Final Major Project
I am currently studying a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design. My final Major project has been an entirely self lead project, based around censorship, an exploration of my own sexuality and finding my place as a female artist in a world viewed primairly through the "Male Gaze".
Skecthbook Examples
Throughout my Final Major Project I kept several sketchbooks including:
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Reportage / Travel: Berlin (Primary Research)
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Reportage / Travel: Florence (Primary Research / Erasmus project)
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Main Sketchbook (including artist research, ideas, progression and evaluations
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Journal
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Technical Processes (2 sketchbooks detailing the process & evaluations of print work and photography)
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Drawing experiments
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Gallery visits / primary research (not necessarily related to the project)
Below are some examples of my Main Sketchbook.
Main Sketchbook examples
Please note: Some pages have not been included due to explicit content or overly personal documentation that I do not wish to share at this time.
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Audience: Presenting my work
I originally planned to hang a selection of my “final works” in the Gage gallery as part of the college exhibition, however in the last few weeks I have realised that I don’t think this will enable my work to be seen by my intended audience. I hope that people viewing my work will be able to relate with a certain part of that, whether it is the intimacy, desire and longing for a particular “self-peace” with their own relationships and identity or whether they find something personally relevant and meaningful that perhaps I have completely overlooked. For this reason I would love to be able to gain feedback from a wider audience and take on board peoples comments and criticisms as I move forward with my work and start planning ideas for new personal/university projects.
Another major emotional barrier I am currently facing is that my work is an on-going reflection of my personal identity, my sexuality and how that is affected by society and people’s varying views of feminism. My developing sexuality is very present throughout my work including all of my research, experimentations, journal and final works. Most of my family are completely un-aware of my non-standard relationships and my sexual identity. I feel like this exhibition would be a very inappropriate time/place to ‘come out’ to my family and hence I will not be inviting them to my exhibition. As the Gage gallery is not in a mainstream /commercial location it is unlikely that the ‘general public’ will view the exhibition, it is likely to be a collection of other students and their friends/family, therefore I am again unlikely to encounter my specified audience.
I would like to hang a few pieces in the gallery as I don’t want to pass up on this opportunity and I may be surprised by people around me that may be able to identify with my work in ways I have not yet seen, however, after discussing these issues with a tutor (Fran) we agreed that an online presentation in the form of a website or web page(s) may be more appropriate, I could use specific tags to attract a specified audience and I could share my page with online communities or people that may find my work more relevant than those attending the physical exhibition.