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2 PROJECT DOCUMENTATION OF OUTCOME IDENTITY -

For this project, it was about identity, meaning to express yourself through characteristics, appearances, experience. During these lectures/seminars we have talked about the nature of identity, There are many subcultures in youth dealing with identity. Language, culture and history, your experience against the world. There is Nature vs nurture from a standpoint, exploring around the foundation of identity of how people become who they are. Identities are superficial, the structure of identities is born through symbolic networks, systems of representation and social classification of societies in which we live that scientists have argued

I will be focusing on the identity around childhood and the internet universe. In this new day and age technology has intertwined in our day to day lives, giving us  our own virtual space through the internet such as Virtual Reality, this alternate augmented reality where we can be anything/anyone through a virtual avatar. During everyones Childhood you are a different person to how you are now as an young adult, that's a period of time where you are starting to discover who you are or get a better understanding your surroundings. So for my project I decided  to recreate one of my childhood painting of this character I used to relate with now revisited as more grown person for my outcome.

Its of how I look at an aspect of my identity through differently as I have grown, how I look at the same thing but through different lenses from an childish drawing to creating this alternate reality where this space exists which also takes concept of an avatar in an virtual reality, this is their home its where they live in and associate with.

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Project 2- Identitity Exhibition Report

On Tuesday 22 November for my identity project I went to see an exhibition, Zadie Xa: House Gods, Animal Guides and Five Ways 2 Forgiveness at the White Chapel Gallery. It's an art installation, Zadie Xa presents her issue of familial legacies, histories of migration and the ways in which different species communicate with one another in sculptures, textiles and paintings, coming from the artist’s spiritual, folklore, religious rituals with hybrid and diasporic identities on a large scale structure inspired from traditional Korean home, hanok, filled with enveloping audio and lighting transforming a historic architect into this mystical landscape.

In this exhibition what I found interesting is the way she uses the framework of Korean mythology as a narrative to explore these issues. Paintings, sculptures, textile works, hanging puppets, and masks are featured throughout the exhibit, many of which depict various types of animals. Animals are often the main characters in many fables, which help educate society and help talk about power structures and moral dilemmas. The recurring concept of tigers, foxes and seagulls speak to Xa's continued exploration of the "trickster" archetype. Its existence is a disruptive outsider that causes and inspires change in the general social and cultural order. While Xa narrates that have been erased and repressed by the West, where her diasporic identity comes to play here. This is also reflected in the title of the exhibition, 'House Gods'. This refers to the spiritual practices of Buddhism and Korean shamanism, as well as communities around the world who practise ancestor worship and pay homage to the "house deities." Widely worshipped by many different cultural groups about gods and spirits that protect the home and ensure prosperity and health. It also refers to the belief that by acknowledging the deceased and honouring family ancestors, a god or spirit will forgive past wrongdoings and bring happiness to the home. This forgiveness in the artist’s own journey comes in play with how the diaspora are disjointed from their cultural communities and the ways in which regrouping can be sought through acknowledging those that came before us.

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Independent Research 2.0 CAT MEMES

Figure 1

This photo of a dark feline has been around the web as an image, first showing up on instagram page @bigfootjinx, a feline insta page of this catlike rescue on 25 January 2019 yet additionally on twitter 26 August 2021. I found the picture on twitter first, the twitter page owner subtitles with "I believe this pic simply should be on twitter".

Jinx was renowned on instagram however twitter assisted it’s influence with night further, particularly being utilised as a spam twitter response image.

A spam twitter account is where a social web page they can post images, being a fan references and "talk" everyday as you will see substantially more tweets, accordingly a "spam", where their record are utilised for messing about, being either truly silly web personas

or on the other hand chiefly irritating, typically run by teenagers or more youthful grown-ups. I picked this picture first to present the images of this feline introduction. This picture is utilised by individuals as a twitter "response" image, response images will be pictures intended to depict a particular feeling in a reaction to something different. However there is no conspicuous human look, the feline's enormous widened eyes, weird stance and the empty climate makes this practically unambiguous, absurd, stunned vibe.

Figure 2

2)  This photo was posted on 27 April 2020, instagram. My number one animal internet meme actually.

This feline is generally well known for her wide saucer-like eyes as you see here, which has won her a multitude of fans across the web.

Jinx is portrayed as having "wonkiest legs around" causing many fans to inquire as to why she seems to be this.

It's because of a birth deformity which has impacted her appearance yet luckily that is all and she is protected and safe by any means. Going on from the last picture, People find startling goals amusing, individuals have predispositions of feline pictures being charming, energetic and endearing. It is called the Incongruity hypothesis: It's unforeseen. “The core concept in incongruity theories is based on the fact that human experience works with learned patterns. What we have experienced prepares us to deal with what we will experience”. Here, the extremely close, uncommon articulation of the felines makes our watchmen off, this isn't a feline picture we characteristically see on the web. Typically charming, cute feline pictures are utilised for consideration or to show love yet this bizarre method of visual show surpasses individuals' insight and makes it intriguing.

Figure 3 3) The following image depicts visual absurdity. This cat meme was posted on Twitter by @bigfootjinx on January 20, 2022. The egg is close to the cat in this image, but the cat is looking away from the camera and not paying attention to the object in front of them. “in standard incongruity theories is that some thing or event we perceive or think about violates our normal mental patterns and normal expectations”.says the author, making the entire picture appear disorganised or chaotic to the spectator. The cat's eyes and body are seen to be facing to the left, while the egg has its own space that attracts the attention due to the contrast of Jinx's black fur and the asymmetrical balance of the composition, all of which combine to make a striking image. disharmony makes you bewildered and simply snicker at it. With this notoriety the feline has acquired a fanbase, turning into a VIP, an online celebrity, an item, a creature straightforward presence for certain novel attributes to snicker at… well more to giggle with, an arbitrary cat we had no earlier information on being loved by quite a few people on the web very much like that. In this manner the owner has made many stocks, benefiting from the notoriety.

Figure 4

4) This feline image was made by @AnimalsCaption on twitter on the 13 March.

2022. Here you must have a comprehension of web culture to really comprehend the layers here. The nearby of the feline, broadened, widened eyes with the text in the centre "are you're gay". Currently this image is so uncommon, bizarre for a feline pic, again relating back to the confusion hypothesis. The assertion "are you're gay" is amusing, it mimicking what discourteous individuals could say to target gay individuals, having an exceptionally private inquiry posed by a more bizarre which is a feline intersection its front paws showing submissive, captivated articulation. Additionally, the assertion is linguistically mistaken, the spelling is off-base deliberately here to show the irrational method of the whole image.

Figure 5

5) Next, here is a very famous, old fashioned, nostalgic cat image, a real blast to the past from the 2010s, it's truly antiquated where web culture was created all the while creating. Grumpy Cat was brought into Morristown, Arizona on April fourth, 2012 to her proprietor Tabatha Bundesen. The first photographs of Grumpy Cat were presented on the r/pics subreddit by Bundesen's sibling Bryan on September 23rd, 2012. The name "Grumpy Cat" has been related with pictures of irate looking felines before this occurrence. There have been a ton of picture macros, an expansive term used to portray subtitled pictures that ordinarily consist of an image and a clever message or an expression. Relates back to the fourth picture.

Here it has the top text and base text design, the cat has strong expression for a never seen before feline, which made "Grumpy Cat" overall a huge big name, claiming stock, Merchandise and, surprisingly, a film about this cat. Tragically, Grumpy Cat kicked the bucket a couple of years prior on May 14, 2019

6) Furthermore, this is also an “ancient relic” of the past, “Nyan Cat” a cat meme in video format posted on Youtube uploaded in April 2011, which became an internet meme. The video is of an animated cartoon cat with a pop-Tart for a torso flying through space and leaving a rainbow trail behind, merging with a Japanese pop song. The meme became viral worldwide fast, almost anyone would know with an internet which is global, even now the comment section underneath is still active. The popularity with Nyan cat is massive. The  hyper, high-pitched, saturated music with the repetitive, animated, adorable, colourful cat makes a hypnotic video for the viewers to consume. Due to this, it has been used in games as lil easter eggs, merchandise, other memes, skit videos and also entered into the art world in all types of media. Some even created their own parodies of this animated cat. This world is weird as the motivation of this creation was the owner doing a “donation drive” for humanitarian movement “Red cross” when in their livestream some two random people suggested an idea of a hybrid cat, which then led to unexpected fame. The power of cat memes can be very influential from being created or to be created for.

Continuing, this could be considered a net art, which is accessible only on the internet made. Over the years it had slowly gone to the sand of time but due to the sudden rise of NFT (Non Fungible Token) it transitioned into a video to a digital collectable asset rising again from the grave. (personally I am against NFT).

Figure 7 Next, it's an image of a cat with a not bothered facial expression and its arm leaning on the table with the champagne and some chocolate on the side, with polka dot lighting. a dark-striped cat housecat from Kharkiv, Ukraine who acquired significant virality on TikTok and Instagram in 2021, first among Ukrainian and Russian clients, and later around the world. The cat has a place with TikToker @annaolala who initially started posting recordings of him in mid 2020, amassing north of 1,000,000 followers in two years. The videos were interpreted by Russian-speaking users as reflective of feelings of loneliness and hopelessness, akin to celebrating one's birthday alone. This humanisation of cats is kooky, personifying an animal is funny to people because that's not what the creature does but to see another species in a human manner is joyful but not in an uncanny way, we can tell this was staged. In history cats are seen as “docile, quiet, and aloof, a far cry from the buzzy eyes and frenetics jumping that characterise the typical cat video”, so cat owners only have the privilege of celebrating these moments in private, quiet, tender moments. Only now, due to technological advances such as cameras, can these “alone time” be recorded to the world now for people to enjoy. This human and cat relationship even integrating into meme culture is because the cats have been keeping small rodents away from crops as humans stayed in fixed settlements, having the felines and humans forever intertwined. Furthermore, symbolically the same as memes as they are deadly yet snuggly creatures, as how memes operate “erratic, unpredictable, and yet somehow attractive, they embody the free-spirited nature of internet”. For centuries in western culture, cats have represented freedom, as they don't approach you when they are called and their roaming, “unpredictable nature reflects a freer spirit than the loyal dog” which goes hand in hand with the nature of memes.

Even more, this Ukrainian cat raises £7,000 for charity after fleeing shelling by Russian forces in Kharkiv and due to the cat sensation they were then offered help by the World Influencers and Bloggers Association to travel to France. Stepan's owner used his social media to raise more than 10,035 around £7,625 for five charities, donated to Happy Paw, UAnimals, Mykolaiv Zoo, XII Months and Plyushka, to provide aid to animals affected by the war in Ukraine. The influence of this cat has caused many people to join and help their cause and safety, all because of meme culture used for entertainment, shedding light on the needy. It's a good support system.

Bibliography

Instagram.com. 2022. bigfootjinx. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2022].

PetsRadar. 2022. Rescue cat Jinx is charming the Internet with her unusually wide eyes. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2022].

Borgella, A., 2022. Science deconstructs humor: What makes some things funny?. [online] The Conversation. Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2022].

Book - Morreall, J., 2009. Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor. Chicester: Wiley-Blackwell, pp.10,11.

twitter.com. 2022. bigfootjinx. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2022].

knowyourmeme.com. 2022. grumpy-cat. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2022].

Youtube.com. 2022. [online] Available at: [Accessed 16 May 2022].

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Nyan Cat - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: [Accessed 16 May 2022].

Know Your Meme. 2022. Stepan the Cat. [online] Available at: [Accessed 16 May 2022].

Sky News. 2022. Ukrainian viral cat sensation raises £7,000 for charity after fleeing shelling by Russian forces in Kharkiv. [online] Available at: [Accessed 16 May 2022].

 docile, quiet, and aloof, a far cry from the buzzy eyes and frenetics jumping that characterise the typical cat video.

erratic, unpredictable, and yet somehow attractive, they embody the free-spirited nature of internet

unpredictable nature reflects a freer spirit than the loyal dog

2022. Memes to Movements : How the World's Most Viral Media Is Changing Social Protest and Power. [ebook] Beacon Press, pp.24 - 29. Available at: <https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/mdx/detail.action?docID=6060686> [Accessed 16 May 2022].

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Independent Research 1.0 How did Keith Haring use art to show queerness?

Keith Haring was an instant star of the 1980’s art world. He racked up an amazing legacy before his death at the hands of HIV. After 31 fast-paced years on earth, he created significant pieces throughout the United States, Germany, France, UK, South America, Japan, Holland, and Spain. Queer art in the world was very restricted due to bigotry but it would still exist in many art forms as historical art found and even used as protest for gay rights. Keith Haring, an American artist born on May 4 1958 and died on February 16 1990, whose pop art and graffiti-like art intensified more out of New York city street culture of the 1980s. The artist itself is identified as gay, much of his work has sexual implication which then turned into social activism. Known for promoting safe sex and HIV awareness, Keith Haring has had a major impact on the LGBTQ+ community. In 2014 Haring was one of the inaugural honourees in the Rainbow Honor Walk, a walk of fame in San Francisco’s Castro neighbourhood noting LGBTQ people who have "made significant contributions in their fields." His later work often addressed political and societal themes, especially homosexuality and AIDS, through his own illustrations, the artist’s use of flat, bold colours demonstrates the influence of pop art on his work. He created Larger scale works, chalk outlines of figures, other stylized images on many blank advertising-space backgrounds in New York city subways and colourful murals, many of them commissioned.

Fig.1: Keith Haring, 1989

This poster was made by Keith Haring in 1989 called “Ignorance = Fear” to spread awareness of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. The AIDS crisis was mostly blamed by gay men as the virus spread even more in the community through having sexual intercorse. As the numbers of AIDS infected individuals grew, so did the numbers of victims. 

This can be seen here through the visual information of “X marks the spot” where the 

“X”s marks each humanoid figure as it tells us that they have AIDS. The bigoted authorities saw this as an oppurtonity to wipe out the LGBTQ+ community and stayed silent on the situation, halting any further research on the virus, which in response the community fought back by protesting with posters having slogans such as “Ignorance = Fear” and “Silence = Death” which are incorpareted on the borders in this illustration. The lines around the figures are shown as motions of the figure’s action, the many motion lines indicate the figures are panicking, helpless and almost struggling. Haring uses bright, flat colours to bring out the drawings, as you can see I have incorporated the very simple yet iconic style figures from his work in my badges. The simple three figures are covering their mouth, eyes and ears. It resembles the ‘three wise monkey’, a japanese pictorial maxim “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. The proverb most often referred to a lack of morality, a part of people who refused to acknowledge problems in this case, the higher ups doing nothing and leaving the AIDS victims to die.

Though I would have to admit the description of this art was not brief, I wanted to point out what the artist was really trying to convey here, what it meant as at the time it was a very huge crisis yet the victims had to suffer silently due to bigotry, they had the power to help yet chose not to.

Fig.2,3: Once Upon A Time, 1989

Once in life you would have at least seen a penis scribbled on the bathroom walls. This however is very different, a huge mural created by Keith Haring being “preserved as a major work of contemporary art”[1] in the bathroom of West Village. He was only 31 years old and this was his last major mural before his death, AIDS related illness. This mural was created for “The Center Show,” a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, largely thought of as the start of the Gay Liberation and LGBT Rights movement [1] Haring created in his usual provoking way obscene phantasmagoria of “unleashed gay male promiscuity”[2]. In the mural, black-on-white line drawings of penises, fluids, babies, and groping figures are intertwined with tiles of bathroom stalls to create a black-on-white panorama of Haring's signature imagery.

Stated in Cruising Devotion: On Carl Phillips:

“ men fucking each other and sucking each other off, but also men with penises for hands and feet and heads, anthropomorphic penises with limbs of their own such as arms and legs, men riding huge cocks like rockets, their arms raised in triumph, a group of four men climbing—or maybe they’re humping it—the long neck of a penis-dinosaur. Male bodies penetrate and are penetrated in possible and impossible ways, to such an extent that it’s often difficult to know where one body ends and another begins. There’s no protection; everyone rides bareback “[2].

Keith here used his iconogrpahy to celebrate queerness. As you can see it’s a very energetic mural with lots of actions of sexual action being commenced. I see this as unapologetic celebration of sexual liberty, queer male art, the fight against the AIDS crisis destroying communities and the survivors of AIDS. It's not simply a celebration; it's also a lament, as indicated by its title, as it's equal parts fairy tale and elegy; it's also a nightmare. Bathroom sex in New York and elsewhere before HIV and AIDS, which it ravaged the gay community was a homage to those less tense, more care free days before HIV and AIDS. The mural was gradually damaged by time and environmental factors. As part of the 2015 restoration, the mural was displayed alongside other major works by Leon Golub, Barbara Sandler, Kenny Scharf, George Whitman, and Martin Wong.

Bibliography

Fig.1 - www.wikiart.org. 2022. Ignorance = Fear, 1989 - Keith Haring - WikiArt.org. [online] Available at: <https://www.wikiart.org/en/keith-haring/ignorance-fear-1989> [Accessed 15 January 2022].

Fig. 2,3. [1] - Atlas Obscura. 2022. Keith Haring's 'Once Upon a Time' Bathroom Mural. [online] Available at: <https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/keith-harings-once-upon-a-time-bathroom-mural> [Accessed 16 January 2022].

[2] - Proquest.com. 2022. Cruising Devotion: On Carl Phillips - ProQuest. [online] Available at: <https://www.proquest.com/docview/2349228213?parentSessionId=iqaAhSyIIL%2FIg647GJBlyHL0O0zz3d%2F1M%2FMtLtC7rmw%3D&pq-origsite=primo&accountid=12441> [Accessed 16 January 2022].

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Cat Memes Photo essay

(Figure 1) This photograph of a black cat has been around the internet as a meme, first appearing on Instagram user @bigfootjinx, a cat insta page of this feline rescue on 25 January 2019 but also on twitter 26 August 2021. I found the image on twitter first, the twitter user captions with “i think this pic just needs to be on twitter”.

Jinx was famous on Instagram but twitter helped its fame even further, especially being used as a spam twitter reaction meme.

A spam twitter account is where an account they can post memes, fandom references and “talk” daily as you will see much more tweets, therefore a “spam”, where their account are used for goofing off, being either really hilarious internet personas

or mainly annoying, usually run by teens or younger adults. I chose this image first to introduce the memes of this cat debut. This image is used by people as a twitter “reaction” meme, reaction memes are images meant to portray a specific emotion in a response to something else. Though there is no recognizable human facial expression, the cat's big dilated eyes, strange posture and the vacant environment creates this almost specific, ridiculous, dumbfounded vibe.

(Figure 2) This photograph was posted on 27 April 2020, instagram. My favourite cat meme personally.

This cat is most famous for her wide saucer-like eyes as you see here, which has won her an army of fans across the internet.

Jinx is described as having “wonkiest legs in town” making many fans ask why she looks like this.

It's due to a birth defect which has affected her appearance but fortunately that's all and she is safe and unharmed at all.

Continuing from the last image, People find unexpected resolutions funny, people have preconceptions of cat images being cute, playful and heart warming. It is called Incongruity theory: It’s unexpected. “The core concept in incongruity theories is based on the fact that human experience works with learned patterns. What we have experienced prepares us to deal with what we will experience”. Here, the very up close, unusual expression of the cats makes our guards off, this is not a cat picture we stereotypically see on the internet. Usually cute, adorable cat pictures are used for attention or to show love but this strange way of visual presentation exceeds people's experience and makes it interesting.

(Figure 3)Next photograph is of visual absurdity seen here. This cat meme was uploaded on 20 January 2022 on @bigfootjinx twitter. Seen here, the egg is next to the cat, but the cat is looking elsewhere off the frame not paying attention to the object in front of them. Making this whole picture seem disarray or chaotic to the viewer, “in standard incongruity theories is that some thing or event we perceive or think about violates our normal mental patterns and normal expectations”. The line of point here is the cat eyes and body leaning towards the left, while the egg has their own space that catches the eye due to the contrast of Jinx’s black fur and the asymmetrical balance as the composition, all of this disharmony makes you baffled and just laugh at it.

With all this fame the cat has gained a fanbase, becoming a celebrity, a product, an animal simple existence with some unique traits to laugh at… well more accurately to laugh with, a random cat we had no prior knowledge of being adored by many on the internet just like that. Therefore the owner has created many merchandises, capitalising on the fame.

(Figure 4) This cat meme was created by @AnimalsCaption on twitter on the 13 March

2022. Here you have to have an understanding of internet culture to truly understand the layers here. The close up of the cat, widened, dilated eyes with the text in the middle “are your’e gay”. Already this picture is so unusual, strange for a cat pic, again relating back to incongruity theory. The statement “are your’re gay” is ironic, it mimicking what inconsiderate people might say to target gay people, having a very personal question asked by a stranger which happens to be a cat crossing its front paws showing docile, intrigued expression. Also, the statement is grammatically incorrect, the spelling is wrong on purpose here to show the nonsensical way of the entire meme.

(Figure 5) Finally, a cat meme from the 2010s, it's really ancient where internet culture was still developing. Grumpy Cat was born in Morristown, Arizona on April 4th, 2012 to her owner Tabatha Bundesen. The original photos of Grumpy Cat were posted to the r/pics subreddit by Bundesen's brother Bryan on September 23rd, 2012. The name "Grumpy Cat" has been associated with pictures of angry looking cats prior to this instance. There have been a lot of image macros, a broad term used to describe captioned images that typically consist of a picture and a witty message or a catchphrase. Relates back to the fourth image.

Here it has the top text and bottom text format, the cat has a strong expression you never see cats have which made “Grumpy Cat” worldwide internet celebrity, owning merchandise, commercial products and even a movie about this cat. Sadly, the grumpy cat died a few years ago on May 14, 2019.

Bibliography

Instagram.com. 2022. bigfootjinx. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2022].

PetsRadar. 2022. Rescue cat Jinx is charming the Internet with her unusually wide eyes. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2022].

Borgella, A., 2022. Science deconstructs humor: What makes some things funny?. [online] The Conversation. Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2022].

Book - Morreall, J., 2009. Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Phiklosophy of Humor. Chicester: Wiley-Blackwell, pp.10,11.

twitter.com. 2022. bigfootjinx. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2022].

knowyourmeme.com. 2022. grumpy-cat. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 March 2022].

Image list

Figure 1- https://twitter.com/bigfootjinx/status/1430762573540954116?cxt=HHwWiMCond2-i9snAAAA

Figure 2- https://www.instagram.com/p/COLX5REM4sn/

Figure 3- https://twitter.com/bigfootjinx/status/1484076442077990913

Figure 4- https://mobile.twitter.com/AnimalsCaption/status/1503135491142520834?cxt=HHwWhMCo7fzwmtwpAAAA

Figure 5- https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/grumpy-cat#fn1

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Reflecting on today's Session

25/02/22

I was having trouble of finding the topic I wanted to explore. Todays session began with a very heavy topic around the war going on recently, the conflict around Ukraine and Russia. A lot of these were serious topics and people seemed like they were going for those type of theme.

Then I thought of doing something light hearted, as these very sensitive topics are not usually my strong points and then though of memes, specifically CAT memes spiralling around the internet since the dawn of early 2000s world wide wed. I could explore around the nature of these cat memes perhaps? at least the ones I will choose.

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This is a group manifesto I did before the Christmas holiday with three of my classmates. The manifesto we did was a sarcastic approach of rich people detachments of reality in a letter form. During the process working with others was really less stressful then I thought, atleast with the ones I am grouped with, it was really fun coming up with ideas the only problem we had was with the time management to with our different schedule in some days so we couldn’t group together as soon possible but at the end we did before the deadline. If I had to do A group work I wouldn’t mind teaming up with them as they are really great to co-operate and problem solvers.

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Reflection of the 100 Artist Manifestos

Looking into the 100 artist’s manifestos, I particularly found one manifestos interesting called feminist manifesto (1914) by Mina Loy. In her manifesto, it talks about how women are yet ‘women’ as they are still trapped by the social code of what it is to be a women, such as their relation to their virginity and pureness and the feminist movement at present to be lacking the quality as “...at present instituted is Inadequate” limiting to women and to truly overcome this, they should demolish these theoretical “rubbish heap of tradition”, having a psychological upheaval. In her manifesto it’s structured with long sentences but carrying on new paragraphs with no punctuation points between and has a lot of underlined words to bring out the point as she is really trying to “wake” these women up from their illusions of the “lies from centuries”.

Mina Loy goes really in depth of the psychological values of the sexes explaining how men are no longer masculine and females are not yet feminine. She goes thoroughly on the illusions placed on women, the comfortable protection gained from a man for offering their virginity, to not be complacent, stale and to have more intelligent curiosity for a woman to be truly happy. I might have dumbed down the manifesto for me to understand it better in my reflection but I really do agree with her. I just do not have the capacity to put it into words at her level.

Danchev, A., 2011. 100 artists' manifestos. London: Penguin, p.106.

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My final piece for this project is a map of illustrations. This inspiration for this design came from an artist Gaida Maestra where a lot of her work is very simple, fast, cartoonish drawings of people and objects. I looked into her work “Windows by the Street” which is a series of illustrations representing people and objects discovered and observed during my numerous walks in the neighbourhood where it all started. My piece here as you can see has a line map I drew with a marker of my journey and as I walked I drew people, objects and locations that I found made me interested in the map.

Maestro, G., 2021. Windows By The Street by Giada Maestra. [online] Walking Artists Network. Available at: <http://www.walkingartistsnetwork.org/2021/06/15/windows-by-the-street-by-giada-maestra/> [Accessed 20 October 2021].

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On the 23/10/21, I went on the same journey but because my Illustration on my second walk wasn’t more of a “Map” in my derive. I planned to create a line map of my journey as I walk to create a layout of my path. Next, post I will explain what I will be doing with the map I created for my final piece.

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Documentation of my Dérive using my chosen Artist methodology. (Bottom right corner being my own sketches of my walk using the artist methodology)

Here I have decided to do a second walk with the same journey as the last but this time instead of observing the scenery, I document the walk using my chosen artist’s methodology.

The artist I chose here for my mapping is Giada Maestro with her fast and often incomplete sketches. Giada’s practice was to take records of detail of everyday life that often go unnoticed, according to their needs, so that's what I also intended to do in my walk. It was around afternoon at 2pm I started my journey, it was cold, windy and was about to rain so I have thought of doing this walk as quickly and efficiently as possible, which relates back to psychogeography, ”The influence of weather on derives, although real, is a significant

factor only in the case of prolonged rains, which make them virtually Impossible”. Using my marker and black paint I did some quick sketches of my local area, pubs, people walking dogs, the tall grass on the field and the horse (pony?) behind a fence on private property. In Giada’s quick illustrations you can tell most of her drawings are of long distances and could not reach what sight could. Therefore her Imagination and memories had a play on her. I tried to mimic her style, it kind of looks like a Roald Dahl style, something from a children's book, it has a wonky, unfinished, raw look with her lines, very minimalist.

Maestro, G., 2021. Windows By The Street by Giada Maestra. [online] Walking Artists Network. Available at: <http://www.walkingartistsnetwork.org/2021/06/15/windows-by-the-street-by-giada-maestra/> [Accessed 20 October 2021].

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The practice of Dérive, is an activity where a person or more goes on a walk aiming to let the surroundings have an effect on you in your journey. Leaving work and leisure activity and other motives just for the travel.

That’s what I did, I stepped outside my door and walked through my neighbourhood, this time going to routes where I last took ages ago giving me a nostalgic feeling as I walked past the roads. Expressed in Marx's phrase: "Men can see nothing around them that is not their own image; everything speaks to them of themselves. Their very landscape is alive”. Further walking, I then strolled through a pub nearby which connected to a huge empty field with lots of greenery. As I first took a step into the grass I smelled the fresh open evening smell of the terrain and more emotion of nostalgia hit me, it had been a long time since I was here. However, it also gave me a feeling of depression as there was nobody here, all alone by myself in this huge field and the environment also gave me a feeling of “powerlessness”?. As said in the extract of “the theory of Dérive” it is correct about fatigue being the factor of abandonment of Dérive as it was my reason to head home.

[sr1605]

Theory of Derive by Guy Debord

"The spatial field of a derive may be precisely delimited or vague, depending on whether the goal is to study a terrain or to emotionally disorient oneself. It should not be forgotten that these two aspects of derives overlap in so many ways that it is impossible to isolate one of them in a pure state."

I find this interesting but also kind of have an idea what it's saying... the technique of Derive has two factors that choses what kind of area it will be for this practice. Explained here, the two aspects cannot be separated, one to study the geography and another to "let your self go" meaning to experience the moment, more personal, alter your mind set about the surrounding while Deriving. It cannot be a Derive without either of these aspects as it overlaps a lot.