Journeys

A journey is the passage or progress from one location to the next whether that be the monotonous every day journey to work or the decay of civilization or social view. In this modern day journeys are little thought about as we are always travelling from one place to another; even know you are being taken on a journey through the process and developments of my work.

However “too often we are so preoccupied with the destination, we forget the journey.” This quote from Alyse Jensen shows that sometimes people view the destination but forget the progress and within the context of this unit, I have a large quantity of photographic work which represents a certain journey and brings back nostalgic memories, even though from an outside perspective it may just appear to be a pretty picture

Phototshop Overlays

This collection of images were originally created as a response to a recent visit to Sheffield. The photographic observations taken around the city proved to be plain and uninspired. It was not until they were placed into Photoshop (elements 9) that they began to make sense as I took the idea of combining a series of photo’s which represent a journey and combine them together to become a journey in themselves. Through layering and adjusting the opacity of each layer, the images reflect the hustle and bustle of a diverse and complex modern city. Furthering this idea through the manipulation of contrast and colour balance only adds to the intensity of each image and its connection to the city experience. Using these initial responses as I spring board, I was able to experiment with the overlaying of images using photography from my recent holiday to Austria. Similarly to the Sheffield responses, the manipulation of these images create interesting contrasts between the objects within the scene furethemore aiding the nostalgic feeling of the images.

Sheffield

Austria

Sarah Hanson

Sarah Hanson is an illustrator who uses mixed media to create innovative pieces of work which represent her travels around the globe. Hanson’s work uses a mixture of built up surfaces, collage, printing and computer editing. These examples of her work clearly show how she uses such collaging skills to create interesting and abstract work. The combination of such media gives the work a messy and unfinished feel which could suggest something about the way she views the world and places in which she has travelled. I find her work incredibly intriguing and visually pleasing as the collection of media and bright colours create interest within the work as well as telling the story of that place.

In response to Hanson’s work, I printed a mixture of different images onto a layered background. In order to create these responses I:

1. Built up surfaces with brown paper, masking tape, paint and card.

2. Using a photocopier I scanned and printed onto a layered background using images of places I’ve been and maps of locations.

3. After repeating the printing aspect, the end result was a layered response of different images printed onto a layered background.

This although giving an interesting affects, I did not like the end result as I thought it looked dull, boring, the colours were not vibrant. However from these responses and through the steps in created the images, I learnt that printing images in this way did not give an interesting affect.

From the experiences of my first responses I completed pieces like the ones above in the same way but using Photoshop instead of the printer. Therefore this gave me much more control over the opacity of the layers and how the layering was organised.

This affect although interesting, vibrant and even managing to tell the story of the journey, I found appeared to be too computerised and fake, giving a negative feel to the work. So in my opinion I found both of these two approaches didn’t portray my journeys as exciting as they actually where.

From my experiences of the first approaches into creating Hanson responses, I combined the two approaches and simplified the amount of layers and pictures used in the image. The steps used in this piece are:

1. Build surfaces using papers, masking tape, maps and paint.

2. This surface is then scanned in.

3. Through Photoshop pictures are layered and the final image edited trying to keep the work simple but effective.

This process although similar to my second approach, attempts to successfully combine the skills acquired through completing both early responses. This work shows places visited whilst on certain journeys and memorable buildings or people viewed whilst in that place. The messy feel of some work contrasts with some of the more simplistic organized work referencing to the place it represents and the experiences whilst on that journey.

Ian Walton

Within school I had the opportunity to take part in a one day workshop delivered by the British artist Ian Walton. Similar to Sarah Hanson, Ian Walton is an artist interested in layering and surface. Ian’s work can be characterised by a very experimental approach to the use of a range of media and techniques. His work suggests decay and the erosion of memory through his use of materials, texture, image and object. The images below, although at first glance appear very abstract may hold particularly meanings. One theme which runs throughout allot his work, is the decay and erosion of nature shown below by his use of dead flowers and insects. This use of seemingly vile and disgusting materials is what helps create the contrast between what looks very beautiful but is actually constructed of dead bugs. This possibly captures the beauty which these insects once were.

These artworks were created in the workshop:

Like Sarah Hanson’s illustrations I have used mixed media to create these pieces of work. As well as the piece representing a past journey and the experiences associate with it, the process in which the work was produced holds particular relevance to journeys. Building on the knowledge from my experiments with Sarah Hanson responses, these pieces where fairly easy to produce and followed a similar approach to that of my Reponses to Hanson’s work.

Doug Aitkin

Doug Aitkin is a World renowned artist most well-known for his innovative art installation that utilises a variety of media and artistic approaches. Although much of work has some relation to journeys, the specific area of his work in which I am interested in is his combination of text of photographic work. This clever combination allows you to be read the text whilst your mind fills in the blanks of the picture creating a contrast between the image and text as well as engaging the viewer, as they seek to find the relationship between the word and the image. Below are some of my favourite examples of Aitkins work.

In response to Aitkins work I wanted to create an interesting piece of work which engaged the viewer through the combination of text and media. To create this response I undertook a series test samples developing my ideas of how I would go about creating this piece of work. So to do this I used my own photos and combined them with words related to journeys to create simple piece very similar to that of Aitkin however these looked slightly dull and uninteresting as there was nothing unique or special about them.

Developing this idea I attempted to use different sized letters placed in alternative places in order to create interest and to engage the viewer as they are challenged to form the word through a seemingly random combination of letters placed on the wall space. Although innovative and interesting I thought the image wasn’t clear through the letters so the impact of the work was lost. The image below clearly shows this. The position of letters although creative and would make affective use of the wall space, the image wasn’t clear. The viewer being able to understand the image within the letters is very important as is it is what creates the interesting contrast between the image and the word. These images below show this.

It wasn’t until I began to place half of the word other the other, like in the right picture above, that I started to realize which method was most successful at allowing the viewer to experience the picture as well as read the text. I also thought that this method looks the best as well. Although differing the heights of the letters may have added more interest to the piece, personally I preferred having all the letters on the same level. Through these developments as well as experiments with what word to use, I was able to come up with my final response.

The image above shows the final idea with my own photograph placed in the word ‘journeys’ and in my response, this will be relieved from the surface onto which it is mounted to grab the viewer’s attention because it stands out from the rest of the display

Wall Display

Below are some ideas for my wall display.

In my opinion I think that my wall display looks very good. The centre text piece looks great as well as the accompanying pieces. I chose to include some of my photographic responses as they are a strong area of my work and they hold particular memories in relation to Journeys. One of my photographic responses was taken 1500 metres above sea level and to get there, I got a tram to the top of the mountain and walked down. As well as being a good piece of photography, the journey behind the photograph and the memories which are related to it give the photograph particular meaning. This is why it has been included in my wall display. In my wall display I have also included some of my layerd responses. These were included in my display as they are a key area in this unit. They also look good and are journeys in their own right as a number of different experiences are all collaged into one image. In conclusion in my opinion I think the wall response is a very nice finish to this unit as the display as well undergoing a journey itself, allows viewers to experience and relate to some of my own personal journeys.