visuallanguageemmawalker

[visuallanguageemmawalker]

Aritst Statement

Through research I had chosen The Stranger brief. My stranger is a spirit, someone on another plane watching on as their loved ones grieve.

These 9 images and video show the ghost figure previously shown in my research. I was intrigued by this form firstly when I seen A Ghost Story (2017) the ghost figure is what really drew me to the film and from there I wanted to explore this. My vision for the project began here. I chose the song Your Ghost by Kristin Hersh as it’s always been very haunting to me, which is why it was a great fit for the video piece.

To show grief within the ghost I used the 5 stages: Denial, Depression, Anger, Bargaining and Acceptance, these paired with their colour theory companions gave a new feel to the room and a new feel to the stage of grief we are experiencing.

[visuallanguageemmawalker]

FINAL SUBMISSION

Image/post 10

Final video with Your Ghost.

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FINAL SUBMISSION

IMAGES 5-9 

1,2,3 video set up

4,5 strongest photos from beginning of project

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FINAL SUBMISSION 

IMAGES 1-4

[visuallanguageemmawalker]

Your Ghost lyrics

I can't drink this coffee 'Til I put you in my closet Let him shoot me down Let him call me off I take it from his whisper You're not that toughIt's the blaze across my nightgown It's the phone's ringYou were in my dream (I think last night) You were driving circles around me

I am going to use the above lyrics for the video as after making it i feel it fits better with the timing and the feel of it. I just know I want to include this song, its been a bit difficult trying to figure out where I can fit the lyrics as I was originally only using the instrumental with the poem but I will work it out!

[visuallanguageemmawalker]

Your Ghost

This is the section of the song I would like to include - this may even bring the video length down as i was speaking about in an earlier post this was an issue

If I walk down this hallway

Tonight it's too quiet

So I pad through the dark

And call you on the phone

Push your old numbers

And let your house ring

'Til I wake your ghost

Let him walk down your hallway

It's not this quiet

Slide down your receiver

Sprint across the wire

Follow my number

Slide into my hand

It's the blaze across my nightgown

It's the phone's ring

I think last night

You were driving circles around me

I think last night

You were driving circles around me

[visuallanguageemmawalker]

I’ve decided on not using my voice at all for the project; Im not confident enough in it so it kind of ruins it, in my opinion. My plan now is to either use only the song Your Ghost or to find an online recording of the poem and not use the song at all, which I hate as I really liked the idea of incorporating both in the final piece! But it seems to overcrowded and not feasible at the moment. 

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Playing about with how I want to show my figure for my final 10 images, well, 9 with a video.. I want to play with the light a bit more and possibly with shapes

I really love how the red looks without the text, it changes the complete mood of the form compared to the lighter blue colours

[visuallanguageemmawalker]

POETICS OF SPACE: GASTON BACHELARD (1957)

Poetics of space was a book that I wasn’t even going to buy at first when i read mixed reviews online; but I decided to give it a go even though I did find it a pain to read at times, as half the book is the author quoting texts and literature but I’m glad I did. 

It is a book about architecture and how spaces are used to transform how we see the things that are around us every day and how we can use our homes as a reference point for creating. I feel its a book that also demands an emotional response to the many items that are discussed.

The chapter that I found the most interesting and that captured my imagination the most was ‘Corners’

I specifically liked corners as I felt it made a lot of sense to me artistically, for example when he talks about “every corner in a house, every angle in a room, every inch secluded space in which we like to hide, or withdraw into ourselves, is a symbol of solitude for the imagination” and “Je suis l’espace ou je suis, I am the space where I am” This really resonated with me reading this when we first started the course in October/November time as I have had to be the space where I am, this whole year has been like this, creating and thinking in one space always.

Poetics of Space helped me think about space in another way than I already did, it made me consider how everything is in its own way for a reason and what we take from it can be used in our work, whether it be poetry, art or literature. I then have gone on now in my project and work this trimester to consider space and how I can use it effectively while thinking about why I am doing it and how I can include insignificant aspects in it. 

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WAYS OF SEEING - JOHN BERGER (1972)

Ways of Seeing is a book that talks about artists, their works and how those works are interpreted. Ways of seeing was also a TV series, the book and series were in response to Civilization by Kenneth Clarke, where Clarke discussed artworks in their traditional sense which Berger decided to debunk and talk about a more up to date themes such as the influence of photography, the male gaze, and advertising.

Even though the book was written in the 70′s these themes that are spoken about are still relevant today and still apply in the same way namely, advertising and the male gaze. He discusses why we see things the way we do, how what weve been taught has influenced how we see things and how we should see them from now on. My one issue with the book is the bold text, I had to look up why this was done in such a way as I hated staring at it by reading, while the explanation makes sense and is a good design aspect, i am still not a fan. 

“ The text, set in bold type, was intended to match the visual weight of the illustrations. In this way, images behave almost as text. This is an attempt to replicate the experience of the television viewer, who looks and listens at the same moment.” - https://www.richardhollis.com/book-design/ways-of-seeing/

This book has definitely helped with my creative thinking throughout the project by making me consider why i see things as is, was i taught to see these things and think about them a certain way or have i grown past this and see things for myself? If im being honest with myself I would love to think I gather my own opinions and evidence but how can I be sure? I like when books that I read make me think like this which is why i feel i needed to include it in my tumblr. 

I will definitely flick through the book again when new projects come up to refresh myself as I enjoyed it. 

[visuallanguageemmawalker]

WANDERLUST: REBECCA SOLNIT (2000) Wanderlust was a long read for me. It was a book that grabbed me at the beginning but then i felt myself wandering off or getting distracted and doing something else, which wasn’t great. In saying that, i did like the book, it is a story of various moments in the history of walking from the 18th century onward. I felt that this book was a brilliant way of showing walking’s ability to maneuver how we think and create and how we can use this obvious tool for not only getting from A to B but how it can change the world around us and also how we videw it. I particularly liked how Solnit talks about the difference between city and country and how this effects our walking experience. The book is not only a short history on walking and the things i’ve talked about here, but it talks on gender, politics and some find it controversial. I found a very interesting youtube video that talks on something I didn’t even consider while reading, ableism, (video linked on next post) which i now feel horrible about as this woman talks first hand about this problem and i didnt even think about it when reading. I was just enjoying the book and the things it was discussing, she goes on to talk about the other problems with the book namely a white woman talking about people of colour’s issues and the chapter Walking after Midnight and how this chapter is very patronizing which i completely agree with. As i mentioned in my previous post about The Outsider, I like to to go online after reading to search for peoples opinions especially now with working from home and being alone most of the time i like to see if people have the same views as i do about books/videos/art or do they differ, and in this case I actually learned something from the video i had found!

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Photoshop images with the squeegee image and the sheet collage mixed, I really like the colours in all of these, they have a real print vibe to them, which is great as I was hoping to do alot more screen printing this year but that hasnt happened. 

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This image was an accident with the squeegee when screen printing but has come in handy recently when creating new images! (in next post)

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This gif-like video is another way to show colour with the sheet exposure ‘collages’. 

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Bringing the sheets together to try get my mind working on new ideas, i like the crowded look of these but im not sure how I could use this to progress anything, but i like how it calls back to the double exposure ghost images from before

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A faster look at how the video could work with the ghost figure and the changing colours, I’m not even sure if I want or need the text anymore, maybe I’ve just been looking at it for too long?