BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion and Imaging E F P I 6 0 0 1 : C o n cep t R e s e a rc h a n d Implementation of a major project Concept Development and Experimentation ELLY TANAKA 0900605 25/09/2012
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Content
beginning
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Introduction.
Introduction
4 Time plan 5 - 11
Inspiration
12 - 16 Specific Research 18 - 26 Memory 27 - 29
Emotions and stories
30 - 34 Techniques 35 - 39
This portfolio is to show my concept research and implementation towards my final major project. I will providing evidence through indepth investigative research, experimenting and developing different kind of subject areas that will hopefully all come together towards my final concept.
Fashion Context
40 - 48 Development of concept
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50 - 53
Experimentation
54 - 57
Evidence of Reason
58 - 63
Potential Outcomes
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Bibliography
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SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
time management timeline plan.
Exhibitions for inspiration Basic Research (Interests)
Specific Research to narrow down my theme Anaylse research and development
Evaluate
Methods - Research Techniques
I have created a detailed schelude to programme my time management throughout my concept research and development of the final major project. This establishes my own personal timetable and to keep in control with the deadlines.
Where to start? initial thoughts. During the summer I tried to think about what my final major project could be about and I honestly did not know where to start. I thought about my real interests and what I would like to do for my final year. I tried to combine my interests with the skills I have to see what I could potentially come up with.
Collect content
-- Strengths & Interests Experimention techniques with content
-- Travelling - the culture -- Visual graphics
First Draft of SLA
Development of experiments in relation to theme
-- Photography & Videography -- Interaction with other people
Second Draft of SLA SLA Submission
Evidence of reason
TIME PLAN 4
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starting point visiting exhibitions. The first briefing at the beginning of the semester there was a list of exhibitions which they encouraged us to go to. I mostly get inspired when I look at other peoples work, therefore visiting the exhibitions really helped me out as I found a theme of what I liked collectively when I saw other artist’s work.
Design museum designed to win. An exhibition that combines design and sport, which enhances performances and function. Products showing the records and victories won by notorious atheletes. This is focused on the importance of design in sport’s culture as well as sport influencing design and art.
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Design museum Line Describing a Cone - 1973, Antony McCall
digital crystal. In collaboration with Swarovski, this exhibits the exploration in ways which we can recover that lost connection we have had. This looks into the meaning of memory of how we can display it in a virtual creative way. In connection to looking at the relationship between objects and time we have had memories with, it shows how else we can reconnect with our past through the digital age and how else we can experience it.
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Tate Modern The tanks: Art in action. McCall displays the boundaries between a sculpture and film, light and dark and encourage the audience as the viewers to interact within the exhibition. In the process of being able to fully understand the whole experience, you need to be able to move around and look at the projections you make.
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Saatchi gallery out of focus: photography. This exhibition is an installation view of a collective of artists’ photograph that is in the theme of ‘out of focus’. I personally took inspiration in the way the photograph’s were presented and how effective some of their composition were. The result of looking at black and white photos really motivated me to go back into film photography. This made me want to experience more of film photography.
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Saatchi Gallery The nine eyes of google street view. Rafman’s work ‘explores the paradoxes of modernity’. He displays photographs taken from his camera that is work for Google street map view, however he presents the fascinating photos of experiencing realism in other towns and cities.
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Evaluation inspiration thought process. From viewing the Google photos I found it really captivating as I thought that the moments captured in those photographs are something so unusual for us but in the place that was taken, it is a normal thing. So what is ‘not normal’? I loved the feeling the photos gave me as it captures the real moment and the realness of what goes on in the world. It was very memorizing and also bought back to ‘Digital Crystal’ exhibition in how people will always like to hold onto their memories. How else can we hold our memories and store them? What do we want to remember the most? What are your happiest memories? What is your most important memory? Diaries can hold permanent memories as you look back. These are stories which you can tell/learn from. Learn through experience, mistakes... the relationships, friendships.
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Relationships between people and objects, people and places or even songs. Whenever you’re in a situation you are happiest in, you know it’s going to be a good moment/memory. I feel that people need to feel and have more time to hold the moment to properly experience the good memories you make. How do I show this? How do I freeze time/moment? Video time lapse photography. From looking into different methods of techniques I could try and capture a ‘moment’ that creates a good visual imagery.
JEFF WALL photography. Wall captures the details of the real world which adds to the atmosphere of the photos. The photos hace a sense of realism as the subject gives off a performance to add to the emotion of the photograph. The pictures tell a story about people and their naturalness or urban habitat. Wall carefully considers the location of the photographs as a place can already create that mood. A good example of having a sense of realness is a cityscape photo as you see it at a slight bird’s eye view and feel what’s happening in the world. Taking a step back to see everything. These two photographs have a sense of cinematography which Wall is known for.
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U n i t e d v i s u al Artists Architecture, Live Performance, Moving image, sculpture. UVA’s aim for every project is to be meaningful and engaging to the audience. Looking through their portfolio is truly inspirational as technology is heavily influenced on each project. Through researching their portfolio of work, it’s nice to know the actual meaning for each of their project. It’s a thought and meaning that everyone thinks so for them as creatives to produce some sort of architecture or sculpture, they do it to their full potential. I looked into UVA’s work to keep within the theme of virtuality architecture as I saw in Digital Crystal. Their work has real meanings and that is what I hope to do with my final major project.
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Gazelli art house Let there be light. While researching UVA’s work, I came across that they had an exhibition on and knew that I had to go look at their work in real life. They were displaying a piece called ‘Always/Never’. This represents time and our experience of it passing by. The light and shade symbolize a sundial showing day and night. The subtle lights, orange highlighting day time and the blue mirroring night time. The piece as a whole shows the 365 days in the year while each part of the triangle represents a day.
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Gazelli art house Let there be light.
Scanned photos of ‘list of works’ at the exhibition.
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As I have quite an interest in lighting, I found this exhibition really intriguing. Especially Stanley Casselman’s work (photo on the right), as it was more of an experience. It was a dark room and you sort of absorbed the different colours flowing through the textured acrylic on polyester fabric. As the lighting seeps through, it immediately creates a theraputic, relaxing mood. You sort of day dream there in the room, just looking at the soft colours while it moves around the fabric.
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memory
The Sc i e n ce Museum
mem·o·ry
Who am i?
the mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving facts, events, impressions, etc., or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences.
There is a part of Science Museum where everything explains in depth about humans. One of the parts is about the brain. When I questionned about ‘why memory is so important’ I remembered that the Science Museum explained a lot about it. There is a list of factual things about memory, how and why it works.
noun, plural
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W hy i s y o u r m e m o r y s o important? Your memory is your brain’s filing system. It contains everything you have learnt. You can store an amazing amount of information – for example, as a child you learned around ten new words a day, and you may eventually know 100,000 or more.
How does your memory work? How does your brain lay down and retrieve memories? Your brain is made up of 100 billion neurons. As you grow and develop, these neurons are ‘wired up’ to each other, and communicate through thousands of connections – synapses. Memories are formed when certain connections are strengthened.
ice cream you ate. The information making up this memory would be stored in many parts of your brain – in the areas dealing with sensations of temperature, taste, face recognition and language. Other areas oversee the laying down, storage and retrieval of these memories.
How do you create memories? A part of your brain called the hippocampus is vital for forming new memories. Scientists think that the experiences making up a memory are sent from the senses to the cortex, then on to areas surrounding the hippocampus. These ‘bind’ the memory together, before it is sent to the hippocampus itself, where information about context or location is added.
experienced them. So for a complete memory (composed of sights, sounds, etc.) to be retrieved, all the different bits must be brought together. How this happens is still a mystery, but it may be co-ordinated by the hippocampus.
Remember or forget? Why are some experiences more memorable than others? Routine events interrupted by something unusual are remembered more intensely, such as a day at work or school when you received some surprising news. The hippocampus is the structure in the brain most closely aligned to memory formation. It is important as an early storage place for long–term memory, and it is involved in the transition of long–term memory to even more enduring permanent memory.
What happens if you lose your How does your brain control H o w d o n e u r o n s c r eat e short-term memory? working memory? memories? How do connections between neurons become strengthened, so that the connection is ‘remembered’? Scientists know that if they give an electrical impulse to a pair of neurons, the two will communicate more easily in the future. This process is known as long-term potentiation (LTP). The effect can last for weeks, or even months – long enough to make a memory. LTP is especially obvious in the hippocampus, one of the areas of the brain active in memory.
People with amnesia gave doctors the first clues that the hippocampus is vital for converting short-term memories into long-term ones. People who have a damaged hippocampus, or whose hippocampus was removed to relieve epilepsy, keep their earlier memories, but cannot lay down new ones. A person with this sort of amnesia would not forget that New Year’s Eve is 31 December, but would have no memory of the last New Year’s Eve party they went to.
When you use your working memory, you have instantly to retrieve many different memories and keep them all in your mind at once. For example, to talk to a friend on the phone, you need to recognise their voice, understand what they are saying, and think up replies. This ‘on-line’ information seems to be held in the prefrontal cortex area of your brain. Working memory is crucial for solving problems and making plans.
Where are your memories?
Where do you store long-term How good is your memory? memories?
Say you went for a walk in the park: you might remember the weather, the person you were with, the conversation you had and the flavour of the
There is no single ‘store’ in your brain for long-term memories. Instead, they are all over the cortex, in the brain areas which were active when you first
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You store most things in your brain for only a short time – for example, you can remember a phone number long enough to make the call, but then usually forget it. This is your short-term memory in action: your working memory. But information
can pass into your long-term memory, where it stays for days, weeks, or even your whole life.
What is long-term memory? You have different sorts of long-term memories – memories of events, how to do things and facts. Your memories of things that have happened to you help you deal with the present and plan for the future. Your memory of how to do things like riding a bike will allow you to do something automatically once you have learnt how. Facts, such as names, events and places, on the other hand, have to be consciously retrieved.
What is working memory? Your working memory is the ‘blackboard of your mind’. You use it when adding up a bill or thinking up a sentence. To do any of these things, you need to instantly retrieve and use many different bits of information. Many researchers think that working memory is the key to human intelligence – enabling us to solve problems and plan ahead.
What is your earliest memory? For most people, their earliest memory is a fragment of something that happened when they were 3 or 4 years old. You cannot access most of your childhood memories by the time you grow up. But your memories did become easier to retrieve after you were old enough to describe them in words. It may be that your early memories were laid down in a form that your mind either cannot understand or cannot find.
Can you improve your memory?
Practice can improve your memory for facts dramatically. Simple ways include associating a picture with a word, making up a story, or rhymes (‘30 days hath September’). The key is to associate facts with meanings – a strategy used by professional memorisers, or mnemonists. Associations can sometimes lead to false memories – if you see a list of closely linked words (sugar, chocolate, cake), you might ‘remember’ a related word that was not in the list (sweet).
left side of the brain deals with language. One explanation for déjà vu is that there is a split-second delay in transferring information from one side of the brain to the other. One side of the brain would then get the information twice – once directly, and once from the ‘in charge’ side. So the person would sense that the event had happened before.
Know any memory tricks?
Nearly everyone’s memory gets worse to some extent as they get older – it takes longer to recall information. This seems to be due to general ‘wear and tear’ of the brain. But imagine life without memory. You wouldn’t be able to remember your name, how to look after yourself or recognise your family and friends.
The ancient Greeks and Romans were very skilled at using memory. As very few of them could read or write, lawyers and politicians had to speak for hours without notes. The Roman lawyer Cicero recommended breaking a long text into bits. Then he would visualise a familiar place – a house, for example – and put different bits of the text in different rooms. To recall it again, he would just walk through the imaginary house, room by room.
What is déjà vu? Have you ever experienced déjà vu (French for ‘already seen’) – the feeling that something has happened before, when in fact it’s happening for the first time? Déjà vu is more common in younger people, in people with a certain form of epilepsy, and also when you are ill, tired or stressed. It may last for just a few seconds or several minutes. How your mind can fool you in this way is still a mystery, although there are several theories about it.
Can you imagine losing your memory?
What is amnesia? Many things can cause amnesia, for example head injury, surgery, alcoholism, certain drugs and disease. There are different types of amnesia – some are temporary, others permanent. Amnesia can affect the storing of new memories, or the retrieving of old ones, or sometimes both. Amnesia rarely affects memories of how to do things. Most sufferers can still carry out daily activities like getting dressed or cooking, even if afterwards they cannot remember where they were at the time.
What causes déjà vu? One side of your brain is usually ‘in charge’ of a particular skill – for example, in most people, the
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Serpentine Gallery Memory Marathon. The marathon was a three day weekend, where a collective of artist’s, scientists, writers, film makers and engineers discussed about memory. Audiences could engage with the public speakers and get involved in a discussion. Topics talked about in the marathon were things such as how the digital age has influenced our memory and experiencing the connection between senses and memory.
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When a good memory is remembered and told, it is always a good story. You pass on the experiences and stories to other people and learn from past history.
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Oh Comely
Stephen Wiltshire
Personal Stories
Documents memory into drawings.
A story telling article about someone’s memorable past. These are the types of stories that I would like to ask and find people to tell me their memorable stories or things that have happened to them in the past. I like finding out that connection people have with a particular story or something like an object. I also find it quite nice and endearing hearing stories about experiences that have happened to other people in the past.
Wiltshire is an autistic boy who can memorize clear details of buildings and draws it throughly. Here he draws a skyline of New York City in three days from a twenty minute helicopter ride. He didn’t speak much when he was a child, however he speaks through his drawings and document pretty much remember specific detail of what he draws. This is another type of method of memory documentation. https://vimeo.com/26599306
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The Werby Gallery
Emotions
‘Students document memories in art gallery’.
Melancholy linking with creativity.
While researching other ways people document their own memories. I came across this article on the Internet about how people wanting to experience the same feeling and story that has happened to the students. The sense of ‘being there’ in the moment is created in a room. Other artworks are there such as photographs and objects of a place the artist has been and created a whole room so you can feel that you are actually are where the artist wants to you be.
After a group tutorial with Ross Trevail, while discussing about my project, he suggested I look into melancholy and the meaning to it. I then found an interesting and very relatable article that was on Dazed Digital but in the Italian Issue an interview with other artist’s about the relationship with melancholia and art, fashion and design.
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MELANCHOLIA I: ART & DESIGN AND FASHION November 21, 2011
Our cultural investigation into the most noble yet threatening sentiment of Saturn's children. Text by Tommaso Fagioli
On the wake of the recent Italian release of Lars von Trier’s last grandiose picture Melancholia, we asked some of our Roman followed artists their point of view regarding this noble yet threatening sentiment. Sense of loss, lack of interest and initiative, wistfulness, slowing of mental processes and operations, sadness, emptiness, feelings of worthlessness and self-devaluation, thoughts of death and… creativity. The so-called melancholia manifests itself in a very extensive range that goes from neurosis to psychosis, from moods related to the everyday life to behavioural disorders to… geniality. As the provocative Danish director puts it: “Melancholia, it’s a beautiful word, often abused, it’s a mental state that I know pretty well, a sentiment that pervades every art." Melancholia:from ancient Greek: (melas) + (kholé) = “dark bile”, according to the “humoral theory” developed by Hippocrates who firstly used the term in a medical way.
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ART+DESIGN Satellite Voices: Describe your melancholia: what do you do? / What’s the most melancholic thing you ever said, heard or thought? Gianni Politi (artist): I light a cigarette realising how bad this is for me / I think ‘life’s shit and then you die’ hence convincing myself that, ‘you can take smoke out of existentialism’. Anna Zwanziger (FX & make-up artist): Melancholy is the need to feel sad, to judge, commiserate and console oneself. I like to escape into the darkness and total silence, preferably in small spaces like a closet. / Once on the metro I saw a boy who was desperately crying... I tried so hard to talk to him, I gave him a handkerchief. He didn’t even notice I was there. When he arrived at his stop, he wiped his face with his arm and went out. Giuseppe Ragazzini (painter & designer): My melancholy is a regret: regret of wasting time, regret I didn’t do everything I could, of missed opportunities, regret of the past. / The memories of a love that no longer exists, leaving a place that I know I’ll never see again, saying ‘not again’ knowing it’s a lie.
Melancholia
Stories
Looking into art and design linked with emotions
Questions
To broaden my research of looking into memories with emotion, during my tutorial with Ross and Jason. Ross suggested to look into melancoly as it is an interesting unknown emotion. I then came across this article about art and design and the connection to melancoly.
Continuing on with memory, as the topic is quite broad I thought about all sorts of questions to ask people. I thought about favourite childhood memories, earliest memories or holiday memories. I then asked a friend of mine what his favourite holiday memory was just to see what kind of answer he would give me. The answer he gave me was very sweet and made me laugh, which is exactly the kind of story I would like to read. You understand the experience that person went through and makes you remember about your experience in particular. This is his story:
FASHION SV: Do you find melancholia inspiring? / What’s people reaction when you get melancholic? Annalisa Adore (fashion designer): Yes, I find melancholia a really creative condition, it makes me more intuitive and that smashing sense of desperation allows me to find energies that I would not be able to find otherwise. / When I am melancholic people have the perception that I am happy, because I am in a hard labour for new ideas, so I can state that melancholy is the pregnancy of any of my creations. Nello Accardo Rioli (stylist and blogger): Melancholy is out. I mean, given the times we live in, is a state of mind that I would not recommend even to my worst enemy. Because you are forced to relate to an increasingly sluggish interns and the Chinese market that is really becoming a nightmare. / Personally, I am inspired by the flowers. I can spend whole days watching colourful flowers. The colours are important. Still do not understand the colourless flowers but I might not have that kind of sensitivity to understand them.
One of my favourite holiday memories will always be the taxi journey heading to the airport before flying out to Tenerife. I was in Year 2 I think and hadn’t been abroad before so I was definitely excited about the prospect of flying. I hadn’t left the country before, it was the very first stage of getting there and I just remember being so excited. It was a night drive to the airport and I think the experience of being with loads of my relatives and being so young and not used to anything remotely like that before was just so cool. It was one of those big package holidays where loads of you go and I think everybody else must’ve been buzzing about it as well so the overall mood in the minibus was just so positive. I’d probably never been allowed to be up that late before as well which is a huge deal at that age. I probably felt invincible and got mega ecstatic off sweets. I remember for literally years afterwards if I was getting in a car and it was dark, I’d instantly think about that holiday and that particular journey. It just opened me up to a completely new experience of travel and at such a young age I guess things like that stick with you because you’re subconsciously aware of what a big deal it is. I’ve always been the nostalgic type too and I think it’s thanks to that experience.
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Cinemagraphs ‘Capturing the moment.’ It is an image (.gif) that contains within itself a living moment that allows a glimpse of time to be experienced and preserved endlessly. While thinking of trying to capture the moment, I thought cinemagraphs was a good technique to show a subtle movement. You get a sense of feel when you see cinemagraphs, as the photo comes more alive.
D o g f i s h H ea d craft Brewery showing the Process
The creators of CInemagraphs are friends with Samlagione, the founder of Dogfish and they helped create a series of cinemagraphs to show the process of the beer that is made in the brewery. “Their amazing cinemagraphs have a mystical effect of bringing the viewr into the moment.”
The movement you see in real life captures in a cinemagraph and has more of a focal point in that specific photo.
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The process shown makes you see more clearly how their company works. The series of cinemagraphs shown made me think of how I could make a narrative story come alive and produce it using this technique.
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Time Lapse
Time Lapse
‘capturing the moment’
learning techniques
Thinking of other techniques to show how to capture the moment was a time lapse video. With this technique you can slow or speed up the moment.
Baraka was also another film to reference and take inspiration from if I wanted to take on time lapse video. Baraka was more about looking into the nature of the world and was again directored and filmed by Ron Fricke.
While researching time lapse videos I looked into how it originated and I came across Koyaanisqatsi and Baraka. The films was directed by Ron Fricke and he was one of the first to create and show a typical technique with slow motion and time lapse footage of cities and landscapes.
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Vimeo Time Lapse Videos I also looked into Vimeo for reserach in other time lapse video as I have seen a few good landscape and cities videos creating the same technique. The feeling you get when you watch them is really engaging and memorizing. I love the sense of reality and you get a feel of the world is actually like. You are taken aback as sometimes I feel you forget there is a whole world out that.
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how can I relate this to Fashion Promotion? Need to look into fashion films and how stories are created in videos. Story telling theme within the fashion industry?
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MIU MIU
MIU MIU
It’s getting Late
It’s getting Late
A camera follows a day in a life of four working women in LA and looks closely into them getting ready for the evening.
Dazed Digital: The project celebrates exclusively inspiring female directors. How was it to be part of that?
‘Each film explores the feminine love affair with Miu Miu through the lens of their diverse sensibilities.’
Massy Tadjedin: It was a great experience. It was different and cool to shoot something with only women in it and we had such creative freedom to explore anything we wanted, really. The films are all so different and they were great company to be included among. DD: Your previous work, like ‘Last Night’, has dealt with tangled relationships and ‘It’s Getting Late’ touches upon this theme too. How did you translate the same intensity of thought and emotion you would use to show in a feature-length film into a short? Massy Tadjedin: We tried to capture private moments in the short – the conversations we have with ourselves, the thoughts we don’t speak, the preoccupations that capture our mind, the considerations that are part of getting ready for something. I imagined some of those moments and then their expression rested largely with the great actresses in the short. DD: What about creating a persona through styling? Massy Tadjedin: The things we wear and how we wear them are choices we’ve made to show or conceal parts of ourselves. Selecting them is both an intimate and revealing process – and that duality is fascinating. The selection can say so
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much about us before we’ve even spoken a word. DD: What do you admire about Miu Miu? Massy Tadjedin: Miu Miu is such a beautiful and vibrant brand. Their clothes are so feminine and memorable and distinct and there’s so much art and expression in the clothing which makes it that much more exciting to wear. I also admire the people behind the brand, they’re all very inspiring.
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“We make our faces, our suits, our selves just a little more ready for wherever it is we’re going. Fashion is never just the clothes. It’s our mood, our excitement for something, our expectations, our attitudes, our outlooks. Managing those is often what getting ready is all about and that’s what our short tries to capture.” - Massy Tadjedin
Fashion Context Relatable projects Looking at other fashion projects that could relate to my concept was the relationship with an object and a memory that people could create with. As a reference to Burberry’s Trench Coat and Hermès ‘J’aime Mon Carre’ where the brand brings in the audience so they can interact with them. These are certain clothing where you can personalise your memories with them and tell your story/photo. This is relatable to how my project is, in how you can create your own memories with an object.
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Thought process Note taking and journey Thinking of memory and other themes I could relate memory too. I thought about memory and time, memory and senses to try and think of a good visual theme. In my journel it does show how I did somehow go off on a tangent with flowers. Just a general thought of how I could make my project into something else. However, I decided not to go through with this sort of direction as it was too different to the direction my project could go towards.
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Evaluation Which direction to go with themes After reevaluating my project based on memory, I felt that I need to go into a direction of a specific theme in connection with memory. There’s so many things to do with memory it’s hard to narrow it down. I thought about memory and senses, memory and time, memory and objects and even then I thought it was quitcd. I then thought about just questionning people about their memories. However, after a tutorial session with Chris, he helped me to maybe just combine the memory and objects and the senses you get in relation to that specific object. Hopefully I find something inspiring when I ask people about their stories with a particular object and can create something out of their answers.
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Answers Stories from people I asked about memories and object
Questionnaire Finding out peoples’ stories My first step of whether people do have objects that evoke a memory is to find out what their stories are. Primary research has to take place before I can think about any outcome towards my project and it is also to show evidence of whether my theory is right. Therefore, I began thinking of questions to ask people that would also relate to their memory and senses. I sent the questionnaire to a few of my friends and I asked them if they would send it out to their parents and grandparents as I wanted a various age range of answers. The older the person is the more experience they have had in their life, therefore have more memories to pick from. I feel that older people have more stories to tell to people which are usually more interesting.
My project is based on memory. I need to collect information about people’s connection to a memory and an object. If you could help me answer a few questions for my project that would be great.
I sent the questionnaires via email and people answered them back to me through email or some have been written and sent the back to me. I was quite surprised with a few of the answers that people have given as some were an unusual object.
What’s the most memorable/sentimental object you have ever owned?
Trevor Cambridge, 80 What kind of memory does it evoke? Describe the feeling or story with the object.
Describe the product. What materials is it made out of?
Depending on the product, does it have a certain smell? Maybe something that reminds you of something/someone.
Does the product make a noise? If so, what kind of noise?
I have given much thought to my reply and have decided to offer/describe two objects of great sentiment and memory for me. Object ONE. This has to be my Mothers Wedding Ring, worn by her from the day of her marriage to my father in 1929 until she died in 1999. She never removed it from her finger durwing her marriage lifetime.
What is it?............. Just a plain 9ct gold band , no inscription, obviously worn with age and general wear . As a piece of jewellery its value today is probably quite low. It is its sentimental value both to her and myself which is impossible to quantify. To her it signified her love for my father, her
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husband and the importance of their marriage. They were a devoted couple and wonderful parents. grandparents and great grandparents and so very proud of all their off spring
To me it is a reminder of the love and help, support and encouragement she gave me all her life. It is also a tangible reminder of the first woman I fell in love with........My Mother!. Memories it evokes would fill a book and more. Life with her, her care and devotion to us as a family. Her skills and talents,...............she was a very good tailoress. She was a good pianist and gave great entertainment long before the days of television. An excellent cook and a gardener of great enthusiasm. And her wedding ring would have been with her in all of these activities!!
Object TWO. This is a picture. dated circa 1920 and painted by Henry Harris a Bristol painter, a journeyman who made a living painting portraits and pictures and selling them door to door I understand my Grandfather bought it in 1922 as a present for my Grandmother on her fortieth birthday. It is of a donkey and chicken in a stable, approx 12x10” oil on canvas and I had it reframed in gilt frame of the period when it was cleaned back in 1993 Its value is approx £1200 but in memory term is priceless It hung on the stairway in my grandparents house in Bristol and one of my earliest memories, I would have been 2/3 years old was of being held up to say good night to the donkey in the stable! It now lives in our lounge and I still say good night to the Donkey!!
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nick allam, 25
joe allam, 21
What’s the most memorable/sentimental object you have ever owned?
What’s the most memorable/sentimental object you have ever owned?
Grandpa’s guitar.
I inherited my Grandpa’s wall maps after both my grandparents died, one is a map of the world and the other is a map of the UK.
What kind of memory does it evoke? Describe the feeling or story with the object. It brings back a ton of memories from my childhood and being taught how to play the guitar. Also, listening to the many times my grandpa played and sung folk music is a very vivid memory. Describe the product. What materials is it made out of? Wood, brass, ivory, plastic, nylon. Depending on the product, does it have a certain smell? Maybe something that reminds you of something/someone. Smells like Grandpa’s guitar case Does the product make a noise? If so, what kind of noise? It makes a noise like a guitar!
What kind of memory does it evoke? Describe the feeling or story with the object. Every time I look at them, I am reminded of trips to the loft at my grandparents house. They used to hang over the stairs and I would stand leaning against the banister for hours looking at them and learning about the world. Out of all the grandchildren, I had the largest interest in geography and the world and I am so glad that I was able to inherit them. Describe the product. What materials is it made out of? They are slightly laminated paper maps with plastic tubes at the top and bottom to keep them flat when hanging on the wall. There is also some tape around the backs of the tubes because they are so old, they have begun to fall apart. Depending on the product, does it have a certain smell? Maybe something that reminds you of something/someone.
the UK one because it is much older. It has an old papery/dusty smell and reminds me of the loft at my grandparents. Does the product make a noise? If so, what kind of noise? It doesn’t make much of a noise really, but with paper at such a large size it has a distinct rustle when you roll it up.
ROb Jones, 21 What’s the most memorable/sentimental object you have ever owned? Sentimental and probably equally as memorable is my daddy’s watch. What kind of memory does it evoke? Describe the feeling or story with the object. Well obviously it makes me think of my dad. But I aways remember him wearing it when I was little and I used to put it on when it was on his dresser. He had another watch that he probably wore more towards the end of his life, but I asked my mum if I could have this one because it’s the one that always makes me think of him. It’s his posh watch, so he’d put it on after work or on Sundays when he put on a shirt and went the pub. So I only wear it on special occasions or if I go somewhere where I think it’s appropriate. Like I wouldn’t wear it to the pubs I go to cos they are horrible, but if I go somewhere I think my dad would go I put it on. I also think I wear it on these occasions because my dad has passed away, so these are the occasions that I’d normally go to with him. if that makes sense. Describe the product. What materials is it made out of?
well it looks like this. Depending on the product, does it have a certain smell? Maybe something that reminds you of something/someone. strap smells like leather. watch like metal. Does the product make a noise? If so, what kind of noise? it ticks.
The world map has a more distinctive smell than
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Richard Allam, 53 My earliest memory of the desk was as a very small child being frightened never to let the top down in case it locked. The reason for this was that it has a special lock that is very difficult to pick should the key get lost. There was an occasion when one of my sisters locked the key inside the desk. A locksmith was called and after some considerable time managed to pick the lock; unfortunately he had not even got to his van when the top was shut again with the key still inside! So as children we were always threatened with near death if we ever closed the lid!!
James Rooney, 63
Jenny Rooney, 57
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My parents gave me the desk about ten years ago. To relieve my kids of the threat of an early demise should they ever close the desk I removed the lock and put it somewhere safe. After a while the roll top on the desk became worn and eventually part of the top broke of. For a while it was stored back in my parents roof space, I then had it back with a view to try and repair it. As this proved more difficult than I anticipated my father paid to have the desk restored. On having it back, the first thing my father did was to present me with the key which had kept on his key rink for about 15 years, the only trouble was I couldn’t remember where I had put the lock for safe keeping. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that despite him looking after the key for all that time I no longer had the lock and kept quiet about it. I did eventually find the lock and put it back on.
A few years later, the whole family were at my house for Boxing Day, my young nephew (who is a little shit), suddenly appeared holding the key to the desk – the whole family erupted in NO – GET IT OFF HIM!! The poor little sod nearly wet himself in fright! I have tried to get a spare key cut but apparently it is not possible, so I now keep the lock removed and the key safely on my key ring! The desk is an antique and made of oak and it has a very slight musky smell. When the lid is opened and closed it makes a very distinctive wooden rolling noise.
Deborah Cambridge, 51 A little knitted teddy with a mouse like head and ears which is small enough to couple in a hand. It was given to me by a girl who lived down the road. She knitted him and gave to me when I was about 6. A cute little creature that got introduced to so many of my family members and friends over the coming years. He became a mascot and I took him to school when studing and taking all my final exams. He sat on my desk in all the exam. I named him Fishface. I dont quite know how that na,e really came about. He is well travelled too, being packed into my luggage when going on holidays and special events. Also shared the sad too and whilst in hospitalonce he was brought to my side. He was a comfort to cuddle when not well. He’s put a smile on all the peoples faces that he has been introduced to! People that have moved away and I may not have seen from my younger years and we may have then reminisced and he has come into the conversations and made us all laugh. Even surprised some people that he is still about and doing well at 45 years of ages. My two sons when they were young would have a chuckle about him too and always amazed when he would appear on trips away from home. Neither of them took him on as they knew how much he belonded to mum. At times I will go down memory lane and smile to myself of all the places he has been to and continues to go with me. My eldest son wonders what will happen to him when I am no longer here. He thinks he should be put with me.
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A short video of Richard Allam talking about his memories and stories that is evoked from the Roll Top Desk.
I took a couple of photos of the objects that were answered in the questionnaire. I also filmed the memory being told in connection with an object with the roll top desk in the picture above. This is something I hope to produce a little short documentary styled film as an experiment.
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Smokers’ habit of a cigarette movement.
A pianists’ movement in an everyday environment and a drummers’ habit.
A memory of where a wedding ring used to be, still makes it a present habit.
Experimentation Testing out techniques I thought of ways to produce my work along with the answers/stories that were told. During this term, there was a 24 hour project that was set to students which was to collabrate with someone and work beside them for 24 hours. As myself and Rosa discussed previously we wanted to work together, we thought about how our potential projects so far could combine together. As Rosa’s project was about people’s everyday movements, we put together a theme of memory and movements. As I had researched into the technique of cinemagraphs thought that this would reflect well in highlighting a subtle movement.
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http://memovement.tumblr.com
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Experimentation film photogarphy Another technique which I wanted to test out as I like film photographs that come out grainy and gives off that old effect. I learnt film photography 4 years ago, however I haven’t progressed any of my skills with it. So I took a few photographs of objects that evoked a memory for me to get used to a film camera again and trying out different effects.
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Black and white film photography from pictures of the 24 Hour project and other objects which I was testing out the camera with.
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Evidence of reason
Evidence of reason
Paula Salischiker
Lynn Powers
After my project started becoming clearer, I then looked into other artists who may have done a similar project. I came across Salischiker who started this project called ‘The memory of objects’ in 2004, and it started by people she asked to give her an object that once belonged to someone they had known and a photograph of the person. She then combined both elements as a gesture of remembrance to the lives that had ended.
Powers show a collection that explores the objects of the artist’s memory through collage, paintings and sculpted pieces.
Can photography fill the emptiness of death? Is a photograph enough to remember someone’s existence? Could objects and photographs be considered key elements in bringing us back the certainty of a past? Perhaps in the longevity of objects and images we find the same painful truth: the inanimate cannot die. After we are gone, we might be remembered through small things, pieces of who we were will be kept by others in an attempt to hold on to the past.
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Memory
Evidence of reason
Memory makes us who we are and give us our sense of time and place.
Life Events
Personal Ritual
Telling Tales
Object Memories
A life can be measured in many ways:
Life is given structure by ritual and routine;
With the passing of time, life becomes history.
In time objects gain life histories of their own
we take comfort in the familiar patterns of each day.
What happens today is transformed by tomorrow
acquiring new meanings with each generation.
Some of these are public and community-based
into just another story that fades and is forgotten.
This is just as true of objects in museums
whilst others are more intimate, intensely personal -
But we look for ways of holding onto history,
As it is of domestic and personal possessions.
Manchester Art gallery
It can reduce us to tears or bring about a smile.
Came across a display that explores the different types of memories and stories that people associate with objects at the Manchester Art Gallery. There aren’t any photos from this display, however this is the text that is displayed there. The texts explain what my project is about, especially the text for ‘Object Memories’.
But memory is elusive and plays games with us too,
t h r o u g h h i s t o r y, k n o w l e d g e , c a r e e r a n d achievement.
shifting with time and confusing the facts.
But the personal moments are what really shape us,
Objects have long been used to help us remember.
providing the measure and meaning of life.
we invest them with meaning and importance.
Birth and childhood, love and partnership,
My reasons for the theme of my project shows that there are similar projects out there that show a similar area to the direction I am going towards.
We all keep objects that mean something special,
old age, death and whatever comes next;
From sitting in front of a dressing room mirror
from family heirlooms to a favourite coffee mug.
these are the emotional milestones of life,
preparing yourself for the day ahead,
of struggle and sadness, laughter and joy.
to relaxing in the bath when the day’s work is done,
All the objects on display in this gallery
They are the making of human experience
our lives are made up of these little performances
have their own particular life histories.
and are shared by us all, across time and culture.
that keep us feeling healthy, happy and connected.
Some were once treasured personal possessions,
They become the memories we treasure most.
These are the times we devote entirely to ourselves,
As a physical reminder of past events,
small moments that keep us in touch with ourselves.
and some commemorate historic events.
of fixing it, keeping it real and alive for future generations to know.
members of the local Chinese Wai-Yin Society, Mementoes, keepsakes and souvenirs
from collections in the Gallery’s stores.
form the subject of this display.
Selected for their beauty and craftsmanship,
Objects that celebrate and commemorate,
or for the messages and memories they convey,
that speak of lives lived and events unfolding,
the display is one of personal choices and stories.
from the coronation of kings
we invest them with meaning and importance.
to the fond memory of a seaside holiday.
We all keep objects that mean something special,
to the contemplation of our space in the world.
Others evoke memories of a past way of life.
As the days of our lives slip steadily by,
This section explores these stories more closely.
the objects that mark out these life events take on a special significance. From christening robes and wedding rings to widow’s weeds and tombstones, they become both personal memorials and reminders of our shared humanity.
The objects in this case have been chosen by
from family heirlooms to a favourite coffee mug. Some of these stories are from recent history;
All the objects on display in this gallery
Here are personal possessions of an intimate nature,
things you might well remember yourself.
have their own particular life histories.
the contents of pockets and handbags,
Others are older, tales from centuries ago.
Some were once treasured personal possessions,
aids to beauty, good health and long life,
All of these things happened once,
and some commemorate historic events.
the means for putting our thoughts down on paper.
and were as real as this morning’s news.
Others evoke memories of a past way of life.
All these objects reflect our most private moments,
The cheapest souvenir can be a potent reminder.
This section explores these stories more closely.
and all form the subject of Personal Ritual.
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Saving Memory Ways to display work I thought about how to present my project for my final outcomes. I know I wanted to make a short film/ documentary so people can see the stories and make it more personal. I also thought about having that particular object that evokes the memory displayed in front of you with headphones so someone would be telling you the story about that specific memory they have with it. Other outcomes I thought about was a book which then lead on to me thinking about making a hand made book with hand made papers. I really liked the book binding workshop I did during first year and wanted to take this on further, however I didn’t have the time so now is the chance to do that.
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Book Inspiration Possible outcome From the beginning I have always wanted to make a book or have a collection of books for my outcome to present my work. With this I decided to look into Paul Smith’s autobiography book called ‘You can find inspiration in everything: and if you can’t, look again.’. From this book I really liked the different use of papers to present the chapters. This then lead me to think about possible papers I could use for a book I could make. I also looked into how he presented a story telling chapter with actual photos of the things he would be talking about in the book.
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http://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artist,show,1,130,0,0,0,0,0,0,miya ko_ishiuchi.html
Book Binding Inspiration in book making Researching into book binding and finding images of different types of book binding and making inspired me to think of other outcomes. The top photo shows little compartments of the books and I thought that would fit quite nicely with my project when you try and find/look for a story. The photo below also made me think about how I could make a picture book with image transfers as the see through effect reminds me of a ghost like past. This is very fitting for my project as people do look back and memories are made in the past.
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MiYAko Ishiuchi mother’s 39 This series of photographs is inspired from the artist’s mothers death. The photographs are very bleak and cold which brings out a raw, sad emotion. The photographs are taken in black and white which reflects nicely on how I have taken film pictures in black and white too. As I have been looking into book making, the way Ishiuchi has made a leporello ‘folding out’ book this has also inspired me to look into this type of story book as it has a narrative and links everything together.
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Bibliography Internet
Books
UVA. (2012). Always/Never. Available: http://www. uva.co.uk/work/always-never. Last accessed 19th Oct 2012.
Burnett, Craig (2005). Jeff Wall. London: Tate. p22
memory. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved October 20, 2012, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/memory Moreno, Patrick. (2011). Students document memories in art gallery. Available: http://www. daily49er.com/diversions/students-documentmemories-in-art-gallery-1.2454333#.ULoJwqV9nzI. Last accessed 24th October 2012. Jamie Beck & Kevin Burg. (2011). Cinemagraphs. Available: http://cinemagraphs.com/about/. Last accessed 2nd November 2012. Salischiker, Paula. (2012). The Memory of Objects. Available: http://www.pausal.co.uk/projects/thememory-of-objects. Last accessed 20th November 2012. Michael Hoppen Gallery. (2009). Miyako Ishiuchi. Available: http://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/ artist,show,1,130,0,0,0,0,0,0,miyako_ishiuchi.html. Last accessed 30th November.
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Smith, Paul (2003). You can find inspiration in everything: and if you can’t, look again. London: Thames and Hudson.