BVA 103 (Research-Led Industry Practice) : Visual Journal
My Idea:
I have decided to explore the theme of identity and how it can be represented through visual art. Identity here meaning the way oneself or others perceive a person or thing; the light in which that person or thing is seen.
The Cambridge dictionary describes identity as "who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others". I think identity is very subjective, the way we see ourselves is determined by events or experiences from our own life. Similarly the way we act towards others and the exposure they have received of us determine the light in which they see us.
Each person has multiple identities in this world, each determined by a different individual or group. For my experimentation with the idea I will explore different strands of this theme, the possible questions are:
1) How do we visually represent the identity of ourselves? (personal identity)
2) How do we visually represent the identity of someone seen from the eyes of others?
3) How do we visually represent the identity of a group of people?
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I found a historical example of an artist who explored a similar theme in their work. It is the artist Laurie Simmons, specifically looking at one of her series of work: 'How We See'
In 'How We See' Simmons explores how people alter their identity by using metaphorical imagery. She says "It came from my research on Japanese anime, cosplay and body transformation. I got hooked on makeup tutorials and girls painting anime eyes on their lids"
To me this works well in communicating the idea without clearly stating it. This type of metaphorical representation is something I want to emulate in my own work. My medium is still undecided, this is a good example of using photography in this way.
_________________________________________________________________________________
I have found an artist who uses an interesting technique in their work. One of the questions I have the potential to explore is "How do we visually represent the identity of someone seen from the eyes of others". Collage will give me the opportunity to show how different fragments or impressions of us influence the way others see our identity.
This work is by the artist Njideka Akunyili, she uses collage in her work to represent how the people in her pictures infuse their surroundings with things that inform their personalities and the way they see themselves.
Seeing this made me wonder about another idea I might be able to explore - how pop culture influences our identity. I might be able to use collage to show how people's identities are made up of pop-culture and the media.
I did some research into this idea and found that another artist has already explored this idea:
Sandra Chevrier combines portrait and collage, thematically exploring our relationship with pop-culture.
I experimented with this idea myself:
I wanted to explore how some people use pop-culture as a substitute for their identity, they use the artistic expression of others to inform their own identity. I took this picture where the two models pose in an anime fashion and started stylizing it.
I experimented with this idea and some techniques that I intend on incorporating in my own work in the example below.
This work works off the idea that there are people obsessed with anime and Japanese culture. They work these obsessions into how they see themselves and present themselves to others. Informally known as "weeaboos" or "neckbeards", the identity explored here is that of a group of people.
For this first experiment I used a picture that I took and manipulated it to look closer to the anime style that I'm taking inspiration from. There is some collage elements present as well, the idea didn't feel clear enough so I added different images related to the theme.
Nowadays people often use pop-culture as a common interest to relate to others. It's infused in the way they talk, the references and jokes they make. People have started to inform their own identity, and judge others, by their pop-culture preferences. This is the basis of my work, where the people represented see themselves differently than what they actually are. Where they see themselves in the same light as, and take inspiration from, their favorite fictional characters.
I tried to emulate the shell-shaded look of anime with this piece, if I pursue this direction I will be more specific with the technique.
I experimented with some collage techniques to see how they would communicate. With the excerpt here I wanted to communicate how the subject merges their own personality and image with that of a fictional character.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Potential experimentation with collage:
I want to experiment with collage as I think it could be an effective technique in communicating different parts of a person's identity. The reasoning for why someone sees themselves in a certain way is made up of many individual fragments, just as collage is a collection of different images to communicate a central idea.
_________________________________________________________________________________
I've already started to explore how to represented a group of people who share similar traits or interests, the next step I wanted to take was towards representing the individual. Where I focus on one person's identity. The question was of whether it was from their own personal definition of themselves or whether it was how I saw that person.
This example is about how I saw the person.
I tried to capture what the person represented would make if they made this and knowing his apathetic attitude towards art and ironic disposition I decided to take an anti art approach. Every artistic choice is made with the intention of defying design conventions, a similar style seen in the subjects own work.
A lot of the imagery present is based on things that I know about the person in the work. The square shape serves as a homage to his love of music and album covers, while also working as a subversion of the usual magazine layout.
Something interesting about how this work developed was that I found myself incorporating elements of myself - things that is more personally interesting to me - or things that are shared specifically between me and the person.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Here I wanted to represent the idea that different people see different sides of us.
You appear differently to different people, from the way you behave to the way that others see you. I experimented with that idea here, where the subject displays different expressions in different directions.
Again I took inspiration from album covers, specifically psychedelic ones from the 60's and 70's:
_________________________________________________________________________________
The idea of representing the way I see someone was very intriguing to me so I decided to explore it further. The examples below are concepts that metaphorically show how I see people that I've known over the years.
These work almost more as simple comics, representing a simple idea effectively. The concepts show two different people from my past and how I see them now. The small boy in the boxing ring is someone who had some serious self-confidence issues and made up for them by being aggressive to those around him. The clown is a person who always needed attention, didn't fit in and was ignored by their peers, the typical "class clown".
I think the concepts communicate the idea but it can be hard to determine that it's the identity of a specific person since they are so widely applicable.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Development of idea:
I've decided to refine my idea, I've been working with many different concepts and ideas and throughout my experimentation I've built a preference. The first thing to define is the question itself. Of the three options that I started with I think exploring a group of people is the most interesting to me, especially when I focus on a group of people close to me - that I understand well.
The group I have chosen to focus on is film school dropouts. Obviously this is informed by my own experience. While I don't belong to this group I have seen many of them come and go, therefore I find it intriguing and have built quite a good understanding of the group.
It feels as if the original three questions have somehow merged into one, I am now focusing on a group, but it's not their own expression, it's from an outsiders point of view (me). I've found that in attempting to represent a group of people I usually drift to using an individual as a representative for that group.
With the experiments I've done I found that it's impossible for the artist not to donate some of their own personality or way of thinking into the art, for this reason I've decided to change my artist models somewhat and gravitate the entire project more towards what I am really interested in. The big change I am making is my chosen medium. Collage is something I have never really found that appealing, but its translation into film is a very different matter. Montage and video art maintain the spirit of what I was doing in collage, but I am personally more invested in it.
With this change in medium I have also changed my artist models:
My main inspiration now is Jeff Keen, a video artist who works in montage. One of my class mates suggested him to me and upon seeing his work I was immediately inspired. His work is very frantic, but has depth. Each frame is filled, it cuts quickly and doesn't last for very long. Keen uses multiple mediums in his work, something I want to do as well.
I have decided to explore the theme of identity and how it can be represented through visual art. Identity here meaning the way oneself or others perceive a person or thing; the light in which that person or thing is seen.
The Cambridge dictionary describes identity as "who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others". I think identity is very subjective, the way we see ourselves is determined by events or experiences from our own life. Similarly the way we act towards others and the exposure they have received of us determine the light in which they see us.
Each person has multiple identities in this world, each determined by a different individual or group. For my experimentation with the idea I will explore different strands of this theme, the possible questions are:
1) How do we visually represent the identity of ourselves? (personal identity)
2) How do we visually represent the identity of someone seen from the eyes of others?
3) How do we visually represent the identity of a group of people?
_________________________________________________________________________________
I found a historical example of an artist who explored a similar theme in their work. It is the artist Laurie Simmons, specifically looking at one of her series of work: 'How We See'
To me this works well in communicating the idea without clearly stating it. This type of metaphorical representation is something I want to emulate in my own work. My medium is still undecided, this is a good example of using photography in this way.
_________________________________________________________________________________
I have found an artist who uses an interesting technique in their work. One of the questions I have the potential to explore is "How do we visually represent the identity of someone seen from the eyes of others". Collage will give me the opportunity to show how different fragments or impressions of us influence the way others see our identity.
This work is by the artist Njideka Akunyili, she uses collage in her work to represent how the people in her pictures infuse their surroundings with things that inform their personalities and the way they see themselves.
Seeing this made me wonder about another idea I might be able to explore - how pop culture influences our identity. I might be able to use collage to show how people's identities are made up of pop-culture and the media.
I did some research into this idea and found that another artist has already explored this idea:
I experimented with this idea myself:
I wanted to explore how some people use pop-culture as a substitute for their identity, they use the artistic expression of others to inform their own identity. I took this picture where the two models pose in an anime fashion and started stylizing it.
This work works off the idea that there are people obsessed with anime and Japanese culture. They work these obsessions into how they see themselves and present themselves to others. Informally known as "weeaboos" or "neckbeards", the identity explored here is that of a group of people.
For this first experiment I used a picture that I took and manipulated it to look closer to the anime style that I'm taking inspiration from. There is some collage elements present as well, the idea didn't feel clear enough so I added different images related to the theme.
Nowadays people often use pop-culture as a common interest to relate to others. It's infused in the way they talk, the references and jokes they make. People have started to inform their own identity, and judge others, by their pop-culture preferences. This is the basis of my work, where the people represented see themselves differently than what they actually are. Where they see themselves in the same light as, and take inspiration from, their favorite fictional characters.
I tried to emulate the shell-shaded look of anime with this piece, if I pursue this direction I will be more specific with the technique.
I experimented with some collage techniques to see how they would communicate. With the excerpt here I wanted to communicate how the subject merges their own personality and image with that of a fictional character.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Potential experimentation with collage:
I want to experiment with collage as I think it could be an effective technique in communicating different parts of a person's identity. The reasoning for why someone sees themselves in a certain way is made up of many individual fragments, just as collage is a collection of different images to communicate a central idea.
_________________________________________________________________________________
I've already started to explore how to represented a group of people who share similar traits or interests, the next step I wanted to take was towards representing the individual. Where I focus on one person's identity. The question was of whether it was from their own personal definition of themselves or whether it was how I saw that person.
This example is about how I saw the person.
I tried to capture what the person represented would make if they made this and knowing his apathetic attitude towards art and ironic disposition I decided to take an anti art approach. Every artistic choice is made with the intention of defying design conventions, a similar style seen in the subjects own work.
A lot of the imagery present is based on things that I know about the person in the work. The square shape serves as a homage to his love of music and album covers, while also working as a subversion of the usual magazine layout.
Something interesting about how this work developed was that I found myself incorporating elements of myself - things that is more personally interesting to me - or things that are shared specifically between me and the person.
_________________________________________________________________________________
You appear differently to different people, from the way you behave to the way that others see you. I experimented with that idea here, where the subject displays different expressions in different directions.
Again I took inspiration from album covers, specifically psychedelic ones from the 60's and 70's:
If I pursue this idea I will use a similar colour pallet to the examples above. While a persons attitude and perceived identity might change depending on who they are interacting with, some things always stay the same. Their passions, for example.
How I am going to display my work is an important thing to think about, the theme could provide interesting experimentation in that department. This idea can potentially be displayed around a pillar, each side of the pillar displaying a different emotion from the subject. The audience will be forced to experience each in turn, symbolically stepping into the shoes of different people.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The idea of representing the way I see someone was very intriguing to me so I decided to explore it further. The examples below are concepts that metaphorically show how I see people that I've known over the years.
These work almost more as simple comics, representing a simple idea effectively. The concepts show two different people from my past and how I see them now. The small boy in the boxing ring is someone who had some serious self-confidence issues and made up for them by being aggressive to those around him. The clown is a person who always needed attention, didn't fit in and was ignored by their peers, the typical "class clown".
I think the concepts communicate the idea but it can be hard to determine that it's the identity of a specific person since they are so widely applicable.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Development of idea:
I've decided to refine my idea, I've been working with many different concepts and ideas and throughout my experimentation I've built a preference. The first thing to define is the question itself. Of the three options that I started with I think exploring a group of people is the most interesting to me, especially when I focus on a group of people close to me - that I understand well.
The group I have chosen to focus on is film school dropouts. Obviously this is informed by my own experience. While I don't belong to this group I have seen many of them come and go, therefore I find it intriguing and have built quite a good understanding of the group.
It feels as if the original three questions have somehow merged into one, I am now focusing on a group, but it's not their own expression, it's from an outsiders point of view (me). I've found that in attempting to represent a group of people I usually drift to using an individual as a representative for that group.
With the experiments I've done I found that it's impossible for the artist not to donate some of their own personality or way of thinking into the art, for this reason I've decided to change my artist models somewhat and gravitate the entire project more towards what I am really interested in. The big change I am making is my chosen medium. Collage is something I have never really found that appealing, but its translation into film is a very different matter. Montage and video art maintain the spirit of what I was doing in collage, but I am personally more invested in it.
With this change in medium I have also changed my artist models:
My main inspiration now is Jeff Keen, a video artist who works in montage. One of my class mates suggested him to me and upon seeing his work I was immediately inspired. His work is very frantic, but has depth. Each frame is filled, it cuts quickly and doesn't last for very long. Keen uses multiple mediums in his work, something I want to do as well.
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