Ellie Taylor
The Government
My ideas have changed throughout the course, I want to continue with issues in the world as this is a topic I like to study. I want to look at how society has changed and the way we hear different issues around the world and to take these ideas from what I learned in sociology and create them into artwork. We see everything through the media, the media is written and made through the capitalists and the government's ideas so everything that we learn are all from their views of the world. The government shows us what they want us to know so we don't rebel against them. For my ideas I want to create myself being controlled like a puppet, this is to show how people are being controlled by others like the government. Later on, throughout my work, I want to create an idea that the media is controlling the world everything we learn or do it gets put through the media. I want to create a piece that someones trapped in television to show that the capitalists are controlling us.
In my artwork, I like to start with a photoshoot so I can see what to draw from and it's my own images. My first photoshoot I wanted to show the audience that I am being controlled by the government but on strings to show that they are controlling me on strings. In this photo shoot, I got someone to dress in a suit like the government and make that person control the stings. I used myself as the model in these shoots so I knew what it was like to be pulled around on strings and manipulated. Using me as a model showed that I can make my work stronger like Cindy Sherman. I wanted to then make some drawing and studies from these.
Idea 1
With the photos I have edited I wanted to look at one of my artists and see how I can link and try and develop their ideas in my work. I had an idea that I wanted to use newspaper in my work to show how the government is trying to control us. I wanted to still show my image of me moving on strings so I printed on acetate one of my favorite photos and stuck the newspaper articles that link to the government behind. For this, I had ideas to just stick the newspaper articles on mount board. I didn't want to do something so plain and simple, I wanted to show my image and idea differently so I made a light box out of wood stuck the newspapers in the box and completed it with led light strips around then layered the acetate image over the top on the edge of the box.
Idea 3
To take my last photoshoot on wards I want to over lap the photos of me to show that I was being pulled on the strings and the movements I was making. I used photoshoot and used the opacity tool to overlay them so you can see the image behind. I like the photos as it looks fast, quick movements and my facial expressions show this, what I should have done with this is making an animation of me also moving the strings being pulled.
Idea 2
I wanted to take these images onwards and not just print onto acetate I wanted to try a different material like a see-through plastic that you get in picture frames. For this I had to use the print rooms, the lecture said using printing wouldn't stick to the plastic so I used sandpaper and scratched into the plastic so the ink had something to cling onto when transferring. I used the method cyanotype to transfer the image on. This didn't work but looked effective when I used tracing paper so I thought of making it bigger and still use cyanotype to create the image. I liked the end product as I feel as they look creepy the way the expression on my face to where the ink has been exposed on my work.
Idea 4
I like the way the newspaper effect was behind the image. I used modgepodge a transfer glue material that lets you transfer the image on a material. I wanted to try using it on paper first then drawing over the top with my image. Using it on paper creased the paper and you couldn't tell what the words said and that's the main point to the work is what's happening and what the government wants us to believe in. The modgepodge glue didn't work as well as I didn't get a clear image, I also tried this on wood to see if it transfers better and so the newspaper articles didn't crease and tighten when i used water to scrap the top layer of paper off. this method also didn't work so I used the newspapers and glued them on wooden boards and then painted the image over them to see a different way of showing my idea.
Idea 5
For my previous idea how I painted the headline on the mirror, I want to do that again on a bigger mirror but change the style and size of the text so they look like different headlines and so it gives it a different style of look. I didn't want to create just the mirror with the words on, so I have displayed it on white walls and got people to take photos in front of the mirror this was to show how people should take more note in the headline and that people taking the photos have read what is happening in the world. Also to show we have control of what is happening in the world and only us can change that.
If I was to change what I done in these photos I would project a photo of newspapers on another wall so you get the effect of it being a newspaper.
Idea 7
For a next part of the project I wanted to take the idea that I have with newspaper onwards but in a different way as I like the bold text on the newspapers so I thought of just doing something with the bold titles. In my crit, the lecturer told me to display and use different sources of light than just led lights and lighting. I used mirrors to create the effect of light and painted the headline text onto the mirrors and overlaid it with the acetate image.
Idea 6
To take these thoughts on the government onwards I want to use a different method that the government controls us in. this project was more about the newspaper. I want to take it more into the media and how we are controlled by televisions.
Idea 8
To conclude I think this project has been successful but there are parts I would like to change when I was stating before how the cyanotype didn't stick onto the plastic I could have found another see-through material instead of tracing paper that I used. Another idea would be to create a method to get the image on the glass as I think this would work nicely instead of printing the image on acetate every time. The best piece that I made was the lightbox I like how the lights give it more effective this is to make the image more highlighted and so the audience can see the newspaper articles so the audience knows what is happening in the world. Another piece I thought worked well was to use different illuminating materials to get the same effect of the light as I used mirrors with the image over the top.
The project of the dinosaurs also worked well I still feel as they could be changes if I continued my idea onwards, this is to actually make a dinosaur of my own try and build other dinosaurs together and see what that would look like, I would do this by going to the Fab lab and making a 3d sculpture. Also, I want to make a giant dinosaur and stick that onto a massive canvas. But what worked well was the way the canvas has turned out the way I have painted the canvas and how the colours fit and worked well together. I also like how my ideas continued onwards to getting a child to play with the dinosaur figures as then it links back to my idea of childhood imagination.