Pop-Up Exhibition: GARP 2020

My GARP focuses on the importance of street art and graffiti as a means of self-advocacy. In an uncensored way, graffiti can express people views and opinions anonymously or under a an alias such as famous street artist 'Banksy' his works spread awareness on social and political views around the world. His use of satire and subversion raises awareness and attention.

My GARP is exploring how gendered digital assistants are potentially perpetuating damaging gender and ethnic stereotypes, and what the long term implications of this might be. Gendered AI voice assistants are now in the homes of over 4.1 billion people. How we perceive these assistants such as Alexa and Siri are partly influenced by the representation of AI in popular culture, specifically Sci-Fi film and TV. I have created a set of 3 infographics mapping the correlation between gender, personality and decade of release in a case study of over 50 AI characters dating from 1968 to 2019. Through this I have found that the majority of AI assistant characters in films were male if they were released between 1968 and 1990, however, between 1990 and 2019 the ratio of male to female AI evened out to around 50/50. However, my research showed that a male character was much more likely to be evil than a female character, but a female character was more likely to start off good and be turned evil by circumstance. Interestingly, from this set of data any of the AI that became the love interest of a human were exclusively female, and mostly subservient characters. Also, the majority of female AI that turned ‘evil/dangerous’ through circumstance was a misguided attempt at protection, not just evil by nature. The research I have carried out supports claims that one reason companies produce mainly female digital assistants is because they believe consumers have negative connotations towards male AI. They believe that these connotations are connected to evil male AI characters in film and TV. (e.g. HAL 9000 and Terminator) Perhaps this confirms that gendered Digital Assistants are not just a result of the sexist tech industry but a sexist media culture as well.

For this project my research focused on the advertisement of adventure tourism activities. I have always had a great interest in travel, therefore it felt natural for me to choose this as my topic of study. I am very interested by the northern lights, very much so that I had a trip planned to Iceland for March of this year, however due to Covid-19 this was not possible. From my research I found that perhaps the northern lights were not as magnificent as what advertisements made them out to be, as a lot of the northern lights culture is based on mythology and fraudulent information. With this information I wanted to research other popular tourist activities and see if this was a recurring problem. With these posters I wanted to create a series of anti-adverts, that shows my research in a visual way.

The leaflet guide called "Think Local Green Print" is covering the procedures and questions on how to spot greenwashing in printing. Based on those principles, I researched sustainable printers in the UK and created a regional map with their locations. I used eco-friendly fonts to minimise the usage of ink, which also reduces CO2 emissions.

Folklore is one of the defining pillars of today's society and preserving it is of the utmost importance for the evolution of a community, due to the natural connection between past and present. The aim of my research is to explore the complex concept of Folk Art from several perspectives. The main targets are to reveal the relevance of intangible culture (traditions/folk stories) by focusing on its connection to religion, to highlight the link between tangible culture (preponderantly folk costumes), to present the hidden meaning of folk symbols and their political and anthropological impact. In addition, I will address the issues of cultural appropriation because we live in a changing world, and folk symbols are translated nowadays into different modern patterns. It is essential to examine as well how the cultural heritage is preserved and protected by international agreements, national laws and UNESCO. In order to contextualise and exemplify all the defined areas of interest, I will focus on Romanian culture and produce comparative case studies such as the way folk culture was used in socialist Romania as a tool to manipulate the masses so as to conform to the behavioural and social patterns desired by the leadership. For this exhibition, I have produced two infographic posters which reflect the variations of the traditional costume in different historical regions of Romania and the meaning behind the most popular symbols. These represent a starting point for deciphering "the alphabet" of sewn signs and patterns. In addition, I have produced an illustrated booklet which presents the distinct types of cultures (folk culture, popular culture, formal culture) and their connection to religion. Not only that, but throughout the booklet I have defined the role of symbols, of rituals and of myths in the society from an anthropological and religious perspective.

For my GARP, I am looking into, Branding, Packaging and Marketing of different types of food. For my summer project I have focused on looking at kids packaging and targeted the two diets of healthy and unhealthy foods and how its packaged. To narrow it down to a specific diet I have analysed the two diets of kids foods. I have looked into the typography, colour, images, layout and illustrations, I picked out what I found interesting and what caught my eye.

Hip-Hop: the cultural movement that emerged from economically disadvantaged African American and Latino communities within the Bronx, New York City, in the 1970s. Today we know of the genre masked by degradation and violence. However, for decades, the genre has been used as a linguistic tool for storytelling. Hip-Hop is the voice of the oppressed, documenting the mental and emotional impacts of slavery, segregation, mass incarceration, and police brutality. The genre enables the villainised minority to take back control of their culture with Recital, opening up, and documenting the conversation. My project revolves around how historical events within Black history have shaped Hip-Hop. This insert CD booklet recites that history, correlating events such as the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Civil Rights movement with releases from 2pac, Nas, and Kendrick Lamar. It highlights the endangerment of the Black body and the "Fear of a Black Planet", which has resulted in the unnecessary brute force used by law enforcement. As a collective, we are aware of racial inequality and the socioeconomic disadvantages the black community faces. However, can we fully appreciate and promote a genre without knowing and understanding its genetic makeup?

I am exploring values rooted in film theory with direct attention on Auteur Theory to explore the possible connections and application theses values have when considering design as a creative process.

My GARP delves into the way in which the media represents BDSM and Queer Culture, as I try to show the more untold side of the story for these sexual minorities. One of the most common misconceptions of BDSM Culture is that it’s a very aggressive and abusive fetish. However, it’s quite the opposite. The entire point of BDSM is to create a safe environment for whoever’s involved to be able to experience and experiment with their desires. Consent is key within the relationship between Dom and Sub, it is what helps the experience be enjoyable for those involved – making sure that limits are tested but never pushed.

'The Magazine' is a small collection of research that I have found and used over the past few months, focusing on how design can affect and encourage consumerism.

My GARP subject studies 2 elements in particular from the marketing mix; Product and Promotion. Within my topic, I have been exploring the variety of benefits products offer through: packaging, design, branding etc, which is implemented within advertising and how this influences consumers. Over summer I have been researching a range of topics, I have chosen to present the topic of ‘semiotics and persuasion’; here I have detailed a focus on taglines and the strong persuasion they present. As consumers, we recognise and are persuaded by brands through their taglines. The exhibition subverts iconic taglines from your favourite well known brands, and challenges the persuasiveness and ethics of them, creating the debate of ‘persuasive or manipulation?’.

For my GARP project, I have decided to research into astrology, but more specifically its links to Greek mythology and its presence in modern day society. I believe this is a topic that can lead into lots of different, unique and fascinating directions, such as art, film and books. I originally chose the topic of astrology on the basis of what astrology means to me, as learning constellations as a child with my great-grandad and father are incredibly important memories to me and I saw the GARP project as a great opportunity to honour those important moments of my childhood. During the Summer, I researched further into Greek mythology and how, although it is ancient, it is still present today. My research took me to Greek mythology's presence in film and television, leading me to The Hero’s Journey chart, created by Joseph Campbell. For my summer project I decided to focus on this chart and explore how it is used in one of my favourite shows, The Mandalorian.

My graphic arts research project is focusing on the topic of climate change and the climate crisis that we are currently experiencing on our earth today. It is imperative that we touch upon the things going on in our planet, despite how negative it may seem – because there is always a way in which we can improve our individual lifestyles and choices, for the benefit of the world that we live in. I find a specific interest in this topic because I am a part of the generation that can help to fight for change and transformation for our planet, species, and personal lives. Having a key role within your generation and society makes you see the bigger picture more clearly – we are not just trying to better the earth for us and our futures – but for the generations after us too. The summer research project relating to my GARP consists of a booklet showing an insight into how design and marketing has negatively affected the impacts of climate change, using a method called 'Greenwashing.'