Collection - 5/09/2019
"Foundation Fine Art Specialist Class of 2019"
With our first project we were given the word "collection" with a selection of artists which then led us, as a class, to create our own interpretation of collection. In my contextual practise I show how i have a collection of my own (cinema tickets and rocks from counties I have travelled to). I then decided to change my idea from a physical collection to a typology of images, similar to the artists I had done research on. The idea came from sitting at the back of the class and seeing the back of everyone's heads. The simple yet beautiful idea of us as a class of young adults who love art yet looked so different and came from different countries as well as different races made me want to create a piece that represented us as a class and a collection. My piece was a selection of people in my class facing a wall. The reason why i didn't want to have pictures of their face was to show how I don't know these people (yet) and how the audience might not know these people either but the only clear message we do know is that they are all different but have ended up in the same room studying the same subject all sharing the same passion and love for art. The reason behind the layout of the work was because I wanted to show how we are on the same level. I believe that when a typology of images are girded on top of one another it has a sense of hierarchy attached to it, so having the images placed in a line showed more of a similarity in terms of power for example. I wanted the images to be in colour to show how different each person is and make the differences clear. I believe that if the images were in black and white then it wouldn't be as clear to see that each person is different. I named my piece "Foundation Fine Art Specialist Class of 2019".
Altered Spaces - 10/09/19
"What if?"
With the subject Altered Spaces I decided to focus on the removal of spaces and spaces that are important. I had taken these images around London of people holding linking arms/hands. I then paint over in white a box over the importance space in the image. With the space being removed from the photo it makes the audience question what is behind it and what was removed. The first image i painted over the baby which i believe is the "important space" in the whole image and i want the audience to question what life would be like if the child was never there or ever existed. It is very deep and an emotional thought when we think about "what if the people we love never existed?". In the second image I took a photo of an elderly couple linking arms. Which is such a beautiful thing to see. In this piece I had painted a section where they are touching, which removes the affection and the love out of the image. This then allows the audience to question what the white space has now changed and question "what if they had never met or had fell in love?". This was my representation of altering a space but also altering what is within the photo and altering the emotions of the audience.
Altered Spaces Final - 16/09/19
"The removal of space"
In my Altered Space project I decided to look at the removal of space and how that can effect the image and the mood of the image. I showed examples of how I have removed affection and family out of the image which could represent death or non existence. The idea of questioning the audience what they would o if someone they loved never existed and how they would feel if they had never met the person they love the most. I then wanted to corporate this into a a physical piece. Instead of altering the image I have been able to alter the space around us by removing a part of the image. i had take a series of photos and videos of people walking through the blank space and standing behind it. Removing what is their is not only removing that section from our sight but I want the viewer to question what is it never existed? What if whats on the other side disappeared forever?
The process of making this was from painting a a wooded slab white and drilling two holes on each top corner and then have it being hung near the entrance of the class. The location was important as I wanted everyone to be able to interact with the piece. It also made it harder for people to get into the door which was very humorous as it meant that people tried to avoid the it and tried not to get near it. It kind of showed a fear of absence and tried not to touch the blank space. This project was very fun to work with and I had managed to get a lot of experimentation complete using the altering of images and removal of important space. I have a list of feed back that I had been given in my critical practise on what they liked and what they advised me to improve on.
Body- 19/09/19
In today's lesson we were talking about the idea of body and different ways of taking an image whether it is a moving image or still. If it is a zoomed image or on taken from far. Ruby and myself were looking at the idea of using a the panorama setting on out iPhones and seeing what it does to an image went moving around. Me tried to do it on the face where you can see that the face as overlapped one another that was by using the panorama setting but using different speeds. We also used it for the neck and as you can see the neck had gotten longer and over exaggerated parts of the body. We tried to have fun with it and then decided to look at angles and how that can change the way the viewer sees the image. We took photos from below to make the body look bigger than it originally is. We also took pictures ion the staircase where my body looked bigger and attempted to take over the space in that section. Today's lesson was really fun and the out comes of the images made it all a lot more easier to work with when we had experimented with what we could do at the start of the today's lesson.
Hidden Identity - 16/09/19
Paris- 25/09/19
"Paris"
This photo was brought in from Tash and I had brought in this snow globe from Paris; the spoon was also Tash's. We decided that we wanted to combine the objects that we had bought in today's session and see what we could make from it. We found humorous ways to present and alter the photos and layering the objects together to change the atmosphere of the images.
Shoreditch- 25/09/2019
Photo I had taken at Shoreditch
On my way out I had walked past a wall of graffiti with a white piece of scrap leaning against the wall. I felt like I had to take a photo as it linked so well with my Altered Space project. I would love to have a selection of images of white spaces around London where parts of the scene have been removed. I have already done it to piece of art work I had take photos of at the Victoria and Albert museum. This was a lot more than just covering and hiding a part of the graffiti but it has also hidden a part of the culture. I believe that in London especially Shoreditch graffiti is such a huge part of it's culture. What is Shoreditch without Graffiti? and then having someone removing and hiding it by pacing this in front caught my eye.
The image at the bottom had reminded me of something Emma Tod had mentioned in our lectures "What is great? What do we define as great?"
Text
Hidden Identity - 9/09/19
"Hidden Identity" - Altered Spaces
This was an idea, with the help of Cerina, where I had painted a block of wood white and was held up, covering Cerina's face. Although it wasn't completely planned, I loved the idea of hidden identity and it linked very well with my collection project of not knowing the subjects within the pictures i had taken. Removing a part of someone and hiding it away could represent and alter the emotion of the image. It makes the viewer confused and maybe scared as to what she is hiding and why she is hiding it. I would love to go further with this idea and maybe create a film of blanked out heads and see where I can go with it.
Chaos and Rebellious - 12/09/19
"Chaos and Rebellious"
In today's session we had to create short videos and record the reactions of the audience reacting to a performance or a setting. As a group we decided we wanted people to panic and become scared of their surrounding. We decided that we would send a message on the group chat to invite those at CSM to an art exhibition in the canteen. We then trashed the room and left it to see how everyone would react. We put chairs on the tables, tables on the floor and waited until lunch to see what would happen. In a video we had taken everyone just adjusted to the setting and decided to ignore it and ate their lunch. Come just picked up the chairs and began to eat completely oblivious to the surrounding. This is what we expected as it is an Art Uni but we questioned if we had done it in a public library or a primary school to see how they would react. Another interesting thing that had happened was whilst we were trashing the room the reaction from students walking past made the video footage interesting as they had left and looked very uncomfortable. It showed how being in a setting that is changing around you could make you feel uncomfortable but coming into the setting that is already altered made the audience not react and feel completely normal.
Material News- 24/09/19
"I want to be a footballer when I grow up"
My sculpture which represented the news about knife crime. 132 knifes for the 132 stabbings that have taken place in London in 2019.
This project was a very sentimental and personal piece for me in comparison to the other projects. Stabbings in London is an on going problem which I believe will continue to happen if nothing is being done about it. I believe that if this was a problem happening with another class then it would be immediately resolved. I decided to use metal looking knifes and heated them using the hot air gun to then mould and bend them into all different types of shapes. This was so that it was clear that the knifes had been used and that they were a representation of how young teens are represented in the media. Knife crime has painted a very clear picture in the media that young teens in London are animals and out of control. I wanted to present this work as a young adult who was born and raised in London that not all young people in London are dangerous and apart of a gang.
The process of making this was by heating, bending and then cooling the knifes. I then assembled the knifes together to create a ball. The reason I chose to make this into a ball was because I wanted to show how the ball could change in size. It could decrease and increase in size the same way the amount of deaths in London could increase and decrease. I also liked it to something very personal to me. Losing a friend who aspired to be a footballer made me think about all those who have lost their lives through stabbings who aspired to be something when they grow up and now don't have the chance to. I decided to call it "I want to be a footballer when I grow up" to show the harsh reality of what life can really be like in the depths of London. I hope that one day enough light would be shed on this problem instead of keeping it quiet. I have explained in the critical practice on what i would do to improve it and what went well.
Sounds- 26/09/19
The video above was a creation made that was inspired by the multi culture class in my foundation fine art specialist course. I am fascinated by the idea of everyone being able speak so many different languages and have all ended up in the same foundation course. The languages in the video were basic sentences that we use everyday like "I'm really hungry" and how others process that same information but by hearing a different sound. A language, speech, is a sound that we use to communicate with one another and the idea of how changing that sound means we no longer can understand and process what is said. The process of creating this video was by using another phone to google translate the sentence and then press the volume button so that the phone says it for me. The robotic noise could represent how technology has been able to unit the world and become a tool for us to communicate with one another. I placed the phone near the object that was spoken about. For example "I love graffiti" was filmed near graffiti to show the viewer a clear link to the text. Language is such a beautiful thing and the sounds and accents of language is what I wanted to focus on when making this video.
With the second video I used footage from when i recorded the back of students in my class's heads. I then incorporated that video to the video to show the different range of cultures within the room. The reason why it was slowed down was because i wanted to make it harder for those who did understand the languages harder for them to understand also.
Location- 25/09/19
"Childhood"
We were asked today to bring in objects that were personal to us or impersonal to us and bring them in. I decided to bring these photos of me and my brother from when we were younger. I took photos of these photos in a grid format and having a red laminate on top of the images. Using a different light made the image change and the mood of the image changed also. The idea that the phone that is taking the photo is in the reflection could represent how technology has taken over childhood and children care more about YouTube and video games than going to a park of playing with toys.It could also show the end of a child hood. Red is usually used for the term "STOP" and how growing up and becoming adults has stopped us from being what we were. The unawareness as a child on what adulthood is really like is scary and therefore is another reason why I chose the colour red. Red removed the innocents from the image and the youth from the images and created a different location for the photos. So through these images I wanted to show how with age, we are in different locations of mindsets and location of life. As we grow older we are in a different location through education, work, holiday, friends etc.
Plastering my face- 24/09/19
Today I had my face Plastered by Fatemeh for her sculpture and painting project. The outcome was great and the experience was so much fun. Although I was just assisting and being a model for the plastering process, i had looked back at the time lapse that had been taken and I loved how slowly may identity and face had slowly been hidden from the viewer. It reminded me of my hidden identity project where I had painted over an important space. The idea of removing something and questioning the viewer how they would feel if it had never existed. I also loved how slowly parts of me where disappearing it could be a representation of ageing and maturing but also how hidden the subject is. It was such a great experience and made me think about my experience of not being able to talk and see; I think the experience for added to the art of making this mask.
Place - 7/10/19
For the place project I have decided to look into the country I am from, Morocco. I love my culture, the people, the language and the food. The smells of Morocco when it comes to the city streets, markets and the kitchen is what reminds me of home. I believe the first thing that people think about when it comes to a place is a place that they feel happy and safe as well as comfortable. The first thing that originally came to mind was my old house in London which was in a block of flats but that was more of a childhood memory where it reminds me of memories I had made as a child. I then thought about a place where I'm happy and surrounded by family and culture and that is in Morocco. I want to aim to create an experience for the audience to understand my "comfort place". I think about my culture and think about what could be the best way to present my place in CSM Kings Cross? I knew I wanted to do a sculpture and create something that makes the audience interact with it. I had to think about what is the one thing that reminds me of home and I first pictured myself outside my family's door. The idea of seeing the door and knowing that behind it I am happy and at home. I believe that the door subconsciously makes everyone happy. After a long day at work or a long day of uni, I always look at my door and feel relaxed and excited to go to bed. So I looked into remaking a door that is commonly seen in Morocco which has a specific arch and are really small. I then thought about what material would be best to make this door and decided to use wood as it would be lighter to carry when taking it to CSM Kings Cross. I was going to make an actual door but I like the idea of making it abstract and decided to do just the frame and then maybe have clothe wrapped around to show how m cultured is something i cherish. It also links to the culture of wearing a head scarf and clothing that is usually made by thin fabric as it gets very hot. Another reason why I chose to do a door was to show the idea of transportation and how the door takes you into another place, the point in which two worlds are connected. I believe that I am a representation of the door as I am cultured but I’ve just been made and created in London. Taking a culture and making it fit into another culture (Moroccan culture to British Culture) The process of making the door required a lot of small sketches and planning as well as mathematics. I had brought a slab of wood where I cut out a door arch inspired by a door I have back home, which is also commonly seen all around Morocco. I then had to think about how I would make this stand independently. With the help of the work shop assistants, I was able to find a way for it to stand interdependently and made a platform at the bottom for it to stand straight. The fabric will be Moroccan fabric commonly used as curtains but I don’t want them draping over the door but have them wrapping and dangling around the arch frame. I then like the idea of also making the area smell like Morocco also. So I have decided to do the scented sticks which we normally have in our house which you set a light and it has scented smoke. It is also used in mediation and to remove any bad vibes around the area. i would have them being placed in a very traditional stick holder which are seen around Morocco often and definitely in Moroccan houses. I am looking forward to making this idea come to life and be able to present it in CSM Kings Cross for everyone else to enjoy.