Month: February 2016

 

Coming back and looking at the work I have done was supper exciting, like I’ve just been to Disneyland.
This week we had to show how far we are with our projects and also discuss exhibition at Hull School of Art&Design.

I prepared slide show of the images and really wanted to share everything with other students and tutors, just to have an external opinion and see if this project can have the impact I would like to have.

This week I also gathered a list of research that I need to go through and document the outcomes in the blog.
So far the key sources are:

• Audrey Linkman “Photography and Death”
• The Photographers Gallery “Notes on Photography and Death: Mourning, Spectacle and Evidence.”
• Gillo Dorfles “Religious trapping” -essay
• Liz Wells “Photography, birth and death”  – chapter
• Liz Wells “Post-family, post – photography” +Joe Spence
• Frieze Magazine “Moments of Reprieve; Representing Loss in Contemporary Photography”
• TVnet and Latvian Funeral materials – reflections – cultural research and personal experiences

 

Final Degree Show/ Exhibition Planning

Major part of working on Final Major Project is to have a photographic material for an exhibition that will be allocated on the ground floor of Hull School of Art&Design.

This week we have started to discuss exhibition in detail, most of the group taking part.

We have created a list of important aspects that need to be taken into account, deadlines and made some decisions regards to the use of space, material and presentation.

I have started to draft everything into a file, work is still in the progress.

We have decided that we will use Ditto4Design as our primary printers for photographs, potentially postcards and business cards.

Another reason for celebration is that we have negotiated space between ourselves and so far we are quite happy with the space each person has.

We have also divided jobs for each member of our group, for example my job is to sort out hanging method, talk to people who can help with that [Steve] and get the materials, such as STICK-ALL glue.

As for prints we have decided to print on 3 mm foam board, have A0 size prints and have a hanging system that compliments our prints and the space. The method found suitable and doable is called split batten method and will allow the prints to float rather than be hanged or attached directly to the wall.

We have also decided that we will continue to use the brand we created last year and we will name the exhibition “Lasting Impressions 2”. The decision seems reasonable as we already have a social profile and branding.

The discussion of external exhibition is still ongoing, but it is more likely that there will only be a few people taking part. This would be part of Creative Future module rather than part of Photographic Practice, therefore the discussion and all materials regards to that will be going under the Creative Future section.

There is more information on Final Major Page
EXHIBITION PLANNING

 

 

The external exhibiting is just as important as internal exhibiting so this week not only that we looked at exhibition planning at the Hull School of Art&Design, but also considered and discussed external exhibiting.

We have had the discussion before as part of the Creative Futures module and we have been around few venues and wrote down potential places where to exhibit.
So far there are only three interested in taking part [including me], so the chances of having a similar size exhibition externally is small.

We have discussed this at Creative Future lectures and as a result there is a list of potential exhibiting spaces:

Heaven Independent Cafe
Union Mash Up
Fruit
Thieving Harry’s
POP Gallery
Red Gallery
ArtLink
Kingston Art Group
Princess Quay.

We have also had a little nosy around places like Fruit, Thieving Harry’s, Red Gallery and Kingston Art Group.

The list have been reduced after the visits, because Red Gallery is closing, Thieving Harry’s although very nice place to be in, not suitable for exhibiting, the same applies to Fruit. The Kingston Art Group seems like a desired option, because the space is designed for exhibiting, it is located in a good area and the overall feels attractive.

Unfortunately, there is a big chance that the space is already taken for the beginning of June, as it is popular amongst local artists and only members can get access to the space.
We are prepared to join the membership and put ourselves forward for the exhibiting, but it will depend on their availability.

I still believe that exhibiting outside college and Final Major Show would be a great opportunity to gain the knowledge of exhibiting externally, show more photographic work and have the experience of independent exhibiting as a preparation for life after studies.

FOUR DAYS and OUTRAGEOUS TASKS.

My visit to Latvia had a lot of expectation and I was keen to start my project.
First – I managed to see “Velis-A” funeral directories founder and director. Unfortunately it turned out to be just an interview, no photographs taken.
He also did not let me photograph or visit his own morgue, but promised to get in touch about a funeral going the next day.

After we left, I felt like I waisted an hour of my life. He also did not contact us later on about the funeral.

I decided to contact city’s Pathology Unit [morgue] and arranged a meeting.

As my goal was to photograph a funeral, but there was no chance of getting in to one officially, I looked into the local paper and tracked down a few.

I crashed a funeral of a teacher that used to teach in the same school I used to go to, so that was a reason good enough.

I left with few images, lessons learned and a bitter feeling, that there might be a lot of difficult aspects to overcome if I want to crash funerals.

I also had a walk around the graveyard, mostly focusing on trends of arranging and decorating graves and also the landscape and the feel of the graveyard.

There also was a good reason to visit my families graveyard, as it was my aunties birthday. My dad always encourage us to forget the lost ones, so I bought some flowers and later that day visited graveyard nr.2.

This experience was more personal, but not in a sad way. It was interesting to capture things that I grew up with and have the visuals in a photographic way, instead of having them in my mind.

I think the photographs are really captivating, moody and reveals some of the points I was trying to make.

On the last day in Latvia, bright and early, I had appointment to see Pathology Unit director and hopefully get into the morgue.

 

After an awkward start, I had a decent amount of mutual information, some advice and enlightenment that I need to be more prepared of what to say and how to introduce my project and ideas.

Luckily I recorded the interview, as my memory could fail me on providing the exact information.

Also I was invited in to the morgue and was more than welcome to photograph the rooms. There was a slight “no” to the dead bodies, but I managed to capture one image with a dead person in it.

The walk around the morgue was educating in many ways, also I had the same bitter feeling of de-sensitivity of what am I doing.

These four days have helped me a lot, as I have gone the difficult route and I have some photographs to take forward.

As I was planning to visit Latvia for a few days, I started thinking whether it is worth photographing some of my cultural/funeral experiences as a starting point.

My sister knew someone who’s relatives own a funeral directory and after a negotiation there was a good chance to get to speak with the director and founder of the “Velis-A” funeral directory.

That got me excited as there was a possibility to get some images for the project, even if they are just a research material.
Also another idea was to visit a local morgue.