My Journey Through Body of Work with OCA
Following on from Showing Not Telling – Text and Image to Form Diegesis , I've been inspired to make 9 more poems for the remaining diptychs. In my opinion text has been used in a totally different way (relay as opposed to anchorage) to inform the images.
Some questions have been floating around in my head concerning my project for Body of Work so far. These questions are based around how/if it relates to regeneration and these questions inevitably lead to more questions! I have therefore jotted some of them down in an attempt to provide answers to at least a few of them.
I have decided to make what seems will be a pretty boring post concerning the logistics of my composite making and the selection of location from which to photograph from. I feel this is necessary because it is useful firstly as a reference point to remind myself of why I’m making the choices I’ve arrived at. Some of these reasons are practical while others are more thought out. The other use for making this post is that I might arrive at realisations I hadn’t conceived before writing this down.
At first glance, when looking at the original composite and the composite I’d just made, not much has changed in terms of place. However, upon closer inspection the composites reveal change which took place sometime in the 5 or so months since the original was created. I feel the time between composites allows for change and it is up to the viewer to look for the differences. It is also up to me as the artist to entice the viewer in. I’m beginning to think this will come with how I eventually present the composites (including text) as well as framing the composites as similarly as possible so these differences are more discernible.
I produced another composite with the same framing, based on an original composite of the same location. I happen to feel this particular location is quite strong in terms of juxtaposing the old and the new. In my mind this is a way of symbolising change is taking place within an area. The sleek, modern aesthetics of the block of flats on the left of the frame show they can’t have been there too long, while the disused, dilapidated pub in the centre/right of the frame is clinging on to existence in its present state.
On the 16th December 2019, I attended a Level 3 specific study hangout aimed at showing how theory and practice sides of Level 3 are integrated by building upon what we had learnt in the first study hangout on 24th October 2019. The focus this time was sharing our particular case studies for our projects along with what we think are our grand narratives to the rest of the group.
After establishing some of the approaches that made the composite technique stand out in WiP #'s 2-5 and culminating in Assignment 3, I aim to start photographing other locations using these approaches.
This was an experiment I had been meaning to try out for some time but just hadn’t got around to. It again comprises of arranging people within the scene but this time relies on the relationship with another composite from the same location. My aim when making this composite is to have the people moving through the scene frozen at the same points other people were photographed in the other composite.
I have made two more composites for my Body of Work. They follow the same strategy of putting people who were there in the same place but at different times into the same image. However, this time I have revisited scenes I’d already photographed at to see how the scenes (and the people within them) had changed.
