Photography Student Work Brochure 2022 by DMU Creative

Photography & Video Degree Show 2022 De Montfort University

Introduction

Contents

Deanna Johnson

Jakub Kowalski

The students included in this catalogue have all worked incredibly hard to produce photographic and video work that responds to a shifting visual culture. Approaching lens-based media from a variety of standpoints and methodologies, the collected works investigate many of the current issues being debated within culture in exciting and visual ways.

Saarah-Maysa Al-Murisi

Viktorija Kunceviciute

Rupert Alyn-Stephens

Divya Lathia

Ellie Astall

Urvashi Limbachya

Niamh Baines

Marco Minoletti

Kaat Bishop

Lauren Nip

Molly Bray

Kaitelin O’Brien

Sam Bromwich

Saarah Patel

Olivia Castledine

Casey Pettit

Katerina Christodoulou

Priyesh Rana

Hannah Clark

Jazmin Riyadh

Niamh Cooper

Harvey Robinson

Jacob Fox

Sarah Stevens

Will Gibbins

Chloe Stretton

Prasina Gurung

Caitlin Tudor

Samuel Hardwick

Amber Ware

Cover Design Herry Hempshall

Harry Hempshall

Paisley Webb

Catalogue Design Andra Priboi

Migle Ilciukaite

Hope Willis

This year’s degree show and catalogue includes works spanning the genres of documentary, fiction, fashion, mixed media, and much more, addressing a broad range of subjects, themes and approaches in making images. From Saraah-Maysa Al-Murisi and Paisley Webb’s investigations into contemporary femininity, to Harry Hempshall and Niamh Baines’ explorations into queer and non-binary imagery, this year’s catalogue is filled with contemporary images and artists that aim to set new trends in image-making. We hope you consider this next generation of artists who have invested their time in producing exciting and original ideas. We would like to congratulate all of our students for contributing to our visual culture, and thank the staff, friends, and family who have made it possible. Faculty and Staff Team BA Photography and Video

How Many Kids Do U Want? is a conceptual series based on the conventional expectation of sexual reproduction. Whilst being influenced by Rachel Maclean’s Make Me Up (2018) feminist culture film and Cindy Sherman’s Disaster (198689) series: I was inspired to create a mixture of portraits and still life images to construct associations with motherhood and gender. I used relevant colours, as well as a grotesque approach to represent contrasting feelings and responses. How Many Kids Do U Want? explores levels of hyper-sexuality within female subjects, as well as representing dominant attitudes for female freedom and self-control. This work empowers women to choose when and if they want to procreate, without having the social pressures and projections from misogynistic and critical societies. My final body of work builds on contemporary art and is subjected to female identity and adaptation within society.

Instagram: @saarahsvisual Website: www.saarahalmurisi.co.uk

Saarah-Maysa Al-Murisi

Rupert Alyn Stephens’ short film Tugboat Ben follows a day in the life of a cargo carrier on the Coventry canal. The style that Tugboat Ben was shot in was inspired by the productions from the direct cinema movement, such as the Maysles brothers’ Salesman. The short instils the observational approach of recording non-actors whilst events unfold in uncontrolled environments. The film is focused on portraying the life of 25-year-old Ben who is following in his late fathers footsteps by continuing to work on the English water ways and through this he celebrates his family’s heritage. “To me, Ben resembled another time, so that is how I depicted him in the video.”

Website: www.rupertalynstephens.wixsite.com/photography

Rupert Alyn-Stephens

When I discovered photography, I embraced its possibility to venture creative pathways in attempt to explore the questions that centre around identity and sense of being. In the early stages of this year, I came across Prestel’s book entitled New Fashion Photography, from which I was particularly captivated by Tim Blanks statement “the image has become all the dream, the desire, even a surrogate for the clothes themselves”. This stuck with me from the very beginning and was what lead me to place a character with the clothing. With reference to Greek mythology, I became inspired by the gods and goddesses of seasons (The Horae). It opened the possibility to consider how they look, think, feel, their purpose, what stories are spoken of and its relevance to today’s world. To epitomise the project Seasons, I took inspiration from Game of Thrones in how the kings and queen sit differently on the throne.

Instagram: @twinflamestudios_ Website: twinflamestudios.co.uk

Ellie Astall

Seasons

I am a young photographer specialising in fashion, portrait, and editorial photography. I am based between London and Leicester. My work often experiments with colour and light to create bold and vibrant images. After graduating, I intend to find a role in the fashion photography industry. This photographic series The Theory of Yellow explores the themes of gender stereotypes and gender fluidity in fashion. The project title was inspired by the yellow studio background that unites all the final images. The colour yellow is seen as gender fluid and expresses positivity, awareness, and creativity. Fashion photography has heavily influenced gender stereotypes in fashion through magazines' visualisation of traditional gender stereotypes throughout history. The images attempt to be inclusive to all genders and sexualities – creating a sense of equality and unity. Overall, this final series of work celebrates gender fluidity in fashion photography and welcomes everyone to feel the joy of yellow.

Instagram: @niamhbainesphotography Website: https://niamhbainesphotography.com

Niamh Baines

Kaat Bishop For my final major project, I present to you the birth of Killgharrah Carnage. Using the final major project to delve into the world of music and achieve little 5-year-old me’s dreams, this work has been done by working in the real world of creative industries. The work is a multitude of mediums, from a music video and modelling to a self-mixed and mastered track, with the addition of merchandise. The lyrics are metaphorical of my life and the imagery and merchandise are representations of who I am and what my theme is. This the very start of what Killgharrah Carnage has the potential to become.

Molly Bray

Through my artwork I have used multimedia and self portraiture to offer an honest reflection of my own experience with anxiety. My aim is to encourage my audience to experience the same feelings of unease and discomfort. I incorporated collage, stitching and the use of a scalpel. By using collage I deconstructed and reconstructed expressions of myself to represent the idea that all of the emotions are dramatically different, but are all representations of me. The pieces were deconstructed with a scalpel in turn suggesting an element of self destruction, physically and mentally. It shows an element of pain and anger when looking at myself, that I often experienced as a result of the inner chaos of emotions. Furthermore, by using a needle and thread there is a sense of self-reparation showing that despite the damage I have been able to show the healing process of recovery.

Sam Bromwich Why does photography have to be limited strictly to a visual medium? The idea that photography can only be explored through sight doesn’t make sense. If something such as writing can be converted into a tactile language for people to read with their fingers, then why can't photographs be experienced this same way?

My project Living in the Past, explores the feeling of nostalgia and the way we each feel it differently. I have explored this through both photography and video, but have mainly focused on creating a short film, which I filmed on my camcorder. I was inspired to create this project when completing another video piece, which provoked such a strong feeling of nostalgia, leading me to question how other people viewed this same feeling. I have encapsulated this feeling through spoken word and also a diaristic style, which makes me feel very nostalgic. I have also spoken to a range of people, mainly in their early 20s to see how their feelings of nostalgia differ.

Instagram: @livcastledinephotography Website: https://livcastledinephoto.wixsite.com/mysite

Olivia Castledine

Katerina Christodoulou

Look At Me (2022), is a mixed-media film in which feminine sexuality and the female body are explored throughout. The film was inspired by an argument that arose about Laura Mulvey’s theory, the Male Gaze” (a theory that uncovers the way men look at women and how they are often sexualised by men). The argument was whether or not there is a female equivalent to this theory or if its existence is even possible. By using written text to accompany shots throughout, this film questions this argument and almost accepts its fate. Christodoulou is fascinated by Margaret Atwood’s view on the subject, one of her quotes being: “You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur”. This quote is the epitome of this films core idea. The film is created by a woman, for women, but also for men as no matter what, the film still caters to male pleasure, and nothing can be strictly “female”.

Instagram: @katerina.c.photography

Katerina Christodoulou is a photographer and filmmaker who specialises in narrative cinema. Her work explores themes that are often not spoken about and are kept secret, in an attempt to challenge those themes and create a sense of comfortability within them.

I Am More Than Just A Housewife! is an exploration of Hollywood glamour fashion photography and the stereotypes of women from the 1960’s to today. My work is also an exploration of the idea of the femme fatale and how femme fatales are shown as strong and powerful women who use men to get what they want and are a danger to love. I intended to put a woman dressed and styled in Hollywood glamour fashion within a modern-day society, showing her as empowered and almost dangerous to be around to challenge the stereotypes women have faced and still sometimes face today. My images show the two sides to a powerful woman, the first side being out of her stereotype and the second being within her stereotyped environment, the kitchen. Women are shown mostly in a domestic situation, they are seen in the kitchen cleaning, cooking and being a carer for the family. They are shown as powerless or have none of their own ambitions or voices. I created my work to raise a question asking: has the stereotyping of women changed within modern day society? I also intend on raising a question as to what a women’s place in society is now and where women belong.

Instagram: @hclarkphotography Website: https://clarksphotographic.wixsite.com/hannah -clark-photogr

Hannah Clark

Niamh Cooper

Instagram: @niamhcooper.photography Website: https://niamhcooperphotography.myportfolio.com/

From urban to landscapes the main objective of my project was set on how architecture and landscapes can be shown as both living organisms. The images produced should entail how life is accentuating from both aspects and how they both represent the aspect of Living Landscapes. These images are meant as a guide to show how they are not so different and yet should be treated with the same respect helping bring to light how they can work in unison. It is based on what humans have created and how it can be interlinked with nature as one whole organism representing each other as a living landscape.

Website: https://jjfoxphotography.wixsite.com/photography

Jacob Fox

The Living Landscapes

The Forgotten Leicester project aims to bring the rich history of Leicester into the present through a series of images. Based upon the concept of “rephotography”, the series intends to explore the city’s past, and to bridge the gap between then and now. The initial idea stems from my interest in history, and the concept of creating a seamless transition through time is something that fascinated me. Leicester played a huge role in the industrial revolution, and was world famous for its role in textiles. I hope the audience can get a real sense of this history through my work. Not only this, but I also hope the work informs the audience on how these places are used in the present. Much of the former industry is no more, and the work also sets out to show both social decline and regeneration. After looking through archives and records, I hope to have established a collection of work that helps to reimagine the viewers perception of Leicester. The creation of the website is how the idea will largely be communicated, and aims to provide a level of interaction for the viewer to engage with. The work intends to provide the audience with a modern approach to local history, and looks to generate interest in the way people will perceive the very streets they walk down.

Forgotten Leicester project: www.forgottenleicester.co.uk Website: www.willgibbins.co.uk

Will Gibbins

Prasina Gurung Prasina Gurung is passionate about what masculinity is today. Prasina focuses on how being feminine is not about sexuality, whether you are gay or straight, as a man you should be able to express yourself freely. She believes that men are not given a space to express that. You can wear makeup, wear pink, be fragile and be a man at the same time. There are no boundaries on what masculinity means.

This first issue of Waste Magazine is titled “Do the Arts Matter?”. The project is shot, designed and curated by Samuel Hardwick. Sam is a photographer that focuses on youth culture and fashion-based work. He uses both digital and analogue mediums, but also explores other artistic methods, such as painting, to create mixed media pieces. Sam used his position as an art student, his interest in youth culture documentary work, and his research of current magazines (such as Dazed and i-D) to explore how the next generation of artists & designers at De Montfort University feel about the attitude that the government and many others have towards creative arts degrees. Sam presented three statements to seven De Montfort University arts students and asked them what their response was. This issue combines these responses with powerful portraits and behind-the-scenes photos, showing the artists’ processes, in order to create a refreshing project that explores the reality that many young artists face when asked "so what degree do you do?"

Instagram: @visuals.samuel @wastemagofficial Website: https://visualssamuel.wixsite.com/my-site

Samuel Hardwick

Harry Hempshall Queer identity is important to me as it allows the development of self-expression and exploration. Western beauty traditions/standards however have oppressed queer identities and can even be seen through the ages, particularly the historical Renaissance period. I have used this period in unison with the representation of contemporary queer cultures to show a modern take on the Renaissance art style of religious depiction. Photo manipulation skills develop the impact and importance of the ‘personas’ present in each image. By utilizing queer culture, I hope to challenge archetypal social norms and therefore highlight the significance of queer identities. For my Queer Collective project, I have referred to Da Vinci, specifically The Last Supper, to achieve a collection that portrays the Renaissance period through a contemporary queer gaze. This project has come full circle for me because it displays queer identities and continues my desire to show the normality of the queer community.

Instagram: @Harry_Hempshall_Photography Website: https://hempshallphoto.wixsite.com/photo

Migle Ilciukaite My project explores the connection between people and nature. Due to expanding cities, everyday stress, and the lack of time, it is often forgotten that we are children of nature. My goal is to show what it feels like to be a part of nature and to experience the peace, joy, and stillness that the natural world provides us with. With my photographs I try to show that the simplest of things can be beautiful and appreciated. I have always loved capturing details. This same method helped me portray my idea in this project too. By focusing on close-ups or avoiding showing my face, I used only body language, soft colours, and compositions to create the right atmosphere as well as allow each viewer to decide what feelings such compositions awaken.

One With Nature

Time is short and precious. We don't have much of it. Time is something we must all cherish, and everyone has a different outlook on it. We move around so much in small bursts of time that sometimes we don't stop to consider how it is taken for granted so we need to sometimes just stop and think about what time we are using open how much of it we really have left. The use of motion blur in the series shows the photographic concept of time and how less than a minute looks as a single photograph. Don't take it for granted and savour every second. The time we have left is all we are going to be given.

Instagram: @deannalisaphotography Website: www.dl-photography.wixsite.com

Deanna Johnson

A Photographic Concept of Time

Jakub Kowalski

Materialism and consumerism are now religiously followed by the majority of society within the western world. The western cultures have become immensely addictive, so much so people within society have forgotten about priorities towards planet earth and even their own individual priorities. Thus, bringing numerous invisible threats, which often leads to the illnesses of our minds and bodies. We are unknowingly blinded by the comforts and pleasures that come with those trends; we either can’t or don’t want to see that they lead to the destruction of planet earth as well as to human beings. Through my work, I would like to bring awareness to the public, especially the young people born in these new realities and who have never had chance to experience a different world, to how unnatural and dangerous materialism and consumerism are to any inhabitants of this remarkable planet.

Instagram: @jfk_photo Website: jfkphotography.co.uk

My work Constant Consumption arises from my need to express my own opinions on the current state of the world surrounding us. As an artist, I am interested in the social matters of the human nature as well as the changes taking place in the surrounding western civilization. My photography depicts the influence of those dangerous trends on the world that surrounds us and its inhabitants in the 21st century.

Viktorija Kunceviciute

The purpose of this work is to acknowledge the traits within us. I want my audience to look at my work multiple times, causing them to wonder what kind of emotions they feel. The more you stare and study my pieces the more similarities you discover within yourself. I created these photographic pieces by combining multiple differently captured face expressions/movements or objects in Adobe Photoshop. My photographs are printed on fabric and displayed by being hung on a thread by pegs as a metaphor. Representing clothing in the fashion industry gives the illusion that the observer is shopping. This connection is key as we label people from the clothing they wear. People wear certain types of clothing, and we instantly label them from what they have chosen, and this links back to my work as what connection we have with the photographs can tell a lot about ourselves.

Instagram: @photographedbyvik Website: www.photographedbyvik.com

This collection of work includes four surrealism photographs, heavily influenced by artists such as Booke Shaden, Thomas Barbey, Flora Borsi and Tim Tadder. I practised Photoshop manipulation since the beginning of lock-down which is when I truly challenged myself in creating contemporary photography. I am specifically interested in the enigmatic type of surrealism, which interests me in astrology, finding the characteristics of people and making them appear visual.

This project is shot by Divya Lathia who is an up-and-coming filmmaker and photographer. Lathia has a key interest in, portraiture, architecture, analogue photography, and documenting youth culture. This body of work was inspired by Frank Stella's, ‘What You See Is What You See’ mantra, Lathia's aim for this project was to eliminate all distractions and focus on the patterns, lines, geometric shapes, and colours found in buildings and structures.

Instagram: @d_lathia Twitter: @d_lathia

Divya Lathia

Urvashi Limbachya This piece is open to interpretations, and was created to be seen as a weird and eerie piece of art. The images of the weather were created to show one of the most common topics of discussions, spoken about amongst Brits on a daily basis. The moon images have connotations to mental health and how there are different phases of the moons, similar to the way all humans go through stages in their lives. This includes our internal struggles, as well as the external factors, such as the weather or moon. Mental health awareness is very important and allowing for others to share their stories and struggles are equally as important. The opposites also come into play with the day and night part of the project, showing how just a couple of hours can completely change all surroundings. This whole piece is an alternate perspective of what life is and how it can be seen.

Marco Minoletti

The meaning of ‘veil’ in this case is multifaceted, with there being a literal veil within the project as a fashion garment, but also the veil referring to a metaphoric shrouding of ‘woman’ within the surrealist movement by the hands of male artists who would deform, manipulate and sexualise female representations. This title is referential to the history of early Surrealism and the misogynistic basis in which it was founded upon. Throughout my work, the mask aims to represent the dehumanisation of women in a manner that is beautiful, removing their eyes which are a crucial part of one’s identity and replacing them with a piece of cultural iconography traditionally associated with femininity; flowers. This project tackles the overlooking of women within early Surrealism, through a method that embraces femininity, as opposed to fearing it as society and the founding surrealist members did.

Instagram: @marcominolettiphotography Website: marcominoletti.com

The Veil of Surrealism is a combination of art and fashion photography constructed around the early Surrealist movement, in opposition to works from its founding artists such as Hans Bellmer and René Magritte.

My work currently focuses on event photography and branding; helping promote events held by clients or helping promote businesses by photographing their products. Influenced by second and third year university modules, this experience allowed me to collaborate with clients in a professional environment. This is a career route that I strongly aspire to pursue post-graduation as I thoroughly enjoy producing work to a client’s needs and requirements, whilst doing something that I am truly passionate about. Throughout these experiences, I’ve been able to develop my style and aesthetic as a photographer, which I hope continue to develop.

Instagram: @ln_img Website: ln-img.com

Lauren Nip

Kaitelin O’Brien This exhibition evokes an immersive sense of the sublime by presenting large scale panoramic landscapes that drive an underlying feeling of megalophobia for its viewers. The composition of each scene depicts how thin the line of human existence is compared to the overpowering space of the natural world. This eludes to one’s realisation of how small our place is in this world, whilst engulfed in the land around us. For a moment we can mute our individual stresses by putting all focus into the vastness of our natural world. Provoking the question, ‘how safe and sound are we truly in this world?’

The exhibition allows you to physically stand back and experience the reality of humanity’s daily life, embedding an underlying message of how the smaller things should not cloud our whole vision – one can find comfort in the fear, intrigue and mystery of art and photography.

Instagram: @kaitelin_obrien Website: https://kaitelinobrien.wixsite.com/mysite How Safe and Sound?

Saarah Patel follows a feminist contemporary art movement, inspired by creatives such as Petra Collins and Maisie Cousins, who create conceptual art and challenge the boundary between fine art and photography. A Love Letter To My Younger Self is an autobiographical project that Patel has gifted to her younger self and the project is dedicated to her. The artist has a strong connection to her younger self and if she could give her one thing it would be this project; to let her know that she was stronger than she ever thought she was and to thank her younger self letting her know she is loved unconditionally. The audience learns more about the photographer as the work progresses, starting from Patel at a young age, to her at the end, aware of the restrictive standards of social media.

Instagram: @saarahphotography Website: www.saarahphotography.com

Saarah Patel

The intention for the work I’ve created was to progress further as a professional fashion photographer. Understanding multiple fashion lighting strategies, fashion retouching, concepts, and working with diversity through models and clients to build on my communication skills and knowledge, making them more fluent and stronger. I am very ambitious and passionate about the work I do and how I do it. Using my artistic ability and creativity to produce high-quality imagery and to capture details in the style of commercial, high-end, advertising campaign imagery to attract my viewer’s attention and engagement. In my project, I took my work further through working with brands, successfully making their visions into reality through the eye of my lens. Another intention of mine was to build a strong professional portfolio that would allow me to continue working with brands creating luxury fashion imagery nationally or internationally if the opportunity presented itself.

Instagram: @caseyevee.photos Website: https://caseyepettit.wixsite.com/photographer

Casey Pettit

L.O.T.U.S is a British Asian hip-hop rapper. His sophomore album Shakti blends Indian classical musical instruments with the modern sensibilities of western hip-hop to create L.O.T.U.S’ most diverse piece yet. Shakti is a tale of selfdiscovery and empowerment defined by duality. Duality is the core being of the album, in the form of cultural differences from his upbringing as a British Asian, to duality found in his religious belief. His music does not exist, nor does he.

Instagram: @Priyesh.rana.photography Website: www.priyeshrana.com

Priyesh Rana

The concept of Reflection is looking at yourself in the way you wish to be seen; through a series of interviews, I sought to create physical manifestations of my subjects’ dreams and fantasies about said reflections. With the images shown I am depicting femininity, freedom, and fragility. Femininity – subject felt out of touch with their femininity and sought to pose in gentle, soft, and dainty ways that make them appear stereotypically feminine. Freedom – subject felt that she had finally achieved a sense of freedom when moving to university. We chose to focus on water and Asian culture as our themes, taking images with a chiffon panel by the ocean where she attends university. Fragility – subject is myself, I felt as though I had nurtured a persona that is joyful and confident, rather than allowing myself to feel and show moments of vulnerability, in this way I felt I had lost a sense of fragility and sought to recreate that with imagery of flowers and gentle, soft aesthetics.

Instagram: @jriyadh.photography Website: https://jriyadhphotography.wixsite.com/jrphoto

Jazmin Riyadh

Harvey Robinson

My work represents the many varying feelings love can provide. From all the beauty in the good, to all of the pain within the bad. Love has so many different faces. I felt it would be true to myself, to approach it in this way, understanding my own views on Love and allowing them to influence my work. The initial aim of the work was to be my own form of self expression. However, upon showcasing it to other students, they found that their own ideas of love affected how they understood the work. I saw that it then became a piece of work that can be interpreted in many different ways. I hope that this makes you think of people, places and feelings. Anything and everything that you love.

Instagram: @HarveyRobinsonFilm Twitter: @HarveyRFilm

My work is reflecting a hugely personal step that I have taken over the past year and has been my first really personal piece of work. The work’s title is simply; Love.

In a world where we are trying to be more thoughtful about the environment, the way we think about clothing and where we buy our clothes from is becoming more important. Whether we buy clothes from a charity shop, vintage store, a website designed to help sell unwanted clothes or an item passed down from a relative, these options are a way of continuing to bring a new lease of life to old clothes and creating new memories. A photographic story inspired by hand-me-downs; this project documents clothes handed down from mother to daughter. Listening to the stories my mother had to tell me about some of the pieces she had, from where she wore it to the time and place she bought them, I have documented the items in a variety of ways. Using self-portraiture was a way to explore the personal aspect of the project by putting myself into my mother’s clothes.

Instagram: @sarah.cameralens Website: https://sarahcameralens.journoportfolio.com

Sarah Stevens

Made To Fit is a series of photographs showcasing the idea of uncomfortable fashion and women’s unattainable standards of body types in fashion. With societal standards constantly changing, women in fashion are under a spotlight to submit their bodies to clothing. The idea of being made to fit the clothing instead of the clothing to fit our bodies causes problems throughout society from fashion photography influences. In this series of images the clothing is typically ‘too big’ for the petite model and the pieces of clothing are being pulled from her to show her figure, stretching into standards that are opposing to what can be seen as stereotypical. As a female photographer I can relate to personal struggles with clothing and the body due to manipulation of what we see in magazines, social media and the fashion industry. Being inspired by the editorial fashion style, the messages that come into the images can be received in many ways. Relating from woman to woman, it is easy to fall into the trap of going along with others in society. Influences come from all angles. The male gaze plays a part in the effects on women in society but also in the fashion photography industry. This photo series shows that women can often be forced to fit into a mould within fashion standards and clothing representation.

Instagram: @chloe.mayphotography Website: https://chloestretton18.wixsite.com/chloemayphotos

Chloe Stretton

Instagram: @caitlintudorphotoart

Caitlin Tudor

It’s just one piece of plastic.” – they said, again and again... The beautification of nature that has been ruined by plastic challenges the way in which plastic pollution is overlooked and begs the question... How would our relationship with plastic change if discarded plastic, instead of being hidden, overlooked and forgotten about, was presented in this way?

I am a photographer and videographer originally from Bournemouth, Dorset and currently living in Leicester. I create mostly landscape and seascape photography, and while looking for a new way to experiment with my photography for my final major project, I chose to look down the path of intentional camera movement to show the landscapes around me in a different way. I called this project Landscape In Motion to represent the idea of creating motion in the landscapes. The 7-month long project lead to the creation of thousands of images with 140 of those being included in my photo-book. The project looks to bring out different emotions through the different movements, textures and colours of each photograph, and will take you through a journey from seascape to landscape.

Instagram: @amberwmedia @abstracts_icm Youtube: @amberwmedia

Amber Ware

My video explores the expectations of female beauty and mannerisms from a perspective of the male gaze. The male gaze and beauty expectations go hand in hand. Cinema that offers the male gaze constructs a specific look for the female counterpart on screen. These women are perceived in a certain way by the male protagonist and spectator and therefore becomes desirable for the female audience. The same applies to commercials or advertising who use ‘perfect’ woman according to society for a way to help sell their products. My videos are an exaggeration of the stereotypes aimed at women in society, creating a humorous and disturbing effect. The video starts with a fake commercial for a female razor brand, Prim and Proper, which takes a cheesy approach replicating the aesthetic that many ridiculous consumer commercials targeted at women feature. It includes very stereotypical and sexist hyperbole to draw attention to the matter. This piece emphasises why natural body hair is never shown in adverts targeted at women and designed to remove hair.

Instagram: @paiswphotography Website: paiswphotography.uk

Paisley Webb

The main part of the video Mal(e)function features the “perfect” housewife with a repetitive routine who becomes startled out of her robotic ways when things start to act out of the ordinary. The video develops into a fast-paced experimental piece as the character begins to malfunction.

FUTURE UNKNOWN is a short film that explores the concept of ‘coming of age’. It seeks to explore the emotions, issues and challenges that many young people face today. As an aspiring filmmaker I wish to create films that evoke emotion, and that people can get lost within. This is something that I hope this piece of work achieves. Colour and composition are some of the key elements used in this body of work to try and evoke this emotion. Sound is also a very important part of this project. For me, sound can really change a piece of work, if you were to watch a film with no sound it wouldn’t have merely the same emotional effects that it does without it, I feel that it allows me to explore the emotion to the next level.

Instagram: @visi0nsofhope Website: https://hopewillisvisions.wixsite.com/my-site

Hope Willis

Emotions such as fear, loneliness and uncertainty are portrayed, all reiterating the fact that the future is unknown.

Thanks Thank you to those students involved in helping with the Degree Show and Publication 2022. Thank you to the faculty and staff involved in not only the production of the catalogue and mounting the exhibition, but in supporting students throughout the year, including: Jim Boulton, Jeremy Collingwood, Tony LaHive, Dave Soden, Martin Shakeshaft, Huw Morgan, Sally Hossack, Matthew Pell, Will Baker, Gavin Kew, Nigel Essex, Mark Kasumovic and Jo Booth. A special thanks to Kate Cheyne, the School of Visual Arts and the Department of Arts, Design and Humanities for giving us an opportunity to share the students’ fine work both on-site and online.