To finish off the first term we did another live brief. The take 3 give 1 brief entailed blindly selecting 3 words from an envelope and responding to the selection. This project like some of the ones I have done since the start of this course I was a little timid about how I was going to approach this. I wanted to use this as an opportunity to explore more 3D ideas and so was a bit stumped when I pulled out the 3 words “nostalgia, political, status”.
As with all projects that I start I made a Pinterest page to help me find inspiration and initial ideas. It was whilst I was doing this that I decided that the best way to approach this would be in image form. My thoughts on each word are below
Nostalgia- I tried to think of what nostalgia is now a day and how it can be applied to this project. This year is a 100-year anniversary of one of the most important years of the first world war. This is obviously a very important and distressing topic, but as people who experienced this time and the turmoil that came afterwards dwindle, why not use this as my answer to nostalgia.
Political- a sore subject at the best of times but with such recent uncertainty with Brexit and Donald Trump this is a way of exploring how modern politics and attitudes relate to those of 100 years ago. This a topic that is recognisable and relevant for all and so would be good as an intriguing piece in an exhibition.
Status- the definition of status is in two parts 1. relative social or professional position; standing, 2. the situation at a time during a process. And so, by using such topics as the ones above this area is somewhat already filled.
For many their part in the war relates to the home front and keeping up morale. One way of doing this was by propaganda posters, many are still recognisable and can be doctored to make them relevant to modern day politics. How the posters have been remembered and taught about in schools means that they very easily promote any message that people see fit and are quite often used in modern day advertising.
Considering I wanted to produce a more 3D outcome I am rather pleased with the results of these images. I am not an expert at Photoshop but feel that I have done well with the skills and experience with the programme I have. My plan for these images has not reached their end. I had planned to screen print these images using UV screen exposure, however, I was unwell and unable to attend the workshop so instead of just having the one piece in a complete and fulfilled form I have a range of experimental compositions and ideas that I hope one day to develop further.