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[jacgillespie]

20 Headlines, 20 Opinions.

For this task that was set for during the summer months, the objective was simple; to compile roughly twenty headlines and to express opinions about them in graphic form. I saw this as an opportunity to maintain momentum going into to my third and final year of studying illustration. I decided to focus on one single topical story which was the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, a terrible fire that took place in London in June of 2017. The fire destroyed a twenty four story block of flats and was heavily covered in the media during the aftermath. Firstly, I gathered a list of headlines related to the incident and proceeded to create drawings that don’t specifically represent opinions about seperate headlines, but instead express a more general and emotional reaction to what happened. The drawings show that in my opinion, the tragedy was dramatic and terribly sad given that so many people lost their lives. 

Below is my list of headlines:

Headlines from the guardian

Grenfell's tragedy is a worldwide truth: fire is an inequality issue

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/jul/11/grenfell-tower-tragedy-worldwide-truth-fire-is-an-inequality-issue

Lack of equipment 'hampered Grenfell rescue effort'

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/08/lack-of-equipment-and-low-water-pressure-hampered-grenfell-rescue-effort

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/08/grenfell-mayor-orders-urgent-review-of-fire-brigade-kit-after-rescue-delays

Grenfell Tower investigation starting point is 80 deaths by manslaughter, police say

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/10/grenfell-fire-criminal-investigation-starting-point-is-80-deaths-by-manslaughter-police-say

Grenfell Tower: fire-proof cladding specified by architects used only on ground floor

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/06/grenfell-fire-proof-cladding-specified-by-architects-only-used-on-ground-floor

Headlines from The Independent

Grenfell Tower survivors could be deported in 12 months despite government immigration amnesty

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/grenfell-tower-deported-immigration-amnesty-survivors-12-months-government-latest-a7825481.html

Grenfell Tower response: Government says 181 high-rise buildings across 51 local authorities have failed fire tests

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grenfell-tower-fire-safety-tests-high-rise-buildings-tests-failed-response-latest-a7819516.html

Grenfell Tower fire: Government immigration amnesty is a 'trap' to harvest survivors' data, warns Liberty

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/grenfell-tower-fire-government-immigration-amnesty-trap-survivors-data-liberty-latest-a7834061.html

Grenfell Tower fire: Government taskforce to take over parts of Kensington council after fatal blaze

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grenfell-tower-fire-kensington-council-government-taskforce-theresa-may-tory-rehousing-safety-a7824256.html

Grenfell Tower fire: Police confirm 255 residents escaped blaze

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grenfell-tower-fire-latest-police-confirm-250-residents-escaped-safe-release-official-figures-a7833416.html#gallery

However, it is believed that there were many more victims than the number issued in the media. Celebrity personalities Akala and Lily Allen have attributed concerns with regards to this being true. There were claims from within the local community - and by celebrities such as Lily Allen and rapper Akala - that the true death toll was being suppressed by the media. (BBC)

Headlines from the BBC

London fire: What happened at Grenfell Tower?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-40272168

London fire: Sadiq Khan says tragedy caused by years of neglect

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40320459

London fire: Evening Standard photographer describes 'war zone' conditions

London fire: Six questions for the investigation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40279944

'There were people jumping out'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-40280705/london-tower-fire-man-breaks-down-as-he-recalls-escape

'We saw a body coming down'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-40274053/london-tower-block-fire-we-saw-a-body-coming-down

Recorded coverage of the statement by the Prime Minister, Theresa May, to the House of Commons on the fire at Grenfell Tower in London, from Thursday 22 May:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xlmdy

Headlines from the Telegraph

Grenfell Tower: candlelit vigil for victims after grief turned to anger at earlier protests 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/16/london-fire-latest-updates-grenfell-tower-fire-victims/

Eight failures that left people of Grenfell Tower at mercy of the inferno

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/15/eight-failures-left-people-grenfell-tower-mercy-inferno/

 Tabloid Headlines

Grenfell Tower bystander arrested for 'uncovering fire victim's body and posting sick photos on Facebook'

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/grenfell-tower-bystander-arrested-uncovering-10624562

Fears grow over '15 tots from same nursery missing' in Grenfell Tower fire

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/grenfell-tower-fire-nursery-15-10637730

Grenfell Tower survivors could be made intentionally homeless for turning down homes 200 miles away, claims MP

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/grenfell-tower-survivors-not-wanting-10653582

'UTTERLY HATEFUL'

Islamic activist being investigated by police after telling anti-Israel rally that Grenfell Tower fire victims ‘were murdered by Zionists who fund the Conservative party’

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3983979/islamic-activist-investigated-police-anti-israel-rally-grenfell-tower-fire-victims-zionists/

[jacgillespie]

The image on the left depicts a refrigerator, it encases the bodies of the people and their families who lost their lives in the fire. The fridge is a recurring motif in some of my drawings, the cause of the fire was reported to have been a poorly designed refrigerator. The shape and proportion mirrors that of the tower itself.

The bottom image is the front page of the evening standard on the fourteenth of June. It depicts the fire in all its rage over the morning sky. The building is framed ontop of the London skyline, clearly indicating London as the location. I have chosen to isolate the building in my drawings and to instead add small and subtle indications as to the geographical location such as a postbox or a sillhuette of big ben and st pauls cathedral.

[jacgillespie]

I have used and reused the skeletal character, shown above, in my drawings. I have used it to represent the figure of death, looming upon and sometimes mocking the burning tower, and to represent the chard bodies of victims within their flat.

[jacgillespie]

Above there is a depiction of our prime minister. Who is to blame for the fire? Reports state that the cladding on the outside of the structure, installed to improve the aesthetic look of the flats but to compromise its safety. Is it the property developers whose les en fare attitude towards safety and desperate money making skeems who caused the fire? And was there being enough done by the government to aid the survivors and their families? The finger points, as it often does in these situations, to those who have responsibility for the lives of others.

[jacgillespie]

Above are some very graphic and rather gruesome images taken for a Mexican magazine called ‘Alarma!’. I watched a short Vice film about the magazine and was struck by how the Mexican people view death, a fascination and an interest for many who enjoy reading about the latest domestic argument turned sour in the tabloids.

[jacgillespie]

Here is my second semester audiobook. Please listen as you browse through my work.

[jacgillespie]

Personal Project.

Here is my final outcome piece for the self initiated brief. I am fascinated with death, not so much as a scientific interest, but more so in that I find the whole thing rather comical for specific reasons unknown to myself. 

My family has always kept healthy gardens which I appreciate when I regard my upbringing with hindsight. Gardens are places where we experience the essence of the ephemeral in a most fundamental way. The changing seasons bring new life as quickly as it diminishes.

I have a memory of my mother and I turning over earth at the allotment. She drove her fork into the ground and upon lifting the dirt revealed a very large, dark toad with a bumpy back and long limbs. The toad was perishing from a significant puncture wound to the abdomen. This I found hysterical. 

During this task I read Watership Down by Richard Adams which greatly influenced my general demeanour while creating my ‘Dead Toad’ print (a rather morbid demeanour). 

I chose to produce an etching because I love making prints. The very physicality of creating a piece in this manner allows me to pour a more expressive element into my drawings. I also like the way in which I arrive at a more definite conclusion once the blanket is lifted and the image revealed, embossed in the paper. 

[jacgillespie]

[jacgillespie]

These are some small etchings I did while learning how to use aquatint. The character in the prints is a cartoon that I loosely devised simply by getting a bit stuck on the same way of drawing a little face. It’s name is Kettl’s, cheeky little devil looking thing.

[jacgillespie]

Manifesto!

For our manifesto project, two fellow illustrators and I developed characters and costumes that responded to ideas about totalitarian extremist governments throughout history. Our name is ‘Das Neues Perspectiv’.

Here is a cover of the song ‘They Walked in Line’, written by Warsaw, performed and filmed by Das Neues Perspectiv and edited by Jake Twomey. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfLQ_vTkOBA&feature=youtu.be

We felt that the theme and aesthetic of the bands art resonated with our perception of the brief.  

[jacgillespie]

[jacgillespie]

My costume represented a ‘Fascist Frog’ and was made to resemble a kind of SS Hugo Boss type thing. Above there is a character drawing and a few examples of the frog language which I created in the letterpress workshop. The pieces of text are commands as part of the frog fascist regime. 

[jacgillespie]

Text Recontext.

We were given a choice of five different stories to re contextualise and I chose Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I re-interpreted the monster as a structure - a house. The idea would be that Dr Frankenstein’s fascination with the re-animation of life would extend as far as becoming a fantasy, some kind of fetishism. My rationalisation for the monster becoming a living structure is based on the premise that Frankenstein is compelled to want to inhabit his creation. Physically.

I started exploring this idea by creating a series of colograph prints. They depict the moment at which Dr Frankenstein’s experiment is struck by lightning and is brought to life. I used cardboard and brown tape to create my image which was subsequently rubbed with ink and pressed onto damp paper creating an expressive and interesting series of prints.

My intention was to go on to create a short film, structured with reference to Shelley’s original story being an epistolary novel. An epistolary novel is a story made up of a series of documents. In Shelley’s version it is a series of letters. In my version I would have devised a correspondence between the doctor and another part of himself, loosely based on another character from the book perhaps. The documentation would have taken the form of a series of voice recordings. Unfortunately, I did not take confidence in proceeding with this idea.

[jacgillespie]

[jacgillespie]

Please take a look at my module work!

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[jacgillespie]