Critical reflective journal by Brenda Rosete by Brendah Morgendorffer

By Brenda Rose te

Critical Reflective Journal Brenda Rosete Master in Communication Design Photography 2014

Contents

Introduction

Research and Reflection / First Explorations Defining Place and Genius Loci History and Context

ZALT: A place between the real and my imagnation

The existance of the imaginary

Elizabeth Miller

Women in the Victorian Era .

Further Exploration A place in the space

VISUALISATION Early works / First and Second stages Sense Space

Self and Sapce

Representation of the woman

Construction of the Narrative

Abstraction

Final decisions / Third stage The diary idea

Symbology

Salt printing process

Connecting the ideas

The future of this Project

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

1. Introduction

“With cities, it is as with dreams: everything imaginable can be dreamed, but even the most unexpected dream is a rebus that conceals a desire or, its reverse, a fear. Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.” -Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities.

This project came out from the idea of discovering the Genius Loci of a place; after I caught myself eager to find out: how is the atmosphere of a place created; why do we perceive it differently; what is the story of each place; what have they witnessed? Many questions crossed my head when I visited any new place. But at the same time, I had a strange feeling that I had been to a place where I obviously had not been, this impression intrigued me the most, so I started researching about the similarities between different places and how these affect their identity. One of the roots of this feeling is originated by Globalization, which is a complex terminology, studied by many sociologists and theorists, but according to Gilles Lipovetsky (2010) and in relation to cultural identity, globalization has opened a wide range of cultural offerings that merge in order to create new expressions of urban life, which coexist between the traditional values and the new modernity. However, cultural identities are attached to local contexts, such as values, symbols, and language. Thus, they are connected to the concept of the global, which foremost describes the generalization and de-contextualization of symbols, but also the detachment of social actions from specific locations and specific periods of time (Hauser, R., 2006).

Oxford Dictionary. Genius Loci – The prevailing character or atmosphere of a place. In ‘Latin’ literally “the spirit of the place”. During the Enlightenment, the qualities of the ‘spirit’ of a place had developed a different aspect and began to mean the distinctive character or atmosphere of a place with reference to the impression that it made on the mind (or senses), which qualities were used to contextualize and remember it. 11

This curiosity led me to investigate places that are losing their identity, due to many social, cultural, political or consumerism issues. The photographer Martin Parr reflects on this subject with a documentary published on the book “MEXICO”, registering through his camera the effects of globalization but also of idiosyncrasy and national identity within the popular culture, influenced mainly by the strong currency of immigration and mass media stereotypes in Mexico. He reveals with very sarcastic photography the contradictions that distinguish the mixture of different identities in Mexican culture. There are some other examples of this displacement, for instance, in the United States of America there exists a particular homogenization of places, just like in Las Vegas, NV where dozens of landmarks are reproduced, including New York, Paris, Venice, Ancient Egypt, and Medieval Europe. To this extent I wonder what is missing from Las Vegas? And I think is its own history. Given these facts, rather to look for displaced places, I focused on finding places which might have vanished from attention. I wanted to focus my research on little towns that might not be as representative as the big cities and due to this they might be forgotten on the map. Under the statement above, I based my project on one town of the Scottish West Coast in North Ayrshire, Saltcoats. After visiting it many times when doing my field research and reading about its history, I felt a strong connection with it, when I discovered that the first female ship’s captain was born in this place. My aim was to find, on one hand, the Genius Loci of this place and its particularity. On the other hand, my ineffable feminist spirit fastened to the story of Elizabeth Miller, a pioneer on sailing a trading vessel “The Clytus” during the Victorian period.

Moreover, I developed this project through a series of one of the first photographic techniques which is Salt printing, with which I attempt to depict the essence of Saltcoats in relation to its history and the story of the first female Captain through a visual narrative. Along with Elizabeth Miller’s life, I built up a story portrayed with self-portraits, combining the existing facts with imaginary elements that helped me to fill in some gaps of the limited insights of her life. In order to uncover the place’s identity through this project, I produced as a result a coalition between Saltcoats, Elizabeth Miller’s life and my life. In theory, place identity can be defined as a component of self-identity (Proshansky et al., 1983) and “a process by which, through interaction with places, people describe themselves in terms of belonging to a specific place” (Hernandez et al., 2007). Although I was not born in Saltcoats, I would say that at some extent I belonged to it, by existing through Elizabeth Miller’s life. I appropriated a portion of this town to create a story, “the appropriation of space can be physical or symbolic, permanent or temporary, casual, contrived or borrowed”; in my case, I borrowed a fragment of history to create my own story, in order to retrieve and spread among the people the story of “The Maiden of the Sea”.

2. RESEARCH AND REFLECTION

2.1 First Explorations 2.1.1 Defining Place and Genius Loci

At the beginning of the journey about finding the Genius Loci of a place, I found myself lost among intricate paths of aphorisms and theories, obscured by the complex understanding of the space. I was really intimidated by it, like a nomad wandering around many places, trying to direct all my efforts on discovering the essence of each place. This disorientation led me into a more sensitive and mindful exploration. With an empirical approach I could find my own interpretation of place and so develop a story in order to depict the intangible quality of a place. In order to keep moving, I had to define “what is place?”. There are different conceptions, depending on the discipline. The study of space, from the humanistic point of view is

thus the study of a people’s spatial feelings and ideas in the stream of experience. The geographer Yi Fu-Tuan analyses different perspectives of “place” under a humanistic position: “place can be as small as the corner of a room or large as the earth itself”: the earth is our place in the universe, but a monument creates a place as well, or a plaza where the monument stands, or a house in a neighbourhood, even the fireplace inside the house could be a place. On the other hand, places are locations in which people create memories. It is obvious that most definitions of place are quite arbitrary. “All places are small worlds: the sense of a world, however, may be called forth by art as much as by the intangible net of human relations. Places may be public symbols or fields of care, but 19

the power of the symbols to create place depends ultimately on the human emotions that vibrate in a field of care” (Yi-Fu Tuan, 1977). Under this proposition, my notion of what place is started to take shape. I had a starting point for analysing a place even though the idea was still a little vague.

This tells us that each place has a unique address, that it is identifiable. But in western societies recent processes of globalization had been reducing the identity of a place to the point of losing its distinctiveness (Lewicka,1976).

There are social, political and cultural factors that determine or question the identity of a place; I would like to give During the first stage of the an example of this, with the programme, I became more photographic work of Andrea sensitive about a place, percei- Robbins and Max Becher, speciving it through all my senses fically a project that addresses rather than limiting my uncross-cultural influence, or, derstanding to just observation. as they have phrased it, “The I found different places and I transportation of place.” In worked out many attempts in documentary-style colour phoorder to engage with them. It tographs, Robbins and Becher was a random choice to pick a explore the outward manifesplace; I was basically exploring tations of how geographically and documenting every detail disparate communities and to depict the essence of any cultures impact one another place that caught my attention. through “overlapping eras of slavery, colonialism, holoTo be human is to live in a causts, immigration, tourism, world that is filled with sigand mass-communications, it nificant places (Hugh Prince denotes a ‘place out of place’, 1961). The philosopher Martin with its various causes and Heidegger declared, “’place’ consequences, and explores the places man in such a way that ways humans construct identiit reveals the external bonds of ty, and the way they impose it its existence and at the same on others. time the depths of his freedom and reality” (Relph quotes This project suggests a criHeidegger). Kevin Lynch (1960) tical reflection on cultural defines the identity of a place “transportation”. The work simply as that which provides that results from Robbins and its individuality or distinction Becher processes functions on from other places and serves as a number of aesthetic, conthe basis for its recognition as a ceptual, and ideological levels, separable entity. from cultural criticism to social 20

activism, which encourage the viewers to rethink their assumptions regarding what they are seeing.

As Philip Sheldrake regards in the book Spaces for the Scared, the concept of place refers not simply to geographical location but a dialectical relationship But before going into the hisbetween environment and torical and sociological study human narrative. From this of a place, I wanted to develop statement I have discovered a sensitive recognition of the that there is a strong relationsplace. My first experiments hip between people and place; consisted in registering the one forms with the other a physical and natural features bond of correlative identity and of the place and, in order to a distinctive particularity from gather more information, I reevery other place. Moreover, corded the sounds, wrote down eager to explore every detail, physical features, put attention and after visiting the same on the smell, the textures and places several times, I became the feeling of each place, so in more conscious about them, order to undertake the challen- and by looking at their histoge of depicting its essence I fo- rical context, cultural heritage cused as well on my emotions, and social community connotasensations and memories, as tions I decided on my place of the medium of interpretation of study, and it was Saltcoats. the place was myself, â&#x20AC;&#x153;my body remembers who I am and where I am located in the world, it is truly my navel, not in the sense of the viewing point of the central perspective, but as the very locus of reference, memory, imagination and integrationâ&#x20AC;? (Pallasma, 1996). Moreover, this analysis relied on a superficial phase in engaging with the place. It was necessary to go further, to explore its history and some other contextual aspects, in order to gather more information that could help me to embrace this place.

2.1.2 History and Context

The first time I visited Saltcoats, the dark blue ocean captivated me, it was like an open structure that surrounds the salty faĂ§ades of the buildings. The time goes by slowly while walking along the old streets. It felt warmer and warmer when crossing the main street that follows to the beach. A smell between fish and salty water embraced me and then I had a first impression on how small the town was. I went directly to the rocky beach for the first time, asking myself where I was. I felt as a complete stranger, but at the same time, the quietness and the calm of the atmosphere created a comfortable space between the known and the unknown. I was hidden in a place that I was about to discover. At the Museum of Heritage in Saltcoats, I could access

registers and documents about the history of the town. It is an ancient small-town sea-faring port. The townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name derives from its earliest industry when salt was harvested from the seawater, carried out in small cottages around the shore. The economic activity started to increase along with the life of the town, when the Harbour was constructed around 1800 for the convenience of shipments of coal, the produce of the mines in this neighbourhood. It possessed an extensive trade with both local and foreign shipping, and shipbuilding was carried on with great spirit. In doing the research I became particularly interested in the history of this town, on how it passed from being a very poor and isolated town to a great trading port. The trading history goes further, when I found out that the first female 23

ship’s captain was born in this town in 1792, during the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign. Elizabeth Miller was her name, and she achieved the distinction of being the only woman before or since entered as Captain of a merchant vessel in the Lloyd’s British Registry of Tonnage. Her ship was the “Clytus”, a coaling brig made from the wreck of a French warship. “Betsy”, as she was known, began her career of Captain after her father died, mastering the ship for 22 years. Therefore, I started to thread all the information about this little town on the North Ayrshire West Coast with some factual evidence of the existence of the Miller family as well. Besides underlining the importance of past history, a place can increase its value and strengthen its identity by residents of the area and outsiders’ perceptions in order to be memorable, so one must encourage the creation of memories as a part of our personal history. There exists a fundamental relationship between people and place that shapes a community’s identity.

I must say the genius loci of a place could be a fiction, a greatly diverse fiction each time, created by different people experiencing the place. One cannot stand in a blank place, there is always a reminiscence of something, a memory, a story or any kind of recollections that we keep in our minds, that will somehow be reflected in the way we understand a place. According to this, I set out on a journey through Saltcoats, trying to evoke its essence through my own memories and perceptions of the first female ship’s captain’s life.

2.2 Further Exploration. 2.2.1 A place in the space

I based the first encounters with Saltcoats mainly on experiencing throughout my senses and emotions its capacity of place as I mentioned before. On every visit I obtained something different from the town; a distinct experience, many talks with different people, many other emotions radiated from me. The more I get to knew the place the more I imagined and fantasised about it, which means that on every encounter, I came back home with a different Saltcoats in my head. I thought that places had the capacity to change every time, just as in the book of Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, where he describes his impressions, desires and dreams of Venice with the invention of many other cities, never mentioning that all those places were just one, leaving the enchantment to the reader.

According to Michel Foucault’s article “Of other spaces”, there are many types of places, but among all those places he proposes two main types. First there are the utopias which are sights with no real place. They have a general relation of direct or inverted analogy with the real space. They show space in a perfected form. And on the opposite side there are heteropias—places that do exist and that are formed in the very founding of society— which are simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted. These places are outside of all places.

“I believe that between utopias and these quite other sites, these heterotopias, there might be a sort of mixed, joint experience, which would be the mirror. The mirror is, after all, a utopia, since it is a placeless place. In the mirror, I see myself there where I am not, in an unreal, virtual space that opens up behind the surface; I am over there, there where I am not, a sort of shadow that gives my own visibility to myself, that enables me to see myself there where I am absent: such is the utopia of the mirror.” (Of other spaces: Utopias and Heteropias, 1984)

The above statement made me think about the possibility of redefining my own conception of Saltcoats and its relationship with Captain Elizabeth Miller. In other words, I wanted to create an alternative world to represent Saltcoats throughout my life experience. History afterwards is re-interpreted by story telling during the years, myths and anecdotes contribute to this construction as well: “all human experience is narrative in the way we imaginatively reconstruct it. If place lends structure, context and vividness to narratives, it is stories, whether fictional or biographical, which gave shape to place” (Sheldrake, 2001).

2.2.2 ZALT: A place between the real and my imagination.

I came up with the name ZALT, by playing with the words EliZabeth and Saltcoats; by mixing both the result was “Zalt”. I found this made-up word accurate for the name of my project. But at some point it was running short for the whole complexity of the work, this word could focus all the attention on the salt trading, or on the Saltprints, and I meant to maintain it with a balance with Elizabeth Miller’s life, and my own configuration of it. Despite this, I call my own progression “a process of Zalt”, where nonetheless salt has a special connotation with the meaning of my project, as well to its relationship to my place of study.

2.2.3 The existence of the imaginary.

I directed this project through the concept that Foucault introduced about Heterotopias. The idea of an otherness implied the possibility of creating a simultaneous place, parallel to the one that already exists, created with its own essence. In some of my first experiments, as a means of exploration, I included in my photography exercises the use of a mirror to allude to the theory, trying to evoke by its significance the observation of a parallel place, a “place in between” the physical place and the observer, which means that by the use of this artefact I could settle the practice into a more conceptually imaginative approach. In The imaginary (L’imaginaire, 1940), Jean Paul Sartre offers a phenomenological account of the imaginative experience. 28

He proposes from this theory that the image is an act, not a thing, it is created by the spontaneity of consciousness, which in Sartre’s theory means that images are generally characterized as spontaneous in nature, unlike that of perception which is passive. Moving from perception to imagination we must not confuse these two claims. There are two important points Sartre stresses in his book. First, while some believe imagining to be like an internal perception, Sartre argues that imagination is nothing like perception. Perception is our study over time of a particular object with our senses. It is necessarily incomplete; one can only see one side of a chair at a time, for example. Thus, perception involves observation. By contrast, imagination is total.

In the chair that appears in our imagination, we have all the sides of the chair given to us at once. However, Sartre points out that imaginary objects cannot teach us anything. The totality of the chair that appears in our imagination comes from a synthesis of our knowledge of the chair and our intention toward it. We expect the chair to be X or Y, therefore, in our imagination, it appears to us this way. Thus, Sartre calls what goes on when we picture something imaginary, “quasiobservation.” Imaginary objects are a “mélange” of past impressions and recent knowledge” (The Imaginary, 90). In short, imaginary objects are what we intend them to be. Because imaginary objects appear to us in a way which is like perception but is not perception, we have a tendency to treat them as if they were real. That is not to say we are deluded; we know that they are imaginary. But we tend to ascribe emotions, traits, and beliefs to these surreal objects as if they were real. Secondly, throughout the book Sartre offers arguments against conceiving images as something inside a spatial consciousness. Sartre refers to this idea as the “illusion of immanence” (The Imaginary: A Phenomenological Psychology of the Imagination).

Moreover, this theory of the Imaginary could make a definition of “objects” (such as places, people, actions) ambiguous and enables the imaginary to connect spatially and temporally but a retroactive manipulation or connection can be possible. Thus, according to Sartre’s theory, the imaginary always works in close co-operation with reality. In fact, the two are indivisible. Moving from the psychological analysis of the Imaginary, we find in literature, such as fictional narratives, the relationship between the real and the imaginary, so according to Umberto Eco: “The possible world of narrative is the only universe in which we can be absolutely certain about something, and it gives us a very strong sense of truth.” Relating to the motivational relationship that Sartre states, Eco sees as well that in the imaginary a counterintuitive assurance of reality exists (Umberto Eco, 2013): “It is the situation in the world, grasped as a concrete and individual reality of consciousness, that is the motivation for the constitution of any unreal object whatever, and the nature of that unreal object is circumscribed by this motivation.”

The experience of art is a special case of these experiences, which have as their starting point of motivation some real existence outside us. I based part of my work on Calvino’s novel “Invisible cities”; in one of the talks between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, Polo says to Khan: “Every time I describe a city I am saying something about Venice” (Calvino, 1972). The capacity of Calvino to invent many other imaginary cities coming out from an existing one motivated the creation of Zalt.

I took this project as an example of the different perceptions and desires from a community about the place where they live. This yearning creates a bond between the community and the place, as well as the appropriation of the place. As Holloway and Hubbard (2001, p. 7) suggest: ‘as people construct places, places construct people’, which means that people are related to places, and places are related to people in an emotional bond (Groat, 1995), with a subjective and emotional attachment (Cresswell, 2004).

I was looking for a way to relate this to a Saltcoats context, and in one of my visits to the town, I found a community project developed at Irvine bay, Scotland, where Saltcoats is situated.

Moreover, the relationship between people and place can be seen as the experiential construction of space, originating from the everyday use of places; including social and cultural usages. Attachment and identity are arguably among the most important outcomes of this experiential construction of space (Hernández-García 2012).

The Irvine Bay Regeneration Company worked with the local community and local schools to engage people in thinking about their memories, hopes and aspirations for the coast. During the summer of 2008 local people were encouraged to share their thoughts and desires for the future of the town by leaving a ‘message in a bottle’. The project, called “Our talking wall”, uses a number of the quotes that were gathered, inscribed on to granite plaques and attached to the sea wall along the promenade at Saltcoats. 30

3. Elizabeth Miller

This is an in-between chapter where I will state my research about the life of Elizabeth Miller. It is worth mentioning that after researching the place the link between me and Saltcoats was the amazing discovery of her life, and it is where I found the bond to develop my project. Part of the constitution of Saltcoats is the fact that the first female captain was born there in 1792. I personally consider this event crucial for the narrative of my work. It determined the impact that it could have had in this town as the means of its identity, as well as my own identification with this woman.

3.1 Women in the Victorian Era

During the reign of Queen Victoria in the United Kingdom, women were seen in the middle classes at least, as belonging to the domestic sphere. Women’s rights were extremely limited at this time. If women had a job outside of household activities, their wages and all the money generated during their marriage belonged to the husband, as well their physical properties excluding land property. Victorian society was not the most suitable for women’s rights: as I mentioned before, they had disadvantages both financial and sexual, enduring inequalities within their marriages and social statuses. As education for girls spread literacy to the working classes during the mid- and late Victorian era, some ambitious young women were able to find salaried jobs in new fields, such as salesgirls, cashiers, typists and secretaries (Mary Wollstonecraft, 1792). Despite these facts, during this time Elizabeth Miller accomplished something almost unreachable, being the Captain of her own ship “The Clytus”. Life at sea was also not as easy for women; they were not allowed to enter a ship, and less to work in one. Among sailors there 32

was a long tradition of superstition, some say this is because women were considered bad luck and that having a woman on board a ship when it was sailing could anger the sea gods, bringing on horrible weather and rough water. Working on a ship was allowed just for men and boys, the only way women could work on a vessel was if they were disguised as men, or if they were the daughter of the Captain. According to written records of historians and local stories, Betsy was the eldest daughter of the Captain William Miller and his wife Mary. As a young child, Betsy accompanied her father on his journeys, that is how she gained a lot of knowledge about ships. When Betsy reached adulthood she worked for her father in charge of the finances of the company, while her brother Hugh was groomed to take over the company and run the ship trading cargoes of salt and coal. When her father passed away and her brother Hugh accidentally drowned at nearby Ardrossan, “When she first got her capable hands on the wheel of “The Clytus”, the Miller

family had a big debt;” this is the reason why Betsy decided to take charge of the ship and run the family business herself at the age of 46 years old and for over 20 years she mastered the brig, sometimes with the help of her sister Hannah, sailing to different ports in Ireland, Australia and America, and by the day of her retirement she was the wealthiest woman in Saltcoats. Betsy was one woman of a kind. Comparing her life to the usual role of women in society, it was incredible to discover how far along she was from it. Referring to the history of Women’s rights along the way, in 1792 when Elizabeth Miller was born, the book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy, written by the British feminist

Mary Wollstonecraft, was first published. Then by 1838, just one year after the start of the Victorian Era, Elizabeth Miller took command of the trading ship “The Clytus,” carrying out a job that was only destined for men. Six years after her death in 1864, the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that allowed women to be the legal owners of the money they earned and to inherit property, was passed. In brief, Elizabeth Miller marked a point in history, while this event has not been sufficiently known among historians, it is quite important to highlight in order to inspire a better future for women in any social sphere.

4. VISUALISATION Early works (First & Second stages)

FIRST STAGE

4.1 SENSE SPACE In this first stage it was important for the progress of my project to achieve a effective visual language to depict the essence of a place. By documenting the physical features of it and analyzing it under my own perceptions and emotions, I developed different images in order to illustrate their particularity. We live in a fast and globalised world where everything is available as fast as the click of a button, technology can provide us with many commodities, but what about experiencing the places ourselves? Our body is the medium to explore this world, our senses and our memory. Vision may be deemed to be our primary sense so the theory that we inhabit an ocular-centric world (Pallasma, 1996) but vision is intrinsically connected to our other senses.

I was motivated by the Project “I hate perfume” by the perfumer Christopher Brosius, who at the same time was inspired by a phrase on the film Le Testament d’Orphée, by Jean Cocteau: -Where we are, there is no ‘here.’He thought, “wouldn’t it be clever to create a perfume that only certain people can smell? Invisible perfume”. He imagined two people meeting for the first time. Both of them would light up in euphoria at the smell of each other, and they would not know why. This at the same time reminded me of the novel Perfume by Patrick Süskind, in which the smell genius, Grenouille, became a murderer by his obsession in getting the most perfect and pure scent, taken out from the bodies of young women. 39

Fig. 1

Moreover, one of my aims was to become more receptive of the different qualities and atmospheres that every space contains. During the stage two, I took the elective class of Sense Space. One of the tasks that I developed was to tell a story through the sense of smell. Therefore I depicted a memory. Recent studies of neuroscience had proved that the olfactory sense has more power than any other sense to help us recall distant memories. Regarding the previous assertion, I illustrated some smell-memories of the first time I had been in love. The story goes through a series of visual â&#x20AC;&#x153;encapsulated and labelledâ&#x20AC;? odours, each one portraying a specific time, moment and memory (Fig. 1).

So as for my final work I incorporated a sensitive process for the elaboration of the images, through the Salt printing technique in which I will extend my information further in this CRJ. It is important to mention that is not easy to have the wholeness of a place by putting all your senses into it, but it is worth trying the experience, it changes completely the way you appreciate place and so as to be more aware of the influence of our senses for the cognition of the world.

My initial methodology was to chose a place and visit it regularly, spend some hours contemplating it, letting it fill me up with its surrounding. I recorded some sounds, wrote down my emotions while standing in that place, then I would respond to all those stimuli by creating an image that could incorporate all the elements. Although I was not entirely sure what visual language I would use to communicate my perceptions about the places I chose for analysis, but these works persuaded me to develop different exercises, so I started to practise more in developing an abstract thinking in terms of the visualization of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;intangibleâ&#x20AC;?.

REFERENCES

Fig. 2 “Dandelion Flowers Pinned with Thorns” (1985) Cumbria. Fig.

3 “Early morning calm“ (1988) Derwent Water, Cumbria. Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Referring to one conceptual reference that inspired me at this first stage were the sculpted installations of the visual artist Andy Goldworthy. In terms of linking one’s self to the nature by developing tasks where the body has a complete inclusion in the environment, as he states: “When I began working outside, I had to establish instincts and feelings for Nature: some I never had, while others I had not used since childhood, in such wise one can become more aware of how nature is in a state of change and how the change is the key to

understanding. ” This way of work helped me to develop a more sensitive reflection on the place. I tried some attempts at working with the elements found in the natural environment and arranging them all together to work out my own idea; at the end of the project the result seemed so vague and looked more like a tribute to Goldworthy’s work (1985), nonetheless the experiment helped me to draw my actions out on the environment and be more receptive to them.

Fig. 4

“The last step”(1998) Bremerhaven, Germany.

Taking up again the Genius Loci concept in relation to art practices, I came across the public project of Ilya Kabakov named “The last step” (fig.4), this was an installation developed at the monument to represent the emigrants from Europe to America, representing the moment in which “the emigrant is leaving his homeland forever.” The installation consisted in placing a large brick cube made of the same quality as those used in the original building 150 years ago, built not far from the actualdoor the emigrants would exit through to the ship. The abstract yet compelling nature of this installation was determinant for the understanding of the essence of a particular place or building, it made me realise that the meaning of the genius loci has a stronger 44

connection if it is directly connected to the history and the context. I was looking to generate a simplification of what the spirit of a particular place could be, and by simplification I do not mean to reduce its importance, but to make it even more powerful, by simplification I do not mean to reduce its importance, but to make it even more powerful, just by the addition of subtle details that could mean much more; in this particular case, it happened by adding a small element such as a step that has inherited all the power of a historical social event.

Another important reckoning was the analysis of the concept of Heterotopias related to the work of Noemié Goudal (2009, 2012), where she attains the juxtaposition of two different places. By breaking out the components of the work, I could notice the importance of the “unreal” place where the viewer resides. Between the physical place (the abandoned one) and the place shown on the large prints, there is the imagined place, this place in between, where the artist or the viewer finds an escape, an illusion. This place is the one that interested me, the place that I did not see, but I could easily imagine. Here is where I decided to situate my project, in this unknown land that comes from the observation of a physical place and a personal understanding that comes from its contemplation.

Fig. 5

“Promenade”(2010)

Fig. 6

“Reservoir”(2012)

REFLECTION OF MY WORK

Fig. 7

Therefore, I started to achieve a more abstract thinking in terms of developing the visualization of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;invisibleâ&#x20AC;? by illustrating with a (physical) shape the feeling created when I was in contact with the place itself, forming a personal link to each space. This approach was at a very primal layer of meaning, I was working on developing a visual narrative, but I was having trouble in adding the correct elements onto the images.

I tried to develop this intangibility with a defined geometrical shape and a specific colour portraying thus my personal impressions, considering as well the natural features, such as weather or smell and different textures of the place.

Fig. 8

In this other experiment, I applied a different strategy, by taking pictures of different railway stations: my aim was to get their particular essence, the essence that â&#x20AC;&#x153;transitory placesâ&#x20AC;? could have, and how they are interpreted by each person. This was a personal experiment: what do these places mean to me? I wrote some impressions about all the

different railway stations, they had all the same features, slightly different from each other, but it was a very automated modus operandi* and in some cases showed an overwhelming solitude.

Fig. 9

This image conveys, at a very conceptual level, the idea of a configuration of multiple activities developed at the same time; it shows the rush but at the same time the isolation, and the waiting.

This trial was successful on terms of broadly understanding my theme, and the breaking down of the different layers of meaning that the images could contain.

SECOND STAGE

4.2 SELF & SPACE

In order to focus my project I had to limit my place of study to one, which was Saltcoats, Scotland. I wanted to develop my research in a small town, a little apart from the big cities with large populations. I believe that every place, no matter how small or big it is, has incredible stories. During those days I was reading Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (1972). I was totally absorbed by the possibility of creating different places out of a single one just by the use of the imagination. The capacity of the human is to create “invisible worlds” that makes you question their existence, and where we stand as human beings. Related to this I found a project developed on Irvine Bay in 2010, where Saltcoats is situated named “The talking wall”. It consisted in a workshop carried on with students from 3 different schools where they were encouraged to think about the future they wanted for their towns – how they want to feel, what they want to see and what they might hear in the towns; after that a number of the quotes were gathered, inscribed on to granite plaques and attached to the sea wall along the promenade at Saltcoats. This made me realize that the significance of one

place has as many connotations as people in this world. Every place is formed by desires and by ideals. Places could be different every time, just as Italo Calvino states: “Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.” This Project developed on Saltcoats was a key point to give a deeper thought to the point of my Project. I needed to engage personally with the place, so as to have my own aspirations for it, and my own control of memories. So I decided to tell with my own perceptions the story of the first female ship’s captain, while living my own experience of Saltcoats. I decided to start by giving direction to the previous experiments, and tried out different techniques of approaching them. One of them was to “perform” in the place, as a way of communication. I photographed myself responding to different stimuli, in a more narrative way, influenced by the place as I was telling the story of Elizabeth Miller. 49

REFERENCES

4.2.1 REPRESENTATION OF THE WOMAN

Fig. 10

‘Untitled #13 (1978)

According to self-portraits and women’s representation, the “Untitled Film Stills” photographic series by Cindy Sherman (1977-1980) influenced my reflection about the role of women in society, and how she represented it through a series of self portraits, “acting” different situations through the portrayal of the fictional femininity that took hold in post-war America. 50

Fig. 11

‘Untitled #2 (1977)

Although most of the characters are invented, it is easy to sense right away that we already know them. That twinge of instant recognition is what makes the series tick and what interests me, as she depicts these mysterious characters, and the construction of their “fictional” environment for the storytelling.

‘Space 2, Providence (1976) Fig. 12

Another female photographer worth mentioning during my process of work is Francesca Woodman; part of my methodology of work refers to her photography, in terms of the exploration of self within the place. In Woodman’s “House” series (1975-1979) the artist is seen transfiguring herself and vanishing into the environment. She becomes part of the house, making herself a structural element in the space. Fig. 13

House #3, Providence (1976)

REFLECTION OF MY WORK

I developed a series of images, in which my exploring was based on performing around the place, I shot these photographs in Saltcoats and at my flat in Glasgow; the intention of this was to achieve a visual narrative on how was I perceiving those different places (outdoors and indoors). In these images I analysed the use of color to reflect an emotion, I also incorporated the use of lines and scratches, in order to address another layer of meaning to the image, such as a non-existing element that interacts with the

Fig. 14

whole image, giving it more action, like in the next series of photographs, in which I add a tri-dimensional element by drilling the paper where the image was printed and sewing onto it a piece of thread alluding to the existence of a third place, a place that interacts directly with the viewer. Fig. 15

Fig. 16

Fig. 17

Fig. 18

Fig. 19

With this series of images I wanted to interact with the viewer, to suggest a question of what place is, â&#x20AC;&#x153;in the image as Sartre says, the object yields itself wholly, and our vision of it is certain â&#x20AC;&#x201C; contrary to the text or to other perceptions which give me the object in a vague, arguable manner, and therefore incite me to be suspicious as to what I think I am seeingâ&#x20AC;? (Barthes, 1993). 54

On one hand, the photograph itself possesses the place once photographed, which is what the viewer sees and which remains in the past; on the other hand, the element that can be touched by the viewer (the sown thread) refers to a present physical element that involves the viewer in the photograph taken.

Fig. 20

In the last image of this series, I presented a more certain approach of what I intended to develop in my narrative. I attained the connection of many elements harmoniously, in other words, the appreciation of Elizabeth Miller and of Saltcoats could merge so provoking a reaction in the viewer, as well as the addition of the physical element (salt grains) which enhances the composition of the image, engaging again the place and its history. This image was also a matter of discussion in the group as well as with my tutors;

I was showing on it the human female figure that alluded to Elizabeth Miller, but keeping the mystery of who she is, by covering my (her) face with a subtle detail, that seems like mixing with the sky.

REFERENCES

4.2.2 CONSTRUCTION OF THE NARRATIVE

Untitled (2008)

As suggested by one of my tutors, â&#x20AC;&#x153;SEEKâ&#x20AC;?, a visual novel by Nina Gorfer and Sarah Cooper (2008), was a key element in order to understand what a visual novel is and for creating a conceptual narrative. What I was doing in my project was telling a story, based on real facts but where I had freedom to fill the missing gaps on the story, by

Fig. 21

incorporating elements that helped me to conceive the whole narrative about this amazing character who was Elizabeth Miller, as well as to create a body of work that pulls the storyline together.

Fig. 22

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Afronautsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (2013)

There are many different ways of presenting a visual narrative based on a true-life story, the documentary photographer Cristina de Middel gathers a series of images that recalls the forgotten space programme in Zambia (Afronauts, 2013); constructed with a fictional documentary these photos show with irony this ambitious project proposed in 1964 by a school teacher, but unsurprisingly, the

programme, which was never taken seriously by the government of the newly independent Zambia, failed to take off. So then, the construction of the allusion of the space base in Zambia, was really careful. In terms of composition, by focusing on simple details, the photographer gives the viewer elusive hints about the topic, and allows for any kind of interpretation.

REFLECTION OF MY WORK

Fig. 23

In this series of photographs, I pulled together different elements, such as the place, the character and the story connecting at different points. more consistency in terms of narrative.

Fig. 24

Fig. 25

By adding objects to the construction of the image, like a veil covering the face, I was giving another level of information, which could relate to the sails on the vessels and their relationship to sailing. And why not, it was a symbol related with the fact that she never got married, she was somehow â&#x20AC;&#x153;married to the shipâ&#x20AC;?.

I meant to show her in an isolated environment, to depict how lonely she could felt by sailing for many days. Taking the pictures ashore was still a little bit confusing, but the idea of transporting her (me) into the place where she was living gives the project a stronger association.

Fig. 26

4.2.3 ABSTRACTION

Fig. 26

I started to complement this series with more abstract elements that suggested the idea of her life on the sea. This choice of images produces a body of work divided into three elements: water; the ground; and the sky – the main elements she was most in contact with during her sailing journeys. Basing this project as well on the use of opposites, such as the sky and the ground, and the materials that she was trading on the vessel: coal and salt. As well as the dichotomy of her life, being a woman in a “man’s world”. Therefore the water shows a middle point where she resides, alluding to this element to her point of balance.

5. FINAL DECISIONS (Third stage)

THIRD STAGE

5.1 THE DIARY IDEA As to being more absorbed by the character of Elizabeth Miller, I undertook a task where I was writing a diary (Fig. 32) as if she was writing the diary, “the construction of a character uses the illusion of facts to enhance the narrative, just as fiction writers that use what is around them – a gesture, a fragment of speech, a quirk of personality – as the raw materials for story” (Michael Hinken, 2006). Back in the eighteenth century, many sailors used to recall their life by having a diary. It was a way to communicate and register events, in a personal and intimate way, so I decided to enhance the narrative with the use a fictional diary, which was really helpful in order to allow the story to flow.

As suggested by my tutors, the diary could be incorporated into the images in order to leave small hints about her life, without overwhelming myself in thinking about the construction of the diary as an object, though that was not the focus of my project.

REFERENCES

TRYING DIFFERENT VISUAL LANGUAGE

BD 1 16 Parts Fig. 27

Fig. 28

BD 1.14

In terms of composing the images, I interleaved them with my own annotations, in slightly suggesting visually this diary idea, part of this sketching was strongly inspired by the artistic work of Tacita Dean (1991-2006) who, by the series of different drawings on a blackboard, and the chalk, I linked her work to my production, in

The roaring forties. Fig. 29

Fig. 30

BD 4.5

one hand for contrasting use of tones, which is in my case was salt and coal (white and black), representing with this two opposite tones, the contrasts of her life and as a woman. In the other hand, by the use of annotations, the artist reveals certain details of the work, as well about herself. 65

5.2 SYMBOLOGY

The use of symbolism was important for the narrative and visualization of the story as many of the elements that I was suggesting were fictional, I did not want to be that obvious in order to make a clear construction of the story. Symbolists believe that art should represent absolute truths that could only be described indirectly.

Anyhow, eager to find an accurate way to portray how life for a ship’s captain during the eighteenth century was, and to represent as well the struggles of women during the Victorian era, or to depict the femininity of Elizabeth Miller against the rude life on a ship, I selected one of the main activities that women during that time used to develop most commonly in a It is worth mentioning that middle class sphere, which was while I was working on the na- knitting. rrative, my side book was ‘Diary So going back on my first of a Genius’ by Salvador Dalí. I attempts at interleaving the had always been inspired by su- images with thread I suggested rrealism as it uses the element interposing knitting patterns of surprise. Surrealism also pre- on the photographs, superimsents an altered reality, where posing the regular activities of the artist creates a world full a woman during the eighteenth of psychological connotations, century, represented as the that are inevitably interpreted knitting shapes, in contrast in so many different ways, but with what Elizabeth Miller was at the same time, by the use of doing. (Fig.33) symbols the language becomes more suggestive and evocative. In the opinion of my tutors, Inspired by the work of Deirdre this idea could lead the project Nelson ‘Contemporary Souveinto a different direction that nir’ (Fig.31) a project that was could settle the basis for a dideveloped for celebrating local fferent approach to the project. history and both contemporary As well as due to time issues, I and traditional skills, telling needed to re-focus on my main the stories of lace makers, knit- project. ters, ships, emigration, and the sea of Ireland. I came out with one idea, which at that moment seemed a little bit distant from the narrative I was developing.

Contemporary souvenir.

Fig. 31

REFLECTION OF MY WORK

Fig. 32

6. SALT PRINTING PROCESS

As suggested in one of the group presentations, a good way to explore my theme was through the inclusion of alternative processes of photography. I found this idea really useful in terms of the reliability of my work. Being in direct contact with the production of the image gives it a different sense and meaning. Besides being one of the first photographic techniques ever used, created by William Henry Fox Talbot during the eighteenth century, and resembling a past époque; as I describe in chapter 2.1.2 of this journal, the production of salt was one of the main activities of Saltcoats, it was as well one of the materials that Elizabeth Miller used to transport for trading on “The Clythus.” So from this past the salt became an important element for the constitution of this work.

FIRST TRIALS

Fig. 33

Fig. 34

While doing the process of the image-making I felt that I mingled completely with my work, I could understand the balance of putting together all the story, and I was creating with my hands the whole body of work. Although at the beginning of the project one of the ideas that were a trigger to develop this project was the unyielding globalization processes that to some extent are diminishing the identity of a place. By making this work almost artisanal, I support my first statement â&#x20AC;&#x201C; by recovering a less industrial and overwhelming industry of photography, which directly relates to the roots of this little town in the West Coast in North Ayrshire Scotland.

7. CONNECTING THE IDEAS

Fig. 35

Fig. 36

The selection of the final images, was the result of a trial - error basis. The final visual language sugests, in a subtle manner, the idea of Elizabeth Miller, as a woman and as a shipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Captain. Strong and fragile, feminine and masculine. The rusty edges and the scratches, are the result of

processing the paper and the acetates in some cases are created manually, evoking the pass of the time. I wanted as well, to leave some traces of her hourney on the seas, that is why I decided to use many seaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s patterns, as well as maps, and routes.

8. THE FUTURE OF THIS PROJECT

As for the further plans of this project, I have the ambition of extending it into the exploration of different places through the life of different female pioneers in diverse fields, in order to engage the communities in the understanding of the place where they live, enhancing like this the identity of the places through the reinterpretation of their cultural and historical contexts. My first intention for this artistic project is to display it at the Heritage Museum in Saltcoats, where at some point it has been showing its roots. My goal is to increase awareness among the people, about the importance of the regeneration of their cultural and historical values, and how this could impact on the development of the town. Secondly, after the conclusion of this project I would like to lay the ground for a scheme on a larger scale, where through the storytelling and re-interpretation of places that to some extent resists any kind of backwardness caused by the processes of globalisation. It is worth mentioning that the flexibility to apply this project in different countries is important for the growth and progress of it. As for my concerns, I would like to set forth on a research project in my home country, Mexico, where one of our principal attachments to our place is through the storytelling and the legends over the years. These cultural values had been prevalent in our context; nevertheless the infiltration of different philosophies caused by immigration, for example, is causing in some parts of the country the loss of identity.

9. CONCLUSIONS

I would like to compare the process of this project as a sailor’s journey on the sea. Sometimes the times were as rough as tempests and some others as pleasant as a calm sea. The route that I took in order to accomplish this quest was intricate and sometimes I felt like I was getting lost, but proudly I can say that my “inner compass” and the “stars in the sky” were the perfect guides to reach port. In the meantime, by dedicating myself, physically, mentally and emotionally to this project I can say that during its process of constitution and evolution I have gained a memorable experience. First of all, by working with several classmates and professors I have gained a different understanding of photography and how the visual communication can increase the social relationships among different contexts and cultures. Secondly, on achieving a methodology of work, that in the art field can be altered depending on different factors, but one constant and irrepressible element is the passion for carrying out your dreams and projects. I also reached a personal understanding of my work as an artist and, additionally, a critical reflection on my previous and current practice. Moreover, I could find a balance between the research and practice in planning a project within contemporary contexts with visual communication processes. And finally, in relation to this project, I would say I have concluded part of it, I believe it has laid the foundation of for a more ambitious and broader project, with an awareness of the conceptual and practical knowledge within the field of contemporary design.

10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my ver y great appreciation to my tuto rs Andy Stark and Daniele Sambo, who were my constant guides on this pro ject, for their constant encouragement and positiv e criticism that improved my confidence, dedication and reflection for my future pro jects. I would also like to thank Bria n Cairns and Emlyn for their support and enthusiasm, as well as the different profess ors that shared their knowle dge and commitment within the art and design fiel ds. I am thankful to all the staf f and technicians at the pho tography and communication design department for supporting me throughout the year, and for sharing their experience and advice any time when I needed it. I also thank my classmates that shared with me their frie ndship and support and that made this study a remark able experience. I extend my kindest gratitude to my family, who had been my sup port since the very beginning . I thank Aidan Wightman for checking my English. I thank my parents and my brother, for always being the re for me, and for their unbreakable spirit, for showin g me that distance is irreleva nt when love and care is part of our life. And last but not least I wan t to thank Pablo, for ignitin g every day we spend together and for sharing his pas sion and ambition for life.

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GOUDALNOEMIE (n.d) Photographs: Resevoir from the project Heaven her body was and Promenade from the project Les Amants [online image] Available from: http:// www.noemiegoudal.com/ [accessed: 11/15/2013] KABAKOV, I. (2001) The last step [scanned image] In book: Public projects or the spirit of a place. 4th ed. Milan: Fondazione Antonio Rati. NELSON, D (n.d.) Project contemporary souvenir. [online image] Available from: http://dstitch.blogspot.co.uk/p/recent-residencies-projects.html [accessed: 07/17/2014] SHERMAN, C. (2000) Early work of Cindy Sherman. Netherlands: Glenn Horowitz Bookseller in association with D.A.P. THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS (n.d.) Photographs from the series House [online image] Available from: http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/jan/24/ long-exposure-francesca-woodman/ [accessed: 03/10/2014] Other sources: The Heritage Museum, Saltcoats (a file with: archives, news papers, notes from Elizabeth Miller) Irvin Bay Projects, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The talking wallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (2010) Available from: http://www.irvinebay. co.uk/our-changing-bay/29_our_talking_wall Online Oxford Dictionaries.

Contact information. brenda.rosete@gmail.com www.brendarosete.com