Evaluation

This is the project I found the most challenging. I chose to do word and image because I was really interested how language can change the meaning of photography. I started off with an ideas board on different ways images and text are used together. This was helpful at the beginning but did not feed me as many ideas as I hoped. I went straight into researching John Baldessari the conceptual artist. I really liked his work, how he likes to challenge the typical generic conventions of a photograph. I did try attempting some “wrong” images but to me they all came up too cliché and I didn’t think they were good enough to keep or post on my blog. I then looked at Barbra Kruger’s work, still with no image ideas for myself. I wrote about how she is mimicking adverts and writes a lot about society and feminism. But the thing I liked the most was how the meaning of the images were changed when the text was added, without the text it would be a normal, non-critical photograph. At this point in the project I was really stuck for ideas, but got really interested in conceptual art. I started cutting and pasting with magazines and newspapers, but because I don’t have any strong political views I was stuck as to what message I wanted to put across. I settled on just the one about beauty and power, trying to reflect how a lot of the time things come easier to those who are stereotypically better looking than others. After a tutorial I was instructed to look at found photography as I was completely stuck for ideas to photograph myself. So with conceptual art in mind I started playing around with words in front of an image, bringing out a fun and cheeky to my practice almost comical. Then I started looking deeply into Joachim Schmid work and liked how he uses so many different techniques and practices to present found photographs. Especially his QR code it really intrigued me to know why and how. My last selection of images consists of words overlaid onto photographs describing what is there in relation to the lay out of the image. I think my project has been very research and contextual based, it was mostly about me widening my knowledge of art history and conceptual art practitioners. There are a few starting points I wish to continue on next year, but so far this project has not come to an end. I think the main lows point in my project is my lack of outcomes. Looking back I think this is because I was over thinking and, from my point of view, not producing anything worth presenting. For the majority of the project I had a creative block, and only until the last couple of weeks did I have ideas I could expand on, I need to remember in the future go out and try to get inspired, instead of sitting in doors worrying about it and wasting time producing rubbish. If I was to continue this project next year I would look more into words, images in relation to new technology (such as QR codes) and also research deeper into conceptual art and photographers.