplete theory of thinking and making” 
• Design elevates making- concept to outcome 
• Design based making vs craft-based making 
• Design based making – material engagement, strategically motivated  
• Know how vs know why 
• A design will detail the making of something without necessarily having the practical skills to complete the making of it 
• ‘Toaster Project’ making a toaster from scratch when he could only make a sandwich; getting materials, refining them, working them into a toaster design, modelled on a toaster he found= worked but not well, failed after one use= proving that it had to make something by yourself that is essentially made by an entire civilization 
• “only distinction between craft and design based making is in the primary motivation”- know how vs know why 
• “everything and nothing shoulders blame and credit” 
• Material invention between the materials and the craft from the beginning of the construction to the end, while designing takes place and an affect is made- a solution. 
• Connection between the materials, the process of transforming the materials, the design of how to use the materials, why it is being made, who is making it and how they learnt these skills as well as the execution of the final product as well as years of improvement and areas to expand on this as an entire process 
• A situation and circumstance that produced the aesthetic 
• Craft work- like someone making pottery or china etc. relates to authentic tradition and history- such as Korean narratives and symbolic images- patterns relating to the actual product and design 
• A maker needs to appreciate where they are acting from 
• Economic apparatus acts on practice meaning that you make to sell and what you make is determined by what you sell 
• Needing to sell (or make money) can affect the maker’s motivations negatively, affecting quality of authenticity. 
• “Making should first make sense to a maker and second resonate with others” 
• Nicholas O’Donnell Hoare – MA Design Critical Practice at Goldsmiths connected his jewelry making to the practices of goldmining 
• Origin of the metals that he sourced to use, truth about gold mining/ gold extraction – learned about toxic environments within the production of gold, mercury is banned in gold mining but the price of gold has increased x3 since 2001, mercury is the easiest way to extract gold, still used where it is illegal because it is cheap, small scale gold mining is the second worst source of mercury pollution in the world, fossil fuels are worse, in the Amazon Basin village they use mercury to extract gold, mix it into the river with bare hands- exposing themselves to potential mercury poisoning, positing the river and environment = wanted to give up making jewellery, created mercury condensing kits to combat the problems he faced, making it safer as gold mining is crucial to their survival 
• Nicholas O’Donnell created a service where people could redesign their jewellery (such s if they had a divorce or outgrown the design)- cost extracted from the piece of jewellery, each new design is created with less gold than original,  
• His narrative for that was an ethical concern 
• All making practices are done in a 4d meshwork; spatial, temporal 
• Production and consumption – mining, extracting, exporting, wearing gold – and different geographies – river, village, Brazil, England 
• Poetic making – ethical – uses that within his practice to solve problems – social and environmental 
• Critical perspective into making is important = think through how what we make influences us  

Doing these close reading tasks have proven to be a challenge for me as I hadn’t read something this academic in so much depth for quite a while. I really enjoyed taking the time to read through this text although I found it very difficult; this is a good thing because it means that there is room for improvement and teaches me that I need to stretch my academic reading further as my skills are not the best as they should be at a third year level. During lockdown I became increasingly more interested in philosophy and different theories as I started to read more philosophy-based fiction books and became fascinated by the ideology that people came up with. The never-ending questioning of a topic made me engrossed because there is never a right or wrong, only thousands of possibilities as well as thoughts and feelings to back up these claims. 

One of the concepts that engrossed me was the idea that currently, almost everything in the world is manmade and carefully constructed, little is natural anymore and anything that has been constructed, has been constructed as an extension of our bodies to exist comfortable on this earth. An example of this being a chair made to aid us in sitting down on   desk, allowing us to rest easier by giving us an artificial extension of legs to support us in doing an everyday task. We would need to do the everyday day to survive and therefore using the chair would assist us in making our lives more comfortable, as one of the themes in this text was stating that our bodies our awkward and unable to do certain things, which we have fixed using the art of craft and making. 

Another concept that came to light in this text was the idea that pain, unlike fear or desire, is without object. Pain is internal and emotional, yet fear is motivated by fearing something in particular and desire is similar. However, you could argue that a material object could cause pain, something you can see could reflect an emotional reaction of pain as it’s known that you can sometimes feel pain physically when you’re emotionally affected. On the other hand, you cannot feel someone else’s physical pain, but you can empathies with their fear or desire as pain is not only subjective, but also dependent on what inflicts the pain or what is deemed as pain.  

Design based making versus craft-based making was something that I had not previously explored before. The idea that something is made to solve design problems, to improve on previous designs and to construct something visually pleasing whereas there’s craft design, which is physical and tactile; that “only distinction between craft and design-based making is in the primary motivation”- knowing how to construct something, using materials and craft processes versus knowing the reason that something is being made, the effects it would solve and who it would be used for. However, you could argue that these two work in conjunction with each other as opposed to juxtaposing. The design would influence the way that something is constructed and the way that something is built could suggest that there would be improvements for designing it. 

Nicholas O’Donnell Hoare’s work for the MA Critical Practice at Goldsmith’s proved the point of ethical means of production would come in handy with my business project in learning how to source materials and using machinery in an effective manner. He discovered that with gold mining, which is what he based his final major project on, people in Brazil use mercury to extract gold which is illegal in most places as well as incredibly dangerous with the risk of mercury poisoning. He identified a problem and worked to combat the problem and find a solution; therefore, allowing his craft to become ethical and solving social issues worldwide. 

Overall, I found the text difficult to get into but found that eventually I was getting used to the language and understanding the different concepts being discussed. I didn’t agree with everything said but that is the beauty of philosophy in my eyes because everything can be argued upon and different people have alternative solutions to the problems that are brought up within philosophy. I enjoyed doing this close reading, but it has shown that I need to pick up more academic texts especially for writing my dissertation as it allows me to explore more complex subject matter, and really delve into the specific and obscure topic to relate back to art, design and fashion. 

WEEK 3 – ANALYSIS – TASK 2 – JULIUS RAYMUND BODY TYPEFACE

JULIUS RAYMUND 

After previously rediscovering Dezeen.com for graphic design news and finding the article relating to the graphic design Pantone’s new Period Red color, I decided it would be appropriate to search the website for more interesting graphic design news to broaden my research in terms of process but refine it when it comes to themes; as the controversial, provocative news seemed to interest me the most.  

This led me immediately to finding this article on a designer called Julius Raymund who has created his own typeface using his body, by cleverly arranging and positioning parts of his limbs, fingers, hairs etc. to form a typeface. I found this to be intriguing as I personally hadn’t seen anyone do something like this before and it seemed to make font and typefaces into some sort of provocative art piece which I fell in love with. The fact that he photographed these pieces of his body using water makes everything look messier and more uncomfortable to look at, therefore making it even more engrossing. Considering he has made a typeface from his body, which obviously doesn’t look like different letters, it make the imagery more obscure and abstract, where at closer inspection you start to see the letters possible form, adding to the curiosity of the typeface. There wasn’t any mention of the typeface being used commercially or artistically, which makes me want to try it myself and attempt to form a sentence or word using it.  

Raymund created this font for a design challenge; 36 Days of Type, where he encountered all of these digitally illustrated or hand drawn typefaces and wanted to create something more obscure. This reminded me of an effective task I had to participate in on my art foundation, where we were instructed to search around the university for different letter, photograph them, then form our own typeface using a collection of contrasting letters which led us to a more interesting outcome than if we were to create simple lines and shapes. Tasks like these remind me that I need to be more experimental with my work, especially as this research project is all about trials and pushing ourselves creatively. 

WEEK 3 – ANALYSIS – TASK 2 – PANTONE PERIOD RED COLOUR

PANTONE – PERIOD RED COLOUR 

As I was still feeling lost (or overwhelmed) with where to go with my research, I decided to focus back on the area of graphics, which is where my heart lies. In order to do this, I thought it would be appropriate to browse reputable graphic design websites for news in the industry to see how contemporary graphic design is evolving which led me to Dezeen.com 

What struck me to the article was the image of the Pantone colour ‘Period Red’ with the illustration on the colour sheet. This struck me because most of the other articles were about different types of craft or branding but I loved the idea of a worldwide company discussing something like periods which are usually fairly ‘taboo’ but becoming more and more discussed lately. As I’ve discussed in previous blog posts, I was interested in artists like Linder or the HATE zine which create an open discussion on topics such as sexuality, periods, bleeding etc. which, as a natural part of life, I do find fascinating when it’s explored creatively. However, I found it particularly interesting coming from a company like Pantone which is usually incredible neutral on topics like that, considering they’re well known for their colour matching which doesn’t necessarily allow them to voice their opinions as it would seem unnatural, however by doing this they’re reaching out to potentially a different audience than the people who are interested in artists like Linder or who read the HATE zine as they’re usually seeking out art like that. 

 

The illustrations to accompany the colour compliment the style beautiful as they’re simple line illustrations depicting a womb as a repetitive pattern and therefore makes the whole collaboration playful and friendly to their audience. It allows the topic to be spoken about in a safe and comfortable way rather than showing graphic images, although I wouldn’t be opposed to this as it’s natural, coming from a stylist approach, I feel like they succeeded in breaking the stigma and opening up a discussion in the way that people hide and get embarrassed or awkward about these sort of topics and pushes the normalization of it in a wider design context. 

“Enough is enough, it’s 2020. Isn’t it time periods stop being considered as a private affair or a negative experience? Isn’t it time we call out people that try to perpetuate the stigma surrounding periods?” 

I’ve discussed this previously in my blogs but the above quote feels inspiring to me as I should ask myself more questions when approaching a topic instead of simple researching things with no aim as it allows me to explore different solutions and answers in a more creative manner to expand my own thoughts and understand all the different possibilities out there. Topics like feminism etc are of course very important to me and I should incorporate this into my work more. 

WEEK 3 – ANALYSIS – TASK 2 – VICE – MEANS OF PRODUCTION ISSUE

VICE – MEANS OF PRODUCTION ISSUE 

Another field of research recommended to me from my tutors based on my research was to explore the idea of the change in process due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This worldwide pandemic has changed every aspect of our lives forever, however even if I were to focus on just the creative impacts (and restrictions) that the coronavirus has had, I could discuss it forcer in so much depth. Therefore, I thought it would be wise to investigate at least a few different elements on how life has changed; there’s no point ignoring this pandemic within my university work, I’ve had to adapt and overcome in every other area of my life so I still need to understand the creative impacts this would have. Everything from the limited research that I can’t get from exhibitions and galleries closing, to the lack of resources around, the new ways of presentation; online exhibitions and the future of curation as well as the emotional affects, the increased deaths, the dystopian world, face masks covering our identity– it’s unfortunately so inspiring to research into in an overwhelming way.  

Magazines had been affected greatly by this pandemic in every aspect of the production, if I am going to create a magazine, which is a possibility, I would need to do some extensive research on how magazines have changed and adapted in line with what is going on in the world. Therefore, this led me to another magazine which I love gaining inspiration and reading from which is Vice. And what was particularly interesting was that this issue was conceived before the pandemic but constructed during it and therefore different to the other issues as this was the peak of having to adapt extremely quickly to what was happening.  

“Editorially, every piece that was in the works required reconsidering—would we kill it? Re-report it? Expand it? Cut it down?” 

This quote from the Editor’s Letter of Vice’s Means of Production issue explains the emotion and panic within the creative industries in terms of bringing out a new issue of Vice; I am sure my teachers felt the same sort of emotions when sorting out our modules with this pandemic being put in place too. It brings me back to the feeling of March where everything was scary and uncertain, the lack of motivation and mental affects relating to creativity and feeling defeated comes back.  

“We used archival images instead of sending photographers into the field and added annotations to stories. We designed the issue to emphasize the building blocks that make up any typical magazine you might read, but this time made them visible, not hidden. We have also made the whole issue available for you to read as a PDF,”  

This quote explains the adaptation that VICE as a team have had to go through in order to get their issue out to their customers in time, while still being accessible during a global pandemic. They have had to change the way they gain their imagery and content as well as the means of presentation. Me and my tutors had a discussion to show that online exhibitions, PDF’s being made more frequently as well as other adaptations for accessibility during this pandemic allow more people of minorities to reach the content. This is because online exhibitions, PDFs of magazines and online content including apps are less in price compared to print versions, use up less paper and energy of the planet and also allow people who are disabled to access art more effectively. It is interesting that it has taken a pandemic for disabled people to have better access to the arts industry but hopefully more people are aware of these sort of issues and in the future there could be more consideration from the larger companies. 

WEEK 3 – ANALYSIS – TASK 2 _ HATE ZINE

HATE ZINE ISSUE 2 – Featuring work by Maisie Cousins, Stephanie Wilson, and a cover shot by Martin Parr, Le Voguer Couyet and Carlos Clark 

“Art, music, fashion – anything which is now classed as a ‘creative industry’ –  has been completely taken over by those who can afford to participate. And by participate, I mean study, work within and control what is produced”– Luisa Le Voguer Couyet 

This quote is what had made me intrigued by this article found on Dazed Digital. I was scrolling through suggested articles after researching Tom Wood’s photography and found these images which struck me.  

All of these stuck out to me as they’re somewhat conventional and unconventional. They use everyday objects, natural fruits and people’s bodies while also showing dramatic poses, sexual or phallic symbolism as well as imagery which could be deemed as uncomfortable. This inspires me as I love work which looks uncomfortable, unconventional or weird as I find it more interesting than something extremely beautiful. Especially when the body is within these images as I find the body particularly intriguing. In addition to this it also makes me want to incorporate more objects or natural things in my own artwork as I usually have something with less elements than these photographs. Researching into the themes that I am going to explore and seeing what objects and symbols I could include would push my work further and improve it greatly.

 

Hate zine showcases bodies in baked beans, fruit splattered over someone’s breasts which immediately looks like blood to me, condoms filled with egg yolks and greasy oily skin with leaves stuck to it. All of these show different textures and feelings which would usually feel uncomfortable, while tackling issues such as underrepresentation of how sex can be shown within the publishing/print industry. It’s 2020 and sex can still be whitewashed, ableist and heteronormative whereas we need to be more aware of how the lack of representation of these different minorities can make these people not only undereducated but could cause dangerous situations as they would have less of an education on something that they should have been taught in school.  

I’m glad there is more platforms which allow more of a voice to show different bodies as part of their ethos. I had seen a lot of images previously which were trying to be provocative while showing fruit with fingers inside or something attempting to be controversial, but the image had been overdone in my opinion and wasn’t adding anything to the representation of sex that they were trying to produce.  

“Personally, I’m bored of the satin-sheet, clean-shaven, lacy underwear, Hollywood porn depiction of sex. We all expel fluid from various orifices, we shit and piss and bleed and grow hair. It shouldn’t be something that is gross, and we should not be ashamed to talk candidly about sex.” I’m obsessed with this quote by Louise Le Voguer Couyet who explains, rightfully so, that the perspective of sex that we see, especially in magazines and TV is far too clean, everyone is perfectly airbrushed and clean, nothing “embarrassing”, uncomfortable or unconventional happens when in real life there’s much more to it which is what this magazine does right.