beccab97-blog

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EVALUATION

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Feedback From Final Presentation

I think that my presentation went well, and feel I answered all of the necessary questions that support my work. 

I chose to bring the picture frames along, just to show them the pieces, rather than for them to be the final presentation of the work. However, the tutors said that this needed to be thought about. I did not think this was necessary as this was not the final idea, just a way to show them the work I had done. 

They said that the frames were not enough like the Kitsch style, however, I did not intend to reenact this, it was just a style that inspired me to do the frames as appose to the book work. 

It was brought to attention that the photographs and the way I showed the work in the presentation were not linked and were confusing but as mentioned previously, the photographs are the final way to present the work not the way I showcased them in the presentation.

The frames were said to essentially ruin the work I had done. However, I felt that the frames worked well as they were similar to the frames used for Kitsch. I could have possibly chosen brown frames as these would not have been so intense, however, in the time I had I was only able to access black frames as I could not locate 8 of the same frames in anything similar that I felt would have worked. 

It was mentioned to attempt to redo them in a completely different frame. But I am happy with the outcome and feel that by changing it will alter the idea I wanted to achieve. Also, I would not be able to redo them as the text was a very difficult and expensive process that I could not repeat. I wouldn’t be able to use the text in the frames already as the text never dried so by moving it will smudge the text. 

I will, however, take more photographs of the pictures, in a more contextual setting, such as a home environment similar to a way Kitsch frames would be displayed. I will try to take some more professional looking photographs of the frames individually. Although, this proved difficult when I had previously tried due to reflection and lighting issues. 

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FINAL PHOTOGRAPHS

I tried to take photographs of each individual frame, but the photographs did not turn out too well. So I decided to photograph them as if it were the shrine. I added a teddy bear to emphasize the childlikeness of them. Also adding to the shrine like feel. 

These were my favourite photographs that I took:

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Week 13

Week of presentation

For the presentation, instead of just talking through my blog, I thought it would be more efficient to create a powerpoint presentation as it would be easier to practice running through and to capture the most important aspects of the project. This did prove difficult as we only have been allocated 5 minutes to present, which goes very fast and has shown not to be enough time, meaning I've had to adapt the powerpoint and how I perform. 

This is the presentation I have made, and what I need to speak about for each slide. The notes are a starting point and after lots of practice, I will reduce this down so that I am not just reading from the notes during the presentation. 

I decided to get rid of this page (don't have enough time for all) I will combine with the next slide. 

I began with looking at bodies in courtroom cases and how people portray different reactions. I thought about ways in which I can capture instant reactions, different body languages and poker faces. These were my ideas for ways in which I can encapsulate the correct emotions.

My original idea was body language in the courtroom, looking at reactions and emotions too. This lead to the idea of crocodile tears. Searching for specific cases where people made public appearances to find the victim or the suspect, where it turns out to be them performing the murder. There is no remorse. It was apparent that this is most common in filicide cases (background Mick Philpott) I think this quote captures the concept of filicide appropriately for such a sensitive topic.

Courtroom drawings are often down on brown paper, so by doing the drawings on brown paper, it allows me to incorporate the courtroom into the drawings. The drawings are also often incomplete > Being incomplete is a key theme throughout my work. With the child being the missing part, therefore making the family and case incomplete, the child's life is incomplete. 

The children are often the forgotten part, the main focus is commonly on the parent.  After drawing Jayden Philpott, when I showed the people they did not know who it was but as soon as “Mick” was mentioned people knew which case I was talking about. The drawings are a way to memorialise and pay respect to the children. 

These are the drawings I have done of the children all killed by their own parents. This lead to the ‘who am I’ idea where I would write on the reverse page who the child is. Due to this being such a sensitive subject, this would be a way for the public to engage, as at first, they don't know who they are looking at.  4 girls and 4 boys, to show that it is not gender specific. 

I decided to get rid of this page (don't have enough time for all) 

I tried animating the children but decided it was making the children creepy in a way that I didn't want to portray them to the viewers.

Explain the Bible idea > using references from the Bible. [why bible? links to courtroom] > not enough drawings to be substantial and effective. 

Making a shrine to remember the children is a way to link the Bible, due to being used in religious situations.  To pay respect and memorialise.

After contemplating a way to combine the Bible, shrine and drawing idea. I thought about the similarities between my drawings and the Kitsch style. I thought this would be an effective way to amalgamate all these ideas.

Explain each idea (inspiration Annette Messager, Christian Boltanski and Kitsch) Which to do? (2nd joins ideas best) I want to use the type of Bible paper that is almost seethrough, this will mean you can still see the drawing behind. But I couldn't find this so replaced this with tracing paper which still achieves the same outcome.  I tried handwriting the text as this is similar to the Kitsch style but this took too long and not all of the text fitted on the page. Also, I was only able to print out one page of the stories with more than one page. I chose a 5x7 frame size as this is a similar size of a Bible. I chose the plain black frame, as Kitsch frames are often plain and simple. 

These are some important references I used throughout this project for inspiration when stuck. 

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Week 12

This week, I began to create the bible. So far, I have started Michael Daniel Smith. I used the confession note his mother wrote. I decided to add bible references to do with drowning due to Michael and his brother being drowned. I still need to add references to the confession note and create chapters.  

After speaking to Dem, the Kitsch style came to mind when looking at my drawings, the style of drawings are not 100% photo realistic. 

As much as I like the Bible idea, this week proved that it wasn’t easy to complete enough drawings by the deadline to have a sufficient Bible. I was thinking about a way in which I could combine all my ideas together.  So, I thought about combining the kitsch with the shrines and bible idea. At first, I thought about making the pottery plates, with the drawings on and a line of writing selected from the courtroom bible I have made already. However, due to their not being a lot of time left, I chose to think of another idea in which I can generate more of in the space of time left. I like the idea of creating a series of framed pieces, like the above. However, the card between the drawing and frame will have writing on, like the content of the bible idea. 

This is an example of the frame being used in a shrine situation. 

My aim is to have at least 10 to make sure the idea is strong enough. These could be used in ways that kitsch art is used or in ways that shrines are used. 

This week I have done more drawings: 

After thinking of a final idea, I wanted to think of a couple of ideas in case they did not work out. Also allowing me to choose which is the best option. 

The latter of these options is inspired by Annette Messager and Christian Boltanski’s installations. I think this would be an interesting way to achieve the emotion of the children and their stories. However, I think this would look best if there were a lot of drawings and writing. Therefore, I think the best way to display the work is in the style of Kitsch. I will cover the drawing with a bible paper with the writing on in order to achieve the Bible sense. 

I want to use the type of bible paper that is pretty much seethrough, as this will mean the drawing will be able to be seen behind the text. However, I could not find any of this paper, so in replace of this, I will use tracing paper as it still achieves the same outcome. 

At first, I tried handwriting the text, but this did not work well as it meant I could only fit a small amount of the text I have generated. So I tried putting the tracing paper through a printer, and this worked. So I will do the text through a printer to make sure I fit all of the text on. 

This is a test I did, by handwriting the text. I did not frame it as I did not have the drawing printed out in the correct size. But this shows the idea well. I think this idea worked succeeded and I think this is a strong way to represent the drawings. I combined the text, I used in the courtroom bible and also my own handwriting which is similar to the writing used on the Kitsch plates with text on. 

I chose to do 5x7 frames as this size is similar to the size of a bible, meaning that the frames in a way support the idea. I chose plain frames because when researching the Kitsch style, plain and simple frames were often used. 

I think I will aim to create 8 of these, as then I will be able to display these well. 

Due to still using the text out of the bible idea, I have to create the Bible text for each of the drawings I have done to be used in the final pieces. For most of these, the information used is from murderpedia which is a website that documents all the information of different cases. This has been a very useful website throughout this project. Depending on the case, I have been able to access autopsy reports, confession notes, court (hearing, sentencing and trial) scripts. This has been what I have used in the writing, depending on what is available for each case. However, not all of the cases I chose were on here which meant I was limited to what I was able to write. 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2708168/Mother-drowned-disabled-baby-because-she-was-embarrassed-court-hears.html I used this website for Naomi Hill’s case.

After deciding on this idea for the final piece, I had to do the writing part for each of the children I have chosen. 

After completing these, on multiples, there was more than one page. This means that I will only be able to show the first page in the frame.  

I chose to just print the drawings onto printer paper, as the drawings are still able to be seen through the tracing paper. This is a test I did, but the printer wasn’t working properly so the picture has lines on it. But this is just a test to make sure it works. I am very happy with the outcome and think this supports my idea well.

Next, I tried to print the writing onto the tracing paper, this proved to be more difficult than anticipated. The paper wasn't going through the printer well, and the words kept skipping and not fully printing. This meant that I had to think of another option as this was not working. I thought about what is see through and can go through a printer, and I thought about acetate. I know that this is not the same feel as the see-through bible paper effect, but is still seethrough so will have a similar effect.

Due to this being very close to the hand in date, I had to think quickly where I could get this from. I had to nip into town and found sheets of acetate at Cass Art. I then came back and tested printing onto this and it worked very well. I prefer this outcome to the tracing paper as it was a stronger way to see the writing, and the drawing came through better too.

I managed to get the text to print onto the acetate however, it would not dry. Therefore, I had to dry them all individually. this didn’t dry them fully, but I didn't think it would be a problem because the writing is all covered by the glass in the frame.

This shows the first frame in a situation it would be used in. I couldn’t actually attach them to the wall so I just held them up to show them in context. 

The following are the final pictures framed:

This is a photograph I took using my camera, but the pictures came out better when I used my phone and edited them. 

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Week 10 & 11

After speaking to Dem, he thought that the drawings needed to be taken further than just a book and pictures. So I tried animating the drawings however, I liked the simplicity of the book and the meaning and use of the “Courtroom Bible’.

These are the animations that I did:

https://youtu.be/hR7Z8_0y5Gk

This is an animation of the drawing of Michael Daniel Smith. Due to it being quite difficult to animate the drawing due to the colours used when creating, I thought I would try to animate the original photograph of the child. https://youtu.be/5fjR7gSytSA

However, after completing this I prefer how the animation looked with the drawing. After deliberation, I decided that animating the drawings was not portraying the right idea to the viewer, as it will be creepy and unnerving rather than feeling the innocence in the way the drawing does. Also, taking away the memorialising aspect.

Creating a Bible : 

The front page will have the quote I found from -

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/parents-kill-children-experts-reveal-11134752 

‘they are the innocence slaughtered at the hands of the very people who are supposed to protect them’ 

bottom of the page: 'courtroom edition' 

Index - chapter titles are the children's names e.g., Jayden Philpott, Michael Daniel Smith. 

Fill the book out with:

> Images (drawings) of the children

> references from the Bible - look at murder, children, sin, purity, fire, drowning, disrespect, parents, hell, heaven, deadly sins, peace, war, conflict, pressure, guilty and innocent, life and death, crime, negligence  (https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics) this website is useful as it searches the Bibles for topic areas. This is a shortcut, as it means I do not have to go through the Bibles and find relevant verses. 

> autopsy and crime reports e.g. evidence of the case

> court scripts 

> court verdict 

> the story 

What is an oath?

This was useful to look at exactly how oaths are made in court. And how bibles are used to pledge an oath. 

After looking into which Bible I should reference, I decided that The Old Testament is known to be more aggressive and violent content, and I thought that due to the topics I am looking into that more hostility would work better.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holy-Bible-King-James-Version/dp/000725976X/ref=sr_1_19_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1523910738&sr=8-19-spons&keywords=old+testament&psc=1 I used this bible as the reference when creating my own. I learnt that there is Books, Chapters and also Verses. I have to include all of these when replicating the Bible in order to achieve an accurate representation.

Writing for the book:

Michael Daniel Smith I am Michael Daniel Smith. I was murdered by my own mother at the age of 2. My mother, Susan Smith, killed my brother and myself on October 24th, 1994. She claimed that the car had been hijacked by a black man and that he took us with him. She made public appearances begging that we return. Only 9 days later, my mother confessed. She strapped us in the car and let it roll into the John D. Long Lake, drowning the both of us.

http://murderpedia.org/female.S/s/smith-susan.htm

For this case, I used her confession note to include in my Bible. 

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Week 8 & Easter Break

The style of drawing links to courtroom sketches, I like the idea of creating a book that will be a memorial to the children. The book will consist of two different types of paper; the first will be the brown paper which will have drawings of the children's faces, the other will be bible paper which will contain the story as though the child is speaking it. 

When considering this project, a key aspect of it is the courtroom. I thought about how this book could tie together parts of a case in a courtroom. I thought about how a book could link to the court, which made me think of a bible and its use within the room. Therefore creating a ‘courtroom bible’ would be giving the book context. Making something more interesting than just a bible that could be used in such cases, containing photographs/drawings of the children, alongside with the story of what happened to them, autopsy reports and bible verses linking to the story.

The court cases are revolving around the child. They should be there, but the child is the missing part of the case. By creating images of the child, it is a way to incorporate them into the case in the innocent way they should be remembered as appose to the images of their lifeless corpses. 

The drawings are memorial drawings, drawing as an attempt to connect the child to the observer, to empathise with who they haven't met. Touching and memorialising. 

The missing person from the courtroom, the key aspect. This is where missing children would be interesting to incorporate into the book, they are the missing piece of the puzzle. I will try to do this if I have enough time and enough information on the child. Missing children, there is not always backstories. 

The viewer seeing the image lured into a full sense of security. The images when the observer first looks are these beautiful images of a child, but the feeling changes when they find out who they are, making them feel uncomfortable. This makes the viewer shocked and it is unnerving, has a bigger impact than it just being a drawing with no story or meaning. 

The book idea, as well as linking to the Bible, links with the child being the storybook they are brought up reading. Linking to childhood. 

Try to fill the book with drawings.

This week's drawings:

Michael Daniel Smith

Damon Routier

If I was able to fill the book with as many drawings as possible, this would mean it would need to be bound in such a way with a high spine,  which shows an excessive element of the ritual memorial, to emphasize how many children are killed and go missing.

Creating a shrine would be interesting, making the book the centre of the attention. Surrounding it with candles, representing the number of children in the book. 

Christian Boltanski and Annette Messager 

These are married and their work contains resemblance to each other. These are installations of people who have passed away, small intimate rooms, shrines. print quality is poor, barely see the faces of the people. often blurred image disturbance but they are clearly faces though.

John Paul Thornton (http://www.johnpaulthornton.com/#the-missing-children-portraits-of-hope)   This artist paints portraits of missing children, showing how many there are, by painting a small fraction of all of the missing children in the world.

Diane Victor (https://artthrob.co.za/06aug/reviews/goodman.html) This artist creates work based on the children who have been missing for more than two months, this is the cut-off period when the possibility of them being found is decreased drastically. I think this is important for my work when looking at the way to present my work. "Ugly by dint of the coarse, blotchy, unpredictable medium, the subjects are nonetheless imbued with some of the nobility of which Ruskin speaks. The grotesque, rather than being an aesthetic indulgence as disingenuous as beauty, here becomes a means for exploring the emotions that surround violent loss." this explains the emotions behind her work, which is an important aspect when tackling the topic of filicide and missing children cases.

Rob Beckett (http://robbeckett.com/works/drawings-children/)

When I first showed the group my initial drawing, it was mentioned that my drawings were 90% photo realistic and 10% cartoon style. This artist has the same twist of his drawings which is 

Due to being away over the Easter holiday, I did not manage to do as many drawings as I had hoped. In the next few weeks, my main aim is to draw as many children as possible. Otherwise, if there are not enough drawings this will lessen the impact on the viewer.  I managed to do nearly two drawings and began another. This was useful as it allowed me to learn how long to leave for each drawing. Roughly, each drawing takes 3/4 hours. 

How to do the writing pages?

At first, I thought of just writing on the back of the pages with the drawings on. However, I think it would work better if I was to add more pages; firstly it would add more depth to the book and secondly it would be more effective than being on the reverse side. I thought about using Bible paper, as this links back to the courtroom and the style of drawings. Due to the bible being used in the courtroom when a person has to make an oath. The type font is also an important aspect to consider, after deliberation, I think it will be important to stay on the bible idea and use the type font that is used in Bibles. 

The placement of the writing page is important too. I think that whilst it may look better with the writing on top of the drawing, this takes away from the idea of the child looking innocent, knowing nothing about the child other than they are an ordinary child until the viewer turns the page and is shocked by who they really are. This is because the topic is very sensitive and rarely spoken about and quite disturbing really.

I thought about maybe just using a bible styled book to show the work, but I like the idea of combining the bible from the courtroom and the brown paper used for courtroom drawings. 

Shrines

I like the idea of making the book into a shrine towards the children. I would make the book and surround it with the correct ration of children to candles from the book. Lighting them to represent the life taken like you would do on a visit to a church. 

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Week 7

Other innocence projects https://www.innocenceproject.org/tag/art/  - people serving time when wrongly accused

https://www.innocenceproject.org/artists-stand-against-wrongful-convictions/  - artists standing up for the innocent that are falsely convicted

Who Am I? http://www.berkshireeagle.com/stories/who-am-i-project-helps-youth-with-self-esteem-identity,309571  -used to help the younger with their self-esteem, this is interesting to look at how they have been displayed and ways they use and present words. 

Christina Papagianni 

- this is a drawing of a child which I think captures how innocent that individual is, it draws your attention to the eyes which are an important feature to focus on. The eyes are what draws me to the picture so I think it is important to capture the eyes and make them the main focus of the drawing.  

Why Drawing? Why not just collection of photographs? - I find that by drawing the child it allows it to be more personal to me, as it allows me to put my take on drawing onto their faces.

Age Processor Software https://youtu.be/bXsIE-3PBQo  looking at software that shows what the child would look like at different ages, this is used in cases when the person is missing.   https://changemyface.com/ 

I liked the idea of manipulating the childs face into forming a what would they look like now photograph. However, I decided against this due to being unable to get the software. I could have tried drawing them when they are older but I prefer the idea of capturing at the point in which their life was ended.

During this week, I drew Tia Sharp:

I like the outcome of this, I think it links well to the courtroom drawings as it is not fully finished. I think it is important that I focus on drawing mouths, as I believe this is the weakest part of the drawings. I think that the eyes are very good, and show the innocent idea I am trying to achieve. The eyes entice the viewers. 

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Week 6

After completing last weeks drawing of Jayden Philpott, I liked the idea of portraying the emotions of the child that has been killed by his/her parents. 

In feedback, this week it was said about the 'bridge' > a photograph to a drawing. How a drawing represents a person in ways a photograph won't. After thinking about the feedback, I had to think of what to do next and where my work can go. I liked the idea of focusing on the murdered children. It was apparent during feedback that people were not aware of who the child was. This made me realise that if I was to show someone the child's face they wouldn't necessarily know who that child is. 

I think it would be fascinating to create 'The Innocence Project - Who Am I?' where I will draw children from filicide cases, showing their innocence through the photograph (staring at the viewer) and on the back of the drawing write who they are and how they were killed (case information). I think this will be an interesting way to remember the children that are often forgotten in the media. By drawing, it allows the viewer to connect with the child in ways that aren't achievable through photographs. 

I will be exploring ways in which I will be able to present this idea. Currently, I am thinking either a book or installation. 

When the topic of murdered children is raised, it is very unsettling. Many people do not know how they should react to the topic. By creating this work it will be a strong way to engage the public more.  

ANNETTE MESSAGER 

~ https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/exhibitions/688-annette-messager-motion-emotion/

~ Message is a French visual artist. ~ Messager is well known for creating installations which often include photographs, prints, drawings and many other media. ~ The human body is a recurring theme throughout her artwork. ~ Her work often shows her desire for motherhood, in the ways she chooses to present children relating themes.  ~ The installations are often very unsettling to those observing due to the ways in which she presents the work.  ~ The way she displays her work could be useful to me as this could be an interesting way to express my drawings of the children.

MARY KELLY 

~ (https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/may/18/mary-kelly-meet-the-mother-of-all-feminist-artists) ~ (https://imageobjecttext.com/2012/05/06/motherhood-as-art/) ~ Her work shows obsessive documentation, the obsessive connecting of objects.  ~ This represents the ways of revealing the truth, how filicide is a sensitive topic to speak about. So by obsessive documentation, this is potentially a way to lightly present the truth

MARCUS HARVEY 

~ Harvey has created a painting of Myra Hindley (The Moors' Murder perpetrator), using handprints' of children. This adds a darkness to the painting which is very interesting as Myra Hindley's portrait is dark enough alone.  ~ This could be an interesting way to present the work I complete, however, I think the layout rather than the idea of creating a whole new portrait from the handprints (drawings).

COURTROOM STYLE DRAWINGS ~ Richard Miller 

~ Gary Myrick 

~ Bill Robles

~ Marlyn Church 

After researching courtroom drawings, it was apparent that brown paper was repetitive throughout these artists. Therefore the style is relevant to the drawings I will complete.  

MADELEINE MCCANN CASE ~ Age processor. ~ There are images released of what she would look like now in case someone were to see her.  ~ This could be an interesting idea to carry out, by creating a series of drawings of what the children who have been killed would look like today.

 FRED HATT 

~ I like the way that he uses colour to add personality to it. ~ The lines create depth and texture.

This week I did this drawing, this is Kimberly MacDonald, she is the daughter of, her murderer, Jeffrey MacDonald. I do not think this drawing came out as well as the first drawing (Jayden Philpott) however, I am still happy with the drawing and think it captures the innocence of her well. 

Children to draw: 

Jayden Philpott

Kimberely MacDonald

Tia Sharp

Damon Routier 

Michael Daniel Smith 

Braden Powell

Noah Yates

Mary Yates

Tyler Payne

Ariana Payne

(http://rememberlittleangels.blogspot.co.uk/p/our-children.html) This is a website used to respect those children that are killed. This is a very useful source for photographs and stories. 

After thinking about children who are not remembered, it made me think about missing children as well as those murdered. I looked into websites which list missing children. I think it would be a good idea to add the missing to the idea, as the missing is just as important as the murdered.  

(http://www.missingkids.com/gethelpnow/search) (https://icmechq.knack.com/gmcn#find-a-child/) (http://findthechildren.com/find-a-missing-child) (https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/help-us-find.html)

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Week 5

~ People concealing information ~ Parents who plead innocence but are later found to be guilty (Poker Face) ~ Mugshot Faces? Media Faces? ~ Filicide, infanticide or parricide. > filicide is 'the killing of one's son or daughter' > infanticide is 'the intentional killing of infants' > parricide is 'the killing of a parent or other near relative'

http://murderpedia.org/  > This has been a very useful website, this often explains the stories of the murders, photographs, autopsy reports, courtroom scripts. But not often all of these. 

~ FILICIDE CASES TO LOOK INTO:

Mick Philpott  >11 May 2012, the families home was seriously damaged by a fire, which killed 6 of his children. All causes of death were excessive smoke inhalation. 16 May, there was a press conference where Philpott and his wife appeared to be very distraught by the deaths, presenting themselves with crocodile tears. 14th May, the police found petrol in the letterbox of the family home. Philpott and his wife were arrested on suspicion of murder on 28 May 2012. The couple searched for extra time for questioning but were charged with murder on 30 May 2012. A discarded petrol container and glove had been discovered near to the home, and in November the forensic investigators determined that the clothes of the Philpott, his wife and Mosley had petrol on them.

Stuart Hazell  >2/3 August 2012, Tia Sharp was murdered. She was found in the attic of her grandmother's house. There were traces of Hazell's DNA on her and traces of her blood on his belt. Although this is not a filicide case, it is an interesting case to look into for family murders. Hazell had photography Sharp naked and dead in her grandmother's bed, before moving her body into the loft. There were memory cards hidden in the house, containing images and footage of children and Tia sleeping. Hazell claimed that 'I know deep down in my heart that Tia walked out of my house. I know she was seen walking down the pathway, she made her way down that track. What happened after that? I don't know.". Later in court, he insisted that the cause of Tia's death was falling down the stairs. What actually happened is Hazell sexually assaulted and murdered her, then hid her body in the loft.

Jeffrey MacDonald > 17 February 1970, Jeffrey brutally murdered his wife and 2 daughters. He claimed that he had fallen asleep on the sofa, and was awoken by the screams of his wife and children, he said there were 4 intruders, who were attacking them. His pregnant wife Colette, was found on her bedroom floor. 'She had been repeatedly clubbed, both her arms were broken, and she was stabbed thirty-seven times with a knife and ice pick. Her husband's torn pyjama top was draped upon her chest. On the headboard of the bed, someone had written the word "pig" in blood. Kimberley, then age five, was found in her bed. She had been clubbed in the head and stabbed in the neck with a knife between eight and ten times. Her younger sister Kristen, age two, was also found in her bed. She had been stabbed with a knife thirty-three times and stabbed with an ice pick fifteen times. MacDonald's wounds were much less severe than his family's injuries. In addition to various cuts and bruises, he had what a staff surgeon referred to as a "clean, small, sharp" incision that caused one lung to partially collapse. He was admitted to the hospital, where he was released after one week.' 

Darlie Routier > Darlie Routier declared that an intruder murdered her children however the police noticed inconsistencies between her statement and the crime scene evidence. 'Blood spatter expert Tom Bevel testified that cast-off blood found on the back of Routier's nightshirt indicated that she had raised the knife over her head as she withdrew it from each boy to stab again. Newscasts appeared of Darlie Routier and other family members holding a birthday party at the children's grave to celebrate posthumously Devon's 7th birthday, just eight days after the murders. Routier, smiling and laughing, appeared jovial as she sprayed Silly String on the graves in celebration of Devon's birthday. Only four days later, Routier was charged with capital murder.'

Andrea Yates > Yates made a phone call to the police telling them to send someone, not explaining why. Yates admitted to drowning her children. She admitted that she waited for her husband to leave for work that morning before she filled the bath. This is because she knew that he would have stopped her from hurting the children. When the police arrived, they found the dog locked up. Her husband confirmed that when he had left the house that morning the dog was roaming free, leading the psychiatrist to determine that she locked it in a cage to prevent it from hindering with her killing the children one by one.

Susan Smith >Smith claimed that on October 24, 1994, a black man hijacked her car, taking her two sons with him. She made public appearances begging that the man returns the sons. Only 9 days later, she made a confession. She strapped her sons in the car and let it roll into the John D. Long Lake, drowning both of them.   

MORE CASES TO CONSIDER:

John List William Bradford Bishop Josh Powell Diane Downs Elmer Crawford Turpin family Murder of Baby P Zachery Koehn & Cheyanne Harris Courtney Bell & Christopher Mcnabb Shafilea Ahmed Shafia Poppie Van Der Merwe Keanu Williams Omaree Varela

~Public appearances > emotions when speaking to media, reactions, facial expressions. 

CHILD KILLER CASES TO POTENTIALLY LOOK INTO: Mary Bell Jon Venables & Robert Thompson (Bulger case)

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/parents-kill-children-experts-reveal-11134752 > This article looks into parents murdering their children, explaining what drives them to do it. > Also presenting cases for me to look further into.  > This is useful as it allows me to learn more about filicide and look further into the killings rather than looking at them as murder without reasoning.  > 'In the UK, 3 children a month are killed by their parents.'  > 'They are the innocents, slaughtered at the hands of the very people who are supposed to protect them.'

Microexpressions:  Alan Stevens paulekman.com > how to spot concealed emotions, useful for when looking at parents public appearances. What to be looking out for. 

TO READ: Parents who killed their children: true stories of filicide, mental health and postpartum psychosis by R J PARKER

Context Idea:   The faces of the parents pleading innocent in comparison to them being found guilty. 

Work Idea:

IDEA 1)

create a face made up of two sides, one side has the media poker face, the other side has the face when they are found guilty (maybe mugshot)

IDEA 2) 

show the layers of each case. The base drawing is the child/children innocent face/s. On top of that, layer drawings of the parents' faces ('innocent' and guilty). Play around with ordering and different media. The base drawing is on normal paper and the layers are on see-through materials such as acetate or tracing paper.

IDEA 3)

to show the life the parent took away from the child, and the life the parent is living and the child is not. Have the parents face drawn but the centre of their face (eyes, nose and mouth section) be cut out and be replaced with the face of the innocent child. 

I think that the strongest idea is the layering one because I think that this has more opportunity to develop than the other ideas. Therefore, next, I will begin to create this idea to see if it works or not.   I went through the filicide cases I found and chose the ones which were relevant (parents pretending to be upset that the child has been murdered but in reality, they are the ones to have murdered their own child) Each case has a Wikipedia page which contains all details of the murders and the stories the parents made up to act innocent: - Mick Philpott (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxq6Zvr8mPY) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2303851/Mick-Philpott-sentenced-LIFE-wife-Mairead-gets-17-years-Derby-house-plot.html) - Tia Sharp Murder (https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/sexually-abused-murdered-grandmothers-lover-11104253)(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E_dTHeeszA)  - Jeffrey Macdonald (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55pXxxRt70k) (https://www.thejeffreymacdonaldcase.com/) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWrLpng7xsM) - Darlie Routier (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq4wtagH7-w) - Diane Downs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsV1u25eXR4) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt3PHjcVOBQ)  - Susan Smith (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=injqWpqAOEg) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG1rK6ngKN4)

This weeks work:

This originally was going to be the idea of layering the parents on top of the child. However, after drawing one of Mick Philpott's children (Jayden, age 5) I liked how the drawing showed the innocence of the child and felt the drawing of the child along was a strong enough idea. 

BRETT WALKER 

~ This artist uses photography, I like the textures of the photographs, which is done throughout editing the picture. The texture makes the viewer feel as though they are observing everything that the person in the picture feels. ~ This style would be useful for the idea of capturing body language and emotions. ~ I think the use of lighting in this photograph captures the person's facial expressions in a more intense way. 

[beccab97-blog]

Objectives

At the start of each week, I will add to this so that I will be able to check that I am achieving the weekly goals I am setting myself.

Week 5

~ Research filicide cases to decipher which are relevant to the work I want to do. ~ Decide which idea is stronger to portray work ~ Test idea, choose 1 case to initially focus on to generate work

Week 6

~ Create more drawings of children of filicide cases ~ Research relevant artists to idea and style of drawings ~ Look into courtroom style drawings

Week 7

~ Look into age processor ~ Is the innocence/who am I project already a thing? If so what is it about? ~ Do more drawings

Easter Break (& Week 8)

~ Buy small brown paper sketchbook in A5. ~ Create as many drawings as possible. ~ Look into shrines. ~ Look into the text idea.

Week 10

~ animate some of the drawings done ~ create more drawings ~ find relevant bible verses ~ find autopsy reports for children drawn already ~ write up the stories for the children

Week 11

~ do more drawings ~ create more pages of the bible idea

Week 12

~ think of a way to present the final piece ~ try have 9 drawings ~ do the writing part of the piece

[beccab97-blog]

Feedback

The following is the tutorial feedback throughout the project.

I will be adding to this each week in order for me to keep all feedback together 

Tuesday 27th February

I spoke about my initial idea in front of the group and Dem. Ideas that were raised:  > Press Conferences > Covering Emotions > Hiding Crimes > Poker face, controlled reaction, concealing information, a thought out response, verbal or physical expression > Russian spies able to control body to pass lie detector tests.  > Lie to Me (Netflix) > Archives of famous cases of lies, simulating emotion > Harvey Weinstein, Public appearances, psychologist reviews, keeping distance, Graham Norton show controlling women even though aware of reputation.   > Psychology, unusual facial expressions, microseconds? > FOR FRIDAY- email this week's objectives and the new statement of intent to Dem Tuesday 6th March (FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT)

> Crocodile tears >Courtroom style drawings (the drawing I have done reminded people of this, due to the style and also the colour of the paper I chose to draw on) > It was said that the drawing I had done was like 95% photo-realistic and the other 5% cartoon-like. Which gives it a hint of artificial, making the image more unsettling than it already is.  > Filicide is a sensitive subject, how should we respond? Revealing the truth > Maddie McCann - depicting drawing, what would she look like now? A catalyst for broader conversation.  > 1950's illustrations, of children selling in America - before photographs. > Connect with someone through drawing. > Drawing is like a bridge into a person, that photographs don't achieve.  > Drawings allow different representation of people that photographs show.  > Drawings show departure (mistakes) > Does time have any contribution? What's the difference between spending 10hours drawing to 10hours looking at a picture?     Allows me to re-enact each person, make it personal. > Play with scale? Lifesize? Giant? Gives them a voice, the unseen becomes seen People to look at: Marcus Harvey (Myra Hindley Portrait) Mary Kelly - obsessive documentation, obsessive connecting of objects.  Annette Messager - the desire for motherhood, images of babies with eyes scratched out.  Tuesday 20th March

Tutorial with Jonny

in this style linking to courtroom > court cases revolving around them. Who should be there? they are the missing part of the case. 

Memorial drawings, drawing as an attempt to connect, empathise who you haven't met. Touching. Memorialising. 

The missing person from the courtroom, the key aspect. 

Missing children, THE MISSING.

The missing piece of the puzzle. 

The viewer seeing the image lured into a full sense of security. Beautiful images, change when they find out who they are.  Sting in the tail, flip, surprises viewer. 

Initially considered beautiful drawing, more input and impact. 

A personal touch from being a sketch 

A book is an intimate object to engage with 

the storybook, [child hood]

try to fill the book with drawings

high spine, an excessive element of the ritual memorial, to emphasize how many children are killed and go missing.

Make the book a shrine?

the more drawings the better

smaller, intimate book, like the children.

how to bind the book?

writing > facing? different paper stocks, bible paper? colour for text? choose typography to link to criminology? a court typeface? bible writing 

Tuesday 10th April

After discussion with Dem, he thought that it was important that there is a stronger idea behind the book, rather than it just be a book of drawings.  Look into animating the drawings?  Create an audio recording of the story so the image would be still than all of a sudden movement.  For next week, do more drawings, animated if possible. 

Tuesday 17th April

I spoke to Dem about the bible idea, and even though it was liked, it was a worry that it would look incomplete if there were a lot of them. So it was decided in order to keep this idea, a lot more was needed. Another point mentioned is that the drawings are similar to the kitsch style, so maybe to try something along those lines, combining the words and drawings. 

Tuesday 24th April 

This week we did mock presentations for next weeks final presentation. I spoke through my blog and it was apparent that this was too lengthy for the 5 minutes assigned, therefore I will make a presentation for the final thing. This will also allow me to focus on the most important aspects. It was mentioned that I spoke well about justifying reasons behind choices. The question was how to display the final piece? 

[beccab97-blog]

Statement of Intent

Attached is the original Statement of Intent

I uploaded this to Moodle on the Friday 16th February for the deadline. 

However, after the tutorial on Tuesday 27th February we had to send Dem the Statement of Intent but my idea had changed after feedback so I revised the document and sent him the revised version. 

[beccab97-blog]

Initial Research

10 Different Ideas

1) Look into body language and create drawings of different meanings. 2) Looking at body language- create mock interviews to research lying and telling truth. 3) Focus on each body part’s language to define the difference between truth and lie. 4) Look into a specific court case, telling the difference between body language and reaction. 5) Court-room style drawings 6) Interview room recordings( question room) interrogation. 7) Forensic artist- create drawings of ‘wanted’ just by descriptions from other people. 8) Forensic artist- focus on a certain case. Drawings and sculptures. 9) Body languages-all different emotions. 10) Photography/drawings- focus on different people. -ask questions, say statements focus on reactions.

Mindmap of ideas (Picture 1) 

Artists to look at / Inspiration

David Benoliel Flora Borsi Lauren De Graaf Erwin Olaf Kenzi Brooke Maciek Pozoga Chadwick Tyler Derrick Jensen - Quote Neil Bedford & Georgia Frances Ring Sophia Calle Jenny Woods Brett Walker Christina Otero Patti Smith - blackswandive.tumblr.com > 'I hate when the only arms around me are my own' Phil Fisher  Philip Moerman  Dmitry Ageev Lee Jeffries

 Idea:

focus on body language, emotion and reaction. Capture people reacting. Look into court cases to focus on peoples reaction (media reactions, family reactions/emotions) look at peoples body language to decipher the difference a truth and a lie. 

[beccab97-blog]

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE

Responsive Practice

*Responding with a place*

~ The Hay Wain by John Constable 1821

~ Scenes from the Passion: late by George Shaw 2002 ( a collision between internal and external landscape. Personal, almost like a self-portrait)

~ London Orbital by Ian Sinclair 2002

~ Honor Gavin by various ( song, about her and Birmingham, combining self with the world.)

~ Sun Tunnels: sunset by Nancy Holt 1976

~ Five sisters by John Latham 1976 (artist placement group, working for the council. Do nothing to waste, view as monuments)

~ Spiral Slide by Egon Møller-Nielsen 1956 (monuments becoming useful)

~ Prada Marfia by Elmgreen & Dragset 2005

~ Black Country Faces by Bruce Gilden 2016

*Responding with a straight face*

~ 10 skies by James Benning 2004

~ Empire by Andy Warhol 1964

~ 10 meter tower by Maximilien Aertrych & Axel Danielson 2016

~ Young Farmers by August Sander 1914

~ Gas Cylinders by Bernd & Hilla Becher 1980-1989

~ Courtroom Sketch by Unknown artist

~ Various Works by John Wood & Paul Harrison

*Responding to need* (Socially Engaged Practice)

~ The people behind the financial system- They are here 2016

~ Unite against dividers- keep it complex 2017

~ Guerrilla Girls 1989

~ Empire Remains Shop - Cooking Sections 2016

~ Open School East- Post Grad only, not an official diploma ( FREE ) ( Associates' project ) 

~ The new conservation: complicity and the UK art world's performance and progression by Morgan Quintance 2017

~ Policy Show by Eastside Projects 2017 ( Developing the policy of the gallery )

*Responding to yourself*

~ Excellence & perfections by Amalia Ulman 2014 ( art as opposed to real life documenting )

~ Ray's laugh by Richard Billingham 1995

~ The Brown Sisters by Nicholas Nixon 1975- ongoing ( commitment to a project, gives it strength )

~ Why I Never Became A Dancer by Tracey Emin 1995 ( abuses power, personal story, resonates much more broadly. Now more of these stories are coming to light )

~ Cry Daggers by Hannah Perry 2016

[beccab97-blog]

Law and Disorder

'It could be that you’d like to make work on morality. 

It might be that you’re interested in authority figures and authority bodies. 

You may be interested in the boundary between what’s a truth, and what’s a fiction.

You mash to make interventions within the rooms.

You might be interested in the aesthetics within the department.

It could be that you’re interested in specific court cases, or merely interested in the clinical forensic presentation. 

Whatever your interest, this will be an opportunity to infiltrate another department, and to see your works within a new context: on top of having an exhibition!' - Moodle 

The timetable for the module Tuesday > 10:00 am-1:00 pm & 2:00 pm-5:00 pm Wednesday > 12:00 pm-2:30 pm

Submission Date > 8th May @ 12:00 pm

The module is 30 credits > 250 hours (20 hours per week) 

Jonny Briggs

In the introductory tutorial we had with Jonny, he spoke about what his influences are in his work. He mentioned that his main focus was the relationship between his dad and himself. He likes to blur the concept of what is real and what is fake, to cause confusion to the viewer with his designs. Alongside the relationship with his father, another key aspect of his work is authoritative figures. 

[beccab97-blog]

Health and Safety Form

I asked them to email me a copy of the health and safety form that had to be filled in at the start of the week.