Final Major Project Evaluation
For my Final Major Project I began looking into the concepts of Identity, Narrative and Documentary. Within these concepts came the themes of ritual, self-examination, voyeurism, honesty, ambiguity, exposure, reality and escapism. I specifically chose these themes as they had all appeared strong throughout my work in the year, and I felt I had not finished investigating them all. With all I wanted to be able to investigate each one in much more detail, and try to incorporate them in a way I had not so done in the year already.
At the beginning of my Final Major Project, I definitely felt a sense of confusion about where to take my work after having felt I had created successful work so far in the year. I knew I wanted to look at these same themes but in more detail, yet I was not too sure how. This is when I began to look at the work of various artists such as Sophie Calle, Sally Mann and Sam Taylor Wood. Having found inspiration in all three artists, my work began to cross over three main mediums, film, photography and audio. Although I throughout the year already I had experimented in lots of mediums, never had I done so in such a close amount of time, and so I definitely found this challenging. I felt as though I was interested in all three mediums in just as strong ways although because of this I felt no clear direction in which to take my work.
With this I then began to continue experimentation as I felt this may lead me to a clearer path in which to take my work. At this point I then began to look at the work of Cy Twombly and Mark Tobey, taking me into another medium of drawing. The medium of drawing was one I did not intend to work with in my Final Major Project, as I felt I had moved away from drawing and painting within the year, I feel this led to excitement and fear in my journey of FMP. It was also at this point that I began to struggle in finding a successful way of combining audio and still images I had captured. This is a time in my FMP that I did begin to struggle after having worked with such a range of mediums. I felt as though the wide range of mediums I was experimenting in, began to take away my clear concepts of the work I was trying to create, and therefore I believe I began to lose inspiration and confidence in my work.
I then began to look much more into research of artists, concepts, and theories to help me regain clarity on my work and direction. I believe this short break away from experimenting enabled me to regain a clear path in which to take my work, as well as allowing me to look back at experimental work I had created and create new meanings or ways of which to present this. At this point I began experimenting with audio visuals, this is the biggest leap I believe I made throughout my FMP journey. With this idea of using drawings of audio, I feel I have created some of the most successful, interesting and challenging work of the year.
I then again began to look into using the medium of film in my work, and enjoyed the idea of using footage from my trip to Hong Kong, but not necessarily declaring it was shot there. This allowed me to continue the concept of documentary and theme of realism, but I actually created a piece with audio attached to this that linked much more to escapism and voyeurism.
Choosing the work that would go into the FMP Exhibition I believe was a key turning point in my journey. Having worked in so many mediums, and covered quite a vast amount of themes, this time allowed me to review all of my work and try to understand if pieces worked well together, which ones, and did these make sense? It was at this point that the decision to include earlier A0 photographs in to the exhibition was made. I believe this was the right decision, as looking at my work it I realised I had begun to highlight things we overlook in our day to day lives. With this I felt the two A0 photographs from my ‘Grey Matter’ series worked better, as they were part of this day to day ritual theme that was running throughout my work, as well as this they were located in the bedroom which linked with my sleeping audio as well as my film that I felt captured the essence of dreams. My A0 photographs also brought in the themes of voyeurism, self – examination, honesty, exposure and reality, that I felt my earlier ‘Sensory Perception’ series images did not. I felt these images created too much ambiguity to allow any other themes to be attached to them. I also felt that my ‘Grey Matter’ images needed the A0 print size, as they declared more much than the ‘Sensory Perception’ images.
Overall I am pleased with the outcome of my work, and the outcome of the exhibition. There were certain challenging things such as my audio not being played along with my wall drawing at the exhibition opening night, and too much reflection on my A0 photographs due to the lighting and location of the pieces. Although these things have been learning curves, and reinstate the amount of organisation and time that is needed when creating art work digitally, as well as to learning to have patience when displaying work alongside other artists in an exhibition.
I feel as though my work links really well within the exhibition space, and with the working audio alongside the wall drawing, there is an obvious link of documentary, narrative and identity throughout all of my pieces displayed. I definitely wanted my work displayed separately in the space, in order to challenge the viewer about all pieces and their meanings separately and together.
If I was to go through this process again I would make sure I was much more organised, as I feel a lack of organisation let me down especially when working in so many mediums. Other than this I feel as though the process has been challenging though I am very pleased with the final outcome. I have been able to discover new mediums such as audio, and re-visit mediums such as drawing. I have also overcome issues with digital technology, issues in incorporating mediums successfully, and issues in understanding the work I am creating and linking this to other work through strong themes. Through the discovery of audio as a medium, I now aim to experiment much more with the medium over summer, and most probably into my degree.          Â
Being able to take part in the building, installing and curating of an exhibition has also allowed me to gain skills I feel will help me undeniably at degree level. Realising the amount of organisation, physical work and team effort that goes into every aspect of creating a successful space is one of the biggest things I will take away from the Final Major Project process. Creating a space for a shop in order to sell small editions is something that I know will also push me above others at degree level, and has again allowed me to understand the amount of detail, planning and discussing that is needed in order to create a professional and successful exhibition all round.
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