Following from tutorials, I have decided to do a review on my project and connect my ideas so far.
My previous project surrounded the idea of combining family archive images with new work to create a ‘book’, documenting relationships in my life and developing a narrative.
Following on from this, I continued to look at the theme of relationships, as I consider this to be the most reliable theme in my work. My previous projects surrounded the themes of relationships with those around me, but never included myself. I felt this time around, I could create a project with fresh eyes and look inwards at myself and my life currently.
Towards the end of my previous project, I became more interested in the use of social media and the internet and how times have changed in comparison to the archived imagery I was working with. My ‘snapshot’ aesthetic was continued through the work using 35mm film and disposable cameras.
This time around, I threw my focus into digital editing and social media. I wanted to explore my relationship with myself alongside this and realise correlation between the ideas. Being a young girl growing up in the social media age, I have grown up following beauty standards and ideals for women in society, I wanted to see how this has become a part of me and considering my social media accounts, it became more prevalent.
I discussed the methods I had taken before ever allowing myself to post to instagram, the difficulties I had with a brief eating disorder and mental illness, the insecurities I have with my body and the challenges we face as women and people living with such pressure to be perfect by the media and wider population who are morphed into followers of these beliefs.
My most recent work details my body enhancing the things I had grown to despise, enhanced and digitally manipulated through photoshop for a greater meaning.
After my project review, I found that my work seemed to be off on a tangent, feeling lost in comparison to my previous projects, feeling loosely related but still connected. I want to bring them back together and correlate the meanings. When considering the previous project ‘Love Letters’, it makes me wonder how I might go about this.
My project can now become another love letter, but to myself, in some way. Perhaps detailing all those things I have been going through and creating a significant piece of work through doing so. In order to follow a similar procedure, I will need to:
- Write letters to myself, perhaps detailing the different things I want to discuss. (Insecurities, social media, mental health issues)
- Perhaps work with old images of myself, combining the old and the newer imagery for overall meaning.
- Consider images, what works well when paired and what work can be left behind as a trial?
- Consider a narrative for the work – it needs to be personal and clear. If it is a love letter to myself, does it need to be written so only I will understand or can it be subjective?
- Consider how the work will be presented. I don’t want the work to be too repetitive of the last project, so maybe a different style of outcome will work better.
My next step is to begin writing some ideas up, some letters and ideas of the narrative I want to put forward. I need to work out what images I am going to move forward with, perhaps the unedited versions of the work I already have so it is easier to connect to the newer style. I need to do some more artist research and also critical reading, consider how other artists have created work with similar issues or ideas as mine.
Emily Ryder 