ART A LEVEL & GCSE EXHIBITION FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
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THE BRITISH SCHOOL AL KHUBAIRAT
BSAK ART2020 Exceeding Expectations
Building on our unique local heritage, we will provide a world-class British education, inspiring all our students to exceed expectations.
OfďŹ cial British School Al Khubairat Art Exhibition 2020 poster design By Dujanah Jarrar
2020 BSAK ART EXHIBITION
MR MARK LEPPARD MBE HEADMASTER Despite enormous challenges that the world is currently faced with, here at BSAK we made a commitment to ensure we work as close to 'business as usual' and I am delighted that the Art Exhibition 2020 has prevailed. In fact it has exceeded all expectations as you will see when you look at the outstanding work from our BSAK artists. The rich diverse nature of their pieces is truly spectacular and breathtaking. One thing I think we have all learnt through recent events is that creativity is a necessity, not a luxury, so to see the creative talent from our students genuinely does give me great hope for the future, for it is this creativity which they have expressed that will be greatly needed in years to come. It must be said that the talented Art Department team, through the Leadership and drive of Dan Emery has really supported our BSAK artists to ourish and explore. Congratulations to all of you both students and staff for a truly brilliant Art Exhibition 2020.
2020 BSAK ART EXHIBITION
MISS TERESA WOULFE HEAD OF SECONDARY “You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul”, - George Bernard Shaw. In times of need, creativity blossoms and this is evident in how our Art Exhibition will be shared with the BSAK community this year. Our virtual Art Exhibition will allow so many more people to access the wonderful work created by our Year 12 and Year 13 students this year. In a year that has challenged us as students and educators, I’m delighted that the work of our ‘future artists’ has allowed us to look into their souls through the expression of their work. This is a powerful means of communication and one that should not be underestimated especially when we are physically separated. Congratulations to all of our artists who have worked hard to develop their talents and passion for the arts. I am extremely proud of the work you have created and I am delighted that this can be shared widely amongst our community. Miss Woulfe
DR HAMED BIN MOHAMED KHALIFA AL SUWAIDI PATRON OF THE ARTS THE BRITISH SCHOOL AL KHUBAIRAT
2020 BSAK ART EXHIBITION MR DAN EMERY HEAD OF ART
‘The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before’. Neil Gaiman As a department we are inspired daily by our artists and not to let a global pandemic stop the celebration, It gives me immense pride to acknowledge our young artists in this year’s Art Exhibition. As artists you have responded as all artists do in difficult times with creativity, energy and determination and to see a set back as an opportunity. We are very proud of you all as creatives and as artists continuing their story and to others moving to pastures new. You have raised the bar again. Every year of art just gets better, and without question you deserve to be celebrated. It wasn’t easy - it’s not meant to be - but we have never really wanted you to be just students, we wanted you to appreciate the value of being critical, dynamic, thought provoking and inspiring young artists and with this digital art exhibition you have clearly succeeded. You’re brilliant and we’re very proud.
Your art, is not about how many people like your work. Your art is about if your heart likes your work, if your soul likes your work. It’s about how honest you are with yourself and you must never trade honesty for relatability. Rupi Kaur. As with all events, thanks to many is required. Thank you to Mr Smith and Mrs Newsam for being the teachers, thank you to Rim our technician who supports us all. Thank you to Housekeeping and Maintenance for making, building and for generally helping our students to fulfil ideas and concepts and still smile when they see me! Thank you to SLT for supporting and caring for art. Thank you to our Patron of Arts Dr Hamed Bin Mohamed Khalifa Al Suwaidi for his continued friendship and vision and thank you to the Marketing Department for helping to make this edition happen. Last, but not least, thank you to all parents and friends who’ve put up with artistic tantrums and massive late nighters! And here we are, I hope you enjoy this digital Art Exhibition and the brilliance of our young artists
‘Others have seen what it is and asked why. I have seen and asked why not’. Pablo Picasso
BSAK ART
Welcome to the A Level and GCSE Art Exhibition 2020
We invite you to enjoy a digital production of Fine Art, Graphic Communication and Photography. A celebration of our senior school artists.
During my two years of A Level Photography I have explored many topics both visually and practically. Throughout these topics I experimented with different mediums, various photoshoots, digital processes, projections, screen printing and collage techniques. One main theme which I thoroughly enjoyed investigating was CHANGE AND STABILITY. To help inspire my own outcomes I researched various artists' work and watched multiple documentaries in order to grasp a better understanding of certain techniques and themes. Throughout my Mangroves photoshoot I explored 3D textures within the photographs as well as digital layering using Photoshop. Utilising Photoshop enabled me to adapt my paper based screen printing designs to ‘digital screen prints’. During my visual explorations I decided to focus on publishing and magazine covers/layouts, I created my own magazine front page of my work. It was challenging but exciting to experiment with text, fonts, colours and layout and explore compositional relationships. As a photographer, I find the audience often perceives work to be viewed as a 2D product. To Investigate alternatives to this I designed possible exhibition displays and 3D outcomes to get a better sense of the final concept.
SOPHIE GARVEY | YR13 PHOTOGRAPHY
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Throughout my designs, I have focused on making visually appealing designs that require the audience’s attention for a while. I primarily do this because I find that intriguing designs are more interesting and powerful than simple designs that are only meant to be viewed for a couple of seconds at a time. I enjoy creating pieces that establish a connection and evoke meaning with the viewer as it allows me to add hidden meaning and allow for multiple perspectives for the piece. Furthermore, I have taken great inspiration from contrasting nature with man made shapes and elements. Nature is easy to get inspiration from as it’s all around us and holding the ability to mix the opposing two can make a design abstract and different. My journey through GCSE, I have found the theme of ‘Freedom’ the most capturing as it dives into many aspects of how humanity operates. ‘Freedom’ can be received in different ways and I found it interesting to communicate different meanings for different people in my designs. I have explored a lot of different ways to create designs. I started experimenting more with physical cuts and experiments that can be later digitalised. Natural lines and elements are easier to recreate physical than digitally. During the beginning of my GCSE course, I was really inspired by David Carson and his design movement of Grunge. This fairly new design movement caught my eye as it forces viewers to focus on the design and almost inspect it to get all the meaning out of it. I have learnt that different movements can be used for certain agendas and can be hard to cross converge in certain designs.
MOATH IBRAHIM | YR11 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
LILY ABOU JAWAD I YR12 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
My work is heavily inspired by abstract realism and the work of photographers such as Hiroshi Sugimoto, Christopher Wool and Sean Scully. This helped me to create a platform to produce what I feel is some of my best work where I experimented with colour, composition and texture to create images which tell a story and convey emotion. For my ďŹ nal piece, simplicity was important; I chose to screen print to give a sense of depth to my work but used post production editing to create negative space so my images were not overwhelming
ELLA GREENE | YR13 PHOTOGRAPHY
In general, my work focuses on the places that are important to me and the people close to me. This is primarily because I enjoy creating artwork more when I feel I have an emotional connection to the piece, allowing me to create a more successful image through the added depth and meaning. Moreover, throughout my work I have drawn a great deal of inspiration from nature in general. This is because I find the unknown complexity of the world around us fascinating and so I strive to capture this in my artwork. Over the GCSE course, I have personally found the theme of ‘Event’ the most interesting to explore because I researched the idea of fairy tales and the real-life events for which they are symbolic. I also found looking at the idea of a fragmented society engaging as this provided the opportunity to explore a range of conflicting concepts as well as unusual media including glass and clay. In my work I have predominantly used watercolour, pen and graphite pencils as I am most comfortable working with these. However, over the past two years I have enjoyed being challenged to develop my skills using acrylic, oil and gouache paint as well as more unique techniques including: monoprinting, lino printing and the use of clay in 3D sculptures.
ELLA MACLEOD | YR11 FINE ART
Both of the chosen directions for my components involved exploring narrative as a means to communicate ideas about identity, memory and mapping. In the ďŹ rst project, I investigated personal histories, and used mapmaking to explore narrative structures. The second project, I looked at surveillance and methods that could be used for propaganda and societal control. In my third project, I used reality tv to research the effects of conforming to social norms. I used subjects such as circus sideshows and detective walls because I ďŹ nd them visually exciting, and relevant to my audience. One of my intentions was to engage the viewers so that they could use their own experiences to interpret my work. For both components, I focused on the expression of identity and individuality, and explored both traditional analogue and digital processes to communicate my ideas in the most appropriate way. I used printmaking and collage, 3D sculpture, textiles and drawing, scanning many pieces into Photoshop to manipulate digitally.
NANCY DONALDSON | YR13 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
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MILOSH ACIMOVIC | YR11 FINE ART
In general, my work focuses on places and topics that are important to me. This is because naturally, I have a greater interest in creating artwork about them, and presenting them to others the way I see them. Through the theme ‘Environment’ I explored my interest in architecture and attempted to showcase the unique personality of buildings and structures by presenting them differently, altering factors such as drawing style or colour. This evolved into creating my own coffee shop based on cityscapes, designing the branding to the interior design. I have come to realise my favourite pieces of work focus on issues that I am passionate about in my everyday life. As an advocate for equality and feminism, I created a visual magazine focusing on Women’s Issues for the theme of ‘Change and/or Stability’, where I raise awareness about some issues women face globally. As a Graphic Design student, I often work digitally using softwares such as Adobe Illustrator and Procreate, however I have also explored more traditional ways of creating art such as sketching with pen, painting with ink, monoprinting and lino printing. Through my last project I explored photography and created digital illustrations, which have now become pieces of art I am most proud of.
AAMINA MOHAMED | YR13 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
I prefer to apply a multidisciplinary approach to my work, exploring various perceptions and connotations. For the project ‘Environment’ I wanted to question the roles and expectations of a dystopian and utopian community and how this can be built by the individuals within a society - literally and figuratively. This has been portrayed in an abstract form; inspired by the manipulation of shape and composition seen in architecture. I later investigated individuals themselves, through analysing the implications of behaviour and body language, where I adopted a more economical approach to drawing through negative and positive space. This concept was particularly interesting to me as I learnt about how design and environmental influence play a major role in behaviour. This developed into exploring how movement challenges one’s perception of the human form, where I experimented with mirrors to fabricate an illusive and distorted setting. I then went on to represent mobility through exaggerated and contorted interpretations of figures in motion. A recurring theme in my work is challenging the viewer to break away from their pre-existing perceptions and consider alternative narratives. This is emphasised through the project ‘Change and Stability’, where my artwork is solely based on visual representation and experience. I intended to capture the state of in-betweenness in the transition of material. I enjoyed how I could display physical forms of destruction and variations of the same material through ways of testing its limits and malleability.
AAYA ABDEL-MAKSOUD | YR13 FINE ART
To begin with, the work I produced for the topic ‘structures’ was based on anatomy and the structure of an organism. I solely focused on hands and paid attention to specific detail, perfecting my painting skills. I used a wide range of media from acrylic paint and watercolor to oil pastel and pencils. I approached photography and explored different ways of creating an image. I traversed through aspects such as lighting, angles and contrast. During this process I carried out research on several artists to analyze their work and use it as a source of inspiration. Moving on to the subtopic ‘Cells’ I explored a different aspect of art- which involved more colour, experimental work and creativity. The topic ‘Fragments’ and ‘Event’ provided a scope for imagination and allowed us to create personal art work with added depth and strong meaning. The theme ‘Events’ was my favorite as the work was symbolic of my culture and involved personal experiences. The theme ‘Fragments’ had provided me with an opportunity to further develop my skills using different media, as I found myself primarily using watercolor and acrylic as I was familiar with them and could use them comfortably across all my paintings. Across the 2 years, I have experimented with several media, ranging from paints to more complex techniques such as lino printing and embroidery.
MADEEHA WASEEM | YR11 FINE ART
Over the past two years, I have explored and discovered new ways to look at the world of designing. Ever since I began the GCSE course, I have found thousands more designers to be inspired by instead of the select few famous artists I used to solely know. I am constantly inspired by works around me, even in adverts in the newspapers or clothing I see in stores; I love how design surrounds us and am glad to have been able to learn more about it, it’s history and how to better my own design making. I’ve loved each theme that we've done and am proud of each outcome. Each theme has had its own unique flair to it and I feel that having the projects centre around a word has really boosted my creativity. My particular favourite was our final project, 'Event' as I was inspired by the season of spring. My work often focuses on utilising aesthetic colour schemes with simple elements to create a clear message to the viewer. Even with my primary focus, I loved creating more complex concepts before reaching a final design. I have thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with the different design styles such as Swiss style and Bauhaus and seeing my peers choose their own unique styles to develop. Before the course, I had never used Photoshop or Illustrator but now, I am far more comfortable using this software along with finding other non-digital ways to explore design such as lino and screen printing.
FATIMA HUSSAIN | YR11 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
TRINITY LOVETT I YR12 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
Throughout the two years, we explored the themes of structures (year 10) and fragments (year 11). Naturally the topic of structures was more restricted in terms of exploring artists and as a result, a few conicted with my style of art. Fragments - an alternative project theme - was without restrictions which I really enjoyed. Therefore, I was able to ďŹ nd artists that better correlated with my art style such as Ilias Walchshofer, Kei Meguro. Over those two years, I was also able to broaden my artistic spectrum. I experimented with oil paints, pens, incorporated textiles (sewing) into my artworks, used photoshop to create double exposure effect and multiple layer investigations. Digital formats were an interesting development in my work and used Procreate to generate detailed and in depth drawings into photographic explorations..
JUDY CHOI | YR11 FINE ART
Inspired by my theme of country and culture, I have used nostalgia and historical influences throughout my works by incorporating flower symbolism, folk tales and textile interpretations laced with conceptual meanings. I have used concept art to capture the essence of time within my pieces.From preserving items of the past to creating keepsake treasures for the present. Each artwork is meant to serve as a timestamp from history (mine or my country’s), and to symbolise words that base around me as the artist through various flower meanings. I have used painting as my main medium to convey a traditional feeling of intimacy within my pieces - be it a painting on canvas or a rough paint sketch on printer paper, my style of painting has evolved to become loose but crisp enough to lure the viewer in to see its details. For my ESA, I have explored the concept of memory boxes of my past, present and future self. Intended to be displayed as an installation, I have compiled objects, both bought and made, to be positioned conceptually. Presenting intimacy and nostalgia as a connecting theme within both bodies of work, I have tried to encapsulate time and years visually through a stream of recognisable objects precious to me and perhaps the viewer.
SOPHIA LIM SING YEE | YR13 FINE ART
INAYAH HUSSAIN | YR13 FINE ART
In general, my work focuses on different art styles, the media and the world. This is because I am passionate about them and think it is very important for everyone to learn about through posters and leaflets i have created. My favourite projects are my Murakami book cover - created with lino printing and Photoshop, my music festival - created with my own hand drawn designs inspired by Japan, and my film festival - inspired by graphic designer Tyler Spangler’s psychedelic posters and illustrations. During my GCSE course I have explored using different mediums, switching between digaital and traditional graphics. My lino and screen prints were able to be imported into Photoshop/Procreate to create posters, leaflets and tickets. I am most proud of my Murakami ‘The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles’ book cover as I explored various ideas before reaching a final design I was happy with.
MAARIYA MOHAMED | YR11 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
I have gained and developed many skills in different areas of art and design which I have transferred into my design practice. Screen printing has been a major part of my creative development and for me is a distinctive technique that allows me to create images which not only provide the opportunity to explore surface detail through photo screen printing processes but also allow for ‘mistakes’ to be harnessed and adopted as potential ways forward. Additionally, I have also developed my skills in relief lino printing, where a block matrix is engraved to form a pattern or picture and printing inks are used to create multiple prints. My interest in relief printing has led to developing a body of work where I have explored and learned more about positive and negative space Moving forward the exploration and introduction of typography into my design process has enabled me to develop my understanding of the intrinsic relationship between image and text and how important this is to the viewer’s experience.
LEA EL MAALOUF| YR 13 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
GEMMA RAMATALLAH | YR 13 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
Throughout my two years of studying art at GCSE level, my work was generally based around a wide range of images that explored and created different compositions. As my processes and skills developed, my work began to evolve and focus on a more graphical view of Art; investigating layers, surface texture and the interaction and sometimes juxtaposition of image and type. My love of movement and dance led me to explore, in more depth, portraits and the human form. Henry Moore was an artist that I was inspired by as the abstract forms he sculpted had a strong sense of simpliďŹ ed but sophisticated form where the lines of the body became memories of movement. I chose to use photography to investigate further and this process, along with Adobe Suite, became extremely important in the development of my creative concepts. As well as artist and contextual research my peers inspired me throughout the two years. One of my most enjoyable projects was taking photos of friends and using them as the main images for posters based on a music festival concept, then experimenting with and using a wide range of traditional and contemporary media and intertwining them into my ďŹ nal product. I am lucky to have travelled extensively and these experiences have become more important in my most recent body of work.
OTILIE EMERY | YR11 FINE ART
THOMAS MILLWARD | YR 13 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
Over the GCSE course, I have personally found the theme of ‘Event’ the most interesting to explore because I had to research about which type of events I would include in my design so in the end, I chose the young musician event which I then made several posters. Some of the inspiration came from the books in class and some were from the internet. I love music so I wanted to incorporate that in my design and so I did that and I was satisfied at the results. Over the past two years, my knowledge of graphics had increased as I was more familiar with the work and what I needed to do to improve. I have been using photoshop and illustrator most of the time so that skill has been developed and I also experimented with my own ink and manipulated them into photoshop. I have also been using photography and I think my skills for that have also increased. Some of the designs that I did had a connection to me that allowed me to have further depth and meaning which made my designs more successful.
SHAZIA AMEEN | YR11 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
REEM TAHER SALEM | YR13 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
NIK RAYMER | YR13 PHOTOGRAPHY
THOMAS DEMIAN I YR12 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
MAHRA ALKHOORI | YR11 FINE ART
. In general, my work encircles themes and ideas that I show an interest in. This is primarily because I am able to express my thoughts through the compositions I have produced. Moreover, throughout the course I have drawn a substantial amount of inspiration from Japanese design. This is due to the fact that I find Japanese culture very fascinating - it’s so different from our own - Within my own design work I often strive to include aspects of Japanese culture. Throughout my GCSE Graphic Communication course, I have personally found the theme of ‘event’ as most interesting as I found there to be a wide and varied range of different interpretations of the topic project theme. This inspiration helped me create a range of compositions that were completely different from what I had previously produced.
MATTHEW WELCH | YR11 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
My creative process has always revolved around intense curiosity to seek knowledge while interpreting challenges and pushing limits within the path I pave for myself, as I produce work, I find and lose myself, using a tool passed down from caves to my palm. Art to me, is the most powerful form of communication to ever exist. Art heals, enlightens, and inspires, which is the reason I use this mode of communication to push forward social change. Most of my work centers on social issues and constructions. Toxic masculinity is a very prominent theme within my work as I have observed the consequences and outcomes first hand in various ways. It is an issue that is tucked away but ironically a cause to many more issues, and in order for an issue to be solved, it must be acknowledged. Using art as my technique of enlightenment, I try to address multiple topics in unorthodox arrangements while utilising multiple mediums. Most of my creations encompass reflection as a result of an event or experience. I am inspired by my surroundings and environment, I take experiences and thoroughly reflect on them to understand what exactly it is that I will be addressing. My work tends to have some degree of a “shock factor” which is done to grab attention and trigger a thought process. Within the journey of creating my work, I incorporate certain understanding and findings from Psychology as this is a large field that inspires my process and outcome. As an artist, I strive to awaken dormant emotions and connect the body and mind whilst educating and dismantling inaccurate social preconceptions
LAILA AL NAQBI | YR13 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
.When looking back at the work i’ve done throughout the GCSE course, I realize that my design style has never really changed. I’ve always been inspired by grunge/psychedelic designs, however when it came to making my own designs I loved to include various different elements from different design movements. Most of my work reflects the design styles that I like the most, and the main reason I enjoy graphic design so much is because it gives me the freedom of creating what I want in the exact way I want. Taking graphic design now also helps me identify what makes a good design, and what doesn’t. I know look at everything through and graphic designers eyes and love taking inspiration from various different things I come across. Moreover, when exploring various different styles like the swiss style for example, it helps me see what I don’t like about a specific style. I have never liked simplistic designs with minimal colours and geometric shapes; I have always preferred more intricate, colourful and “messy” designs. This is because simplistic designs, whilst they may be pleasing to look at, convey a sense of control and calmness, which is not what I wanted my work to reflect. What I enjoyed the most over this GCSE course was the freedom project, where I interpreted this as freedom of expression. I like to think that this was my strongest project because this project was where I really started to explore what my unique design style preferences were. I explored digital illustration which is something I have never done before, which meant it gave me the freedom of exploring my own illustration style. In the last two years, I have developed my graphic design skills more than I thought I could ever have. I found my style, and I am very comfortable with where I am with my skills, and continue to develop them everyday.
IRIANJA RAZAFINDRALAMBO | YR11 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
Art, a visual weapon. A mighty tool of influence. A nonverbal message from the creator to the observer. Art is an outlet for your individualism to shine through. An extremely versatile concept that grows and changes from individual to individual. Art is communication; communication is power. I believe that being an artist comes with a large amount of responsibility. Artists have the tools to commemorate how powerful creativity is and the impact it can have on people. Knowing this, over the past 2 years, I have focused on creating art based on social issues that need to be highlighted. I have incorporated photography, fine art and graphic communication to inspire an alternative perception. I placed emphasis on issues like stereotypes, toxic masculinity, social constructs, prejudice, nature and mentality. All these topics culminated together perfectly and unexpectedly ended up leading me to the powerful idea of individualism. That’s when I asked myself - What is identity really? Is it the way people see you? Or is it the way you see yourself? Are these different? Essentially, identity has endless definitions that differentiate between each person. In my case, my art focused on how identity can be the way an individual is perceived through other people's eyes. In other words, the value of your individualism through another, whether that be society, a man or you, the viewer. Identity can also be recognized as roles given to individuals by society and whether those fixed ideas can affect, impact or control an individual and the way they identify themselves.
I decided to critique these issues in society, focusing on the societal restrictions and assumptions through signifying concepts of a distorted and discriminatory community that people have succumbed to. These restrictions have introverted the representation of social norms and the rejects of alternative perspectives. I used different techniques to skillfully construct underlying ideas and identities through my ‘characters’ focusing on composition and the overall arrangement of elements as well as pictorial space and how form and scale can increase influence. Contrastingly, I also entertain techniques including specific use of colour, through light and tone, to enforce a realistic quality to my work. I believe this intrigues viewers, highlighting various perceptive meanings circulated in my work, which can be unveiled when unpicking the areas and subjects in my compositions.
I felt that it was necessary to represent and embody relevant meaning and challenging identities in my work by broadening character substance. I did this by manipulating every aspect of my work to express my personal visions, convictions and experiences of society. In short, I allowed my visions to permeated the fabric of society, making my work a testament to the need to convey potent messages about identity and its role in society.
DUJANAH JARRAR | YR13 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
THOMAS DEMIAN I YR12 PHOTOGRAPHY
Over the two years of fine art, I worked on 3 themes which were structures, fragments and for the final exam it was an event theme. I have thoroughly enjoyed working on events specifically because I was able to choose an event that affected me in my lifetime which was my brother’s liver transplant. I found that fragments was an interesting topic because there were many pathways to look into fragments. For fragments I went on to look at portraits and emotions. The colours I used throughout fragments shows what they could mean to someone and what they represent. For structures I experimented with doing portraits and cells however I found structures a bit tricky to understand and how to compose work on structures. I found that abstract art was interesting to me and I used abstract art in my work especially when working on fragments. Over the three themes, I experimented with different media such as lino print, screen printing, mono printing, photoshop, charcoal, acrylic paint, watercolour and stitching/embroidery.
LAIBAH BASHIR | YR11 FINE ART
Throughout the last two years my focus has been on exploring the concept of Fine Art photography and how photography has earned its place alongside painting and other forms of artistic expression. By working on a variety of themes such as Structures and Changes in light and subjects ranging from iconic buildings to seemingly ordinary, everyday scenes, I have concentrated on the impact that mankind has on the environment and the effect of light and darkness on a structure or subject. Amongst the studies I have worked on are a series of images on the cities of New York, Amman and Abu Dhabi. I have explored these fascinating places in different ways using collage and creating 3D books, exploring light and colour at different times of the day and by using photoshop to create stylised colour and black and white images. I have taken vast panoramic views and studies of small obscure details or objects but in every case I have tried to capture or create images that express my ideas. My goal has always been to create striking images which communicate powerful ideas. When this happens it is very satisfying. I was inuenced by a large number of different artist such as the impressionist painters Claude Monet and the lesser known Gustave Caillebotte and the photographer Edward Ruscha. However, one of my main inuences was the photographer Andreas Gursky.
FARRIS MUBAYBEEN | YR13 PHOTOGRAPHY
LEIA HOPE | YR13 PHOTOGRAPHY
Overall, I have learnt a lot from my past 2 years of Graphic Communication. I enjoyed creating a range of designs for multiple projects using digital programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and physical experimentation using both paint and spray paint. I learnt how to manipulate materials and surfaces to add a range of different effects that would be brought together in Photoshop to create a ďŹ nal design. Through my time exploring Graphic Communication, I mainly enjoyed the physical aspect of my creations. The technique I enjoyed the most was using different kinds of lino cutting tools to cut and mark make into lino. These were used as a stamp for packaging of one of my products. Again using software such as Photoshop and Illustrator this allowed me to push the initial designs and create alternative visual creations.
BEN GOODFELLOW | YR11 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
TILLY WIMBLE | YR11 FINE ART
EVA BUCKLEY | YR11 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
RAHMAH LORGAT | YR11 FINE ART
Overall, I believe my work shows the simplicity of the things I enjoy. I like to focus around simplicity as I like the minimalist view of a poster or brochure. Creating my own pieces within the elements I enjoy allows me to appreciate each design more as I was attracted to what it resembles. I like to include photography in my projects because it involves an element of realism. It also shows that I take things from ‘the real world’ and include them in my designs. I like to photograph people/limbs as they can both express emotion in different ways. However, as my GCSE years continued, I began to explore illustration. I started to develop my photography using illustration and focusing mainly on facial features. During the GCSE project ‘Event’ I created my own illustrations on stars. I continued to revolve around simplicity as I like when designs are focused on one thing whilst the other elements, like shape, colour and layers, support it.
MYA THOMPSON | YR11 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
DAN LIND I YR12 FINE ART
Across the 2 years I found myself terribly intrigued with exploring culture and somehow made whatever theme ďŹ t my passion. Looking at artists like Stephanie Ledoux who travels around the world with simply a number of pencils and paper and studies individuals and their culture. Along with political art, which Shepard Fairey was, a massive inspiration on behalf of me wanting and having a message behind what I was painting or drawing, as I felt it was an important facet for me on the course. As art can tell stories almost like an alternate language to communicate with and can also be interpreted however by whoever is viewing the art. I always tried to go with the approach of my art looking like posters as posters to me, can be very informative yet minimalistic as from my research, I found out the brains attention span only lasts 8 seconds so for example my ďŹ nal piece was about women rights I decided to go with bolder colour,text and imagery to have any viewer be able to interpret my art quiet vividly and fast. I really enjoyed Studying ďŹ ne art as I feel it has changed how I see Art and how it encourages us to cherish intuition, uncertainty, and ability and to look perpetually for brand new ideas and have artists aim to interrupt rules and use unconventional ways of approaching up to date problems.
KAREEMA HOLLAND | YR11 FINE ART
Throughout our GCSE course, we have explored various artists and genres of art based on multiple themes. Generally, my work focuses a lot on the people around me and my surroundings whilst including details in our everyday lives that we tend to look past or ignore. This includes emotion, structure, pattern, colour and other factors that I find deep interest in. Throughout my work I have drawn great inspiration from various artists that strive to produce unique and meaningful work for others to view. By studying these artists and their different takes on art, I was influenced to produce work that I felt emotionally connected to which further inspired me to explore and attempt new media and styles. I predominantly used acrylic, watercolour and pencil as they are my strongest media to work with. However, as the course progressed, I was challenged to develop my skills using oil paints, embroidery, monoprinting, lino printing, stencils, charcoal, coloured pastels and even photoshop. My favourite theme throughout the course has been fragments as I was able to focus on the topic identity and the confusion and loss associated with it. I worked more on portraiture as I thought it would fit well with my topic and I enjoyed this as I was able to capture my own images and additionally include work on colour theory and emotion. However I also enjoyed the theme structures as it influenced me to move out of my comfort zone and introduced me to new techniques and media whilst studying interesting topics such as cells and the structure of the hand.
HANA GHAZI | YR11 FINE ART
KATIA ALEKSEEVA YR12 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
INAYAH HUSSAIN YR13 PHOTOGRAPHY