IAP_A5 Reflection

A5 Reflection

Removing the figure

Research	Context and Critical Analysis	Development	Initial Submission

Tutor Feedback	Reflection	Rework	Final Submission

Overall Comments

Thanks for submitting this final assignment Stephen, which again consisted of postings on the blog created. This final assignment requires students to create a piece of work which is self-directed and draws upon what has been learnt and tested previously throughout the module.

The key issues I mentioned within my last feedback report were as follows:

Look at the work of Mishka Henner in specific relation to Less Americains.

Check the entire blog for typo’s and name corrections etc.

Elaborate further upon reading in relation to the contextual components of the assignment / exercise submissions.

The work of Mishka Henner has been looked at and is in a blog post.
The proof read is underway now
Working to elaborate further on the reading by reflecting in the blog postings

Just to reiterate, the allocation of marks for the assessment is based upon the following:

Demonstration of Technical / Visual Skills
Materials / techniques / observational skills /
visual awareness / design & compositional skill – 40%

Quality of Outcome
Content / application of knowledge / coherent presentation of work – 20%

Demonstration of Creativity
Imagination / experimentation / invention – 20%

Context
Reflection / research IE: Learning Logs – 20%

Noted.

Feedback on assignment

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity

The images presented work within the framework of ‘typology’ which was explored previously within the module. As a set of images, you mentioned within the text your intention was to try and establish some form of identity of the person who was being commemorated. I think this is a really interesting approach, but felt you only really scratched the surface here. As you highlight, apart from the obvious ie: large stone equals wealth, or details engraved offer a small insight, anything else the memorial might bring to mind is very much about assumptions being made on our part. I like this idea and would perhaps encourage you to invest more time creating a constructed / imaginative narrative in relation to these final resting places. This could be achieved in a really subtle way by perhaps using a key name or date engraved onto the stone itself.

I will elaborate further in the blog on this time as ever is a problem

Another way to tackle this might be to identify a couple of the larger, more elaborate grave stones, on the assumption these people might have been better known within a specific community, and therefore have more information readily available for research. Once you find more out about who they actually were and perhaps any narratives that have been written in relation to what happened during their lives, this could then be used as subject matter for further creative exploration in terms of making contemporary work in response to these narratives.

I have done this in the development section of the assignment

I think as a starting point, you have hit on a really interesting area to develop further in terms of constructed narrative or visual exploration.

I find with all assignments they are really just a starting point and we rarely have time within the context of the degree to push these themes as far as we could, if we did the degree might take the rest of our lives. This however is a valid point.

There is also scope for really thinking about how you visually present these memorial stones. You might consider the technical aspects of the imagery, such as using differential focus and depth of field to really highlight specific areas or texts within the stone. You could become very selective about the type of stone you look at or the condition of the grave itself. (Some are completely hidden and show a lack of maintenance, thus suggesting nobody visits them anymore.)

I have chosen to use a fairly shallow depth of field which brings the focus on the grave itself, I actually did the opposite to whet you sugest and tried to capture a wider spectrum of grave types to show a broader range of expressions of peoples identity, I found that the identity expressed was almost always the expression of the people left behind and their impressions of the person as the body in the grave had little to do with its design, I also noted that in some cases the identity was expressed by the wealth or lack of of the person who was left behind to pay. There was more expression of identity in the richer graves which leads me to believe that if this was used to study the identity of people from the past there would be an extreem bias towards the rich.

If typology is an important aspect of the submission, it probably should feature somewhere in the written component.

I agree I had sort of implied this in the work but will address it in the blog posts.

Coursework

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity

Progressing well as evidenced throughout the blog. More time needs to be spent addressing pointers made within previous assignment feedback. Additional supporting contextualization and proof reading etc.

Thank you, and yes I am spending more time addressing the pointers now the work has been handed to you for comment and feedback

Exercise 5.1 was interesting in terms of using objects in an attempt to describe an individual. Again though, I think this was a starting point really and could have been developed much further. There is an inherent limitation to simply photographing everyday objects … so there is a need to make these much more metaphoric and visually interesting, rather than simply literal and descriptive etc.

Interesting you picked this up. I totally agree, the pictures shown have some very powerful meaning and messages to me personally but would not enter your semiosphere as they are part of my life experience, interestingly they do resonate better with friend and family who know the individuals. I find this so fascinating that it is the topic I am going to use for the body of work the TV group are producing on Time for our 2019 exhibition at the Light-box Gallery in Woking, I am looking at describing myself in still life taking each of the many hobbies I have had during my life. This is one instance where I will actually have the time and a reason to push an exercise further than the module allows.

Research

Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis

Keep providing evidence of this throughout the blog, via the various posts made, demonstrating breadth of reading prior to submission for assessment.

Will do Keith

Learning Log

Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis

Complete postings on practitioners researched – also trying to develop reviews into more specific usage, rather than just descriptive contents.

Will do this is ongoing.

Pointers for the next assignment / assessment

Let me know once things are complete and ready for assessment submission and we can have a chat about how best to present the work.

Thanks Keith I will do, thank you for all your effort and encouragement over the module which has been one of the most difficult times of my life.

It is unfortunate that sometimes life bowls you lemons, I have really enjoyed this module and would love to have spent much longer and done much more of the things you suggested, I feel that I could learn a lot by doing a module like this again and having you excellent help in completing it. I am sad that my life problems cut so heavily into this module and the one before so that I ended up rushing a bit toward the end because of a ver final and imposing deadline. For those reading this that don’t know what I am talking about, I had reached the 4 year deadline in September 2016 for my level 1 studies and I borrowed a further year from level 2 as is allowed, with everything that went wrong over the last few years I ended up having to finish everything by 30 August or be removed from the degree programme and have to start again.

I rose to that challenge and di the work in the agreed timeframe and am happily enrolled on level 2, this has made me cut some corners in IAP that I would have like to taken differently, but time and time wait for no man and I must now move on, I hope that the work I have done is good enough to pass the level and that I can up my game significantly in level 2