Week 6: Noticing the ignored.
I found the lecture this week by Susanna very interesting. It provided me with insight into how we as an audience can think, record and process different material. It also gave insight into how a subject or artifact is perceived by the viewer.
How do you look, research, and record to find a unique insight into a problem?
At the beginning of the Lecture, Sussana focussed on the work of Jon Berger in particular, Ways of Seeing.
Berger, who is originally an artist, explains the way we look at great works of art to make them seem like part of our everyday.
“Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognises before it can speak”. (Berger, J. 2017)
How can you capture and record in multiple ways?
In the excerpt provided, Berger explained an approach from his sketch of Plumb. This sketch comprised of two sittings, one in the morning and then another in the afternoon. In the afternoon, Berger had lost the focal point of the sketch. However, due to a snail being present, he was not only able to locate the previous bunch of Plumb he had been sketching, but he was also able to add another layer to his sketch by capturing a subject from over a period of time.
“Drawing is a constant correction of errors” (Berger, J. 2017)
It was very interesting to understand this method of capturing information, and it is something I would definitely consider using as part of my workshop challenge for this week.
References:
Berger, J. (2017) John Berger on ways of seeing, being an artist, and marxism (2011) - newsnight archives, YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5y7QRt2bws (Accessed: April 26, 2023).
Studio PDF | Development
After watching the lecture in week 3 on the effects of globalisation in the design industry. I was inspired by the work of Pearlfisher and their approach with packaging design for Bang Olufsen. The design was very minimal but also tapped into the modern millennial. I want to reflect this in the overall look of my studio PDF.
The current state of my pdf however is not a stage I am fully comfortable with. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done. A template however is beginning to reveal itself.
Weekly Challenge
This week’s challenge gave me the opportunity to go out into my local area of Headingley, Leeds. I was able to explore and record via the use of photography to capture my vision of what is ignored.
Headingley has a vast mix of different personalities. There is a high population of students, workers, and people that call this area their home. It is a vibrant suburb that has an abundance of local independent businesses.
What I wanted to expose within this challenge was my interpretation of what is ignored.
The street art in Headingley is bold and bright, it reflects the city’s values which align with the community at the very heart of this. Artwork is produced with a guerrilla approach, it is spontaneous and sometimes anonymous. These pieces of work are what I want to draw my attention to as in my opinion, they are overlooked.
In addition to the street murals around Headingley, I wanted to expose the arts scene. Headingley hosts exhibitions and live music on a daily basis. It is very often flyers/adverts for these events that fall or deteriorate over time. These are often ignored and left to decay creating a harsh urban aesthetic.
Final Piece | Mixed media
I am very happy with the outcome of this piece. By using Photoshop I felt I was able to capture and produce what I wanted to expose. I wanted to make a statement with this piece of work and highlight what is ignored in my local area.
The images of teared-up flyers remains of old adverts, and weathered graffiti I have captured are evidence of this. This is my interpretation of the ignored.
