JOURNAL NO.1
SELF REFLECTIVE JOURNAL IS A COLLECTIVE OF THOUGHT PROCESS, RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION.
First of all, i would like to point out several key points to put across in this journalthe work that i have been doing for the past few months were all driven by my personal experience and that is something that i have never have to share to the public or for university projects, therefore, i am thankful of each brief and how it evolved my self to talk about something personal through each project. I was asked about the connection within each project, and the connection is my search for an identity as a designer and also an indonesian designer; in my projects i cover a lot on being indonesian, having to face my anxiety, and my relationship. The work that i did before joining this ma had ‘commercial’ purpose, so poruing my creative thoughts into it was something that i had to do, and that applies in my ba as well where everything is about ‘selling’ this and ‘costumer’ that. and entering this ma, i am able to really explore what i really want to do and to put my personal lense into each project and create an objective. Therefore, i called this portfolio- a ‘selfreflective journal’ because there will be a lot of writing on reflection in here- there will be a lot of ‘i feel’, also hence the ‘journal enrty’ look because i just feel like it will visually translate how my mind work in each project through a personal lense.
I thought it will be interesting to have one or two pages to explain the decision-making i went through for the portfolio. 1. Printing Printing it was always my first initial idea, because i really want to explore the different type of bindings and feel it with my hand 2. Journal-like The journal-like vibe comes after because the word ‘reflective’ comes up a lot when discussing the portfolio with the tutors, and the font chosen has ‘typewriter’ feelings- which I want to connote ‘letter’ and ‘personal’ - journal entry - the stitch binding as well, thought it’ll add more ‘personal’ touch to the book
3. 3/4 books Initially, I wanted to have one book-- but i thought separating it into 3-4 small books to convey the having a lot of journal as a part of my journey in this MA 4. A5 All of my journals and notes are in A5 size, and it feels good to hold in hand, therefore, I want it to feel comfortable
- SELF-REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY : OCTOBER 2018 PROJECT : SUSAN SONTAG ON PHOTOGRAPHY / BRIEF A
Brief A talks about an object or artefact that in way reflects me and my work. and i chose this book by Susan Sontag- i encountered her book after i read on understanding a photograph john berger and ways of seeing. so i thought i ventured through writings about visual arts and how we see. i am not sure, if it was timing or something else- but at the time when i read this book; i was in a place when i didn’t see my self going anywhere as a creative, i was in a state of working because i have to, i lost a joy of creating for the sake of it.
But this book reminded me about asking the right question when making an artwork, it poses the question about being a designer to me- what does it mean to me? and that really puzzled me at the time, and i think that why the book is so powerful to me is that it was able to ask the question in me, challenges the way i think about the objective of my work. And a little after that, maybe in few months time; i decided to join in MA course. so i thought, i share some of the quotes or things i found interesting in the book; Walter benjamin kept a small book with him at all time to write down things he heard from someone and quote them later when appropriate; And i thought this is amazing, it is as if he is constantly alert for new ideas and i tried doing that as well and it has been working for me in a way that it gives me something to think about the world around me even more and appreciate what other people have said.
Therefore, what i like most about this book is the capability of her statements being timeless, because this was written the 1970s but i still feel that it is relatable 50 years later with social media and self image- i think at the time i was really fed up with social media and getting ‘likes’ and how my work has always been about that and my creative director at the time pushed on ‘this visually looks nice’ instead of the ‘core’ idea of visual- therefore, this book touches my creativity and sort of an answer i was looking for in my purpose as a designer. At some point, i deleted my instagram. But yes, to conclude this book opened up my self to ask the question of my purpose as a designer and that is a gift for me.
- SELF-REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY : 6 DECEMBER 2018 PROJECT : PEREMPUAN INDONESIA
READ THE BOOK:
issuu.com/jeanardhita/docs/photo_book
PEREMPUAN INDONESIA IS A PHOTO BOOK COMPILED OF PORTRAITS AND QUOTES FROM INDONESIAN WOMEN TALKING ABOUT HOW THEY VIEW FEMINISM IN INDONESIA AND THEIR DEFINITION OF BEING AN INDONESIAN WOMAN.
IDEATION RESEARCH Collectively these are images i found on instagram and i remembered that i had a conversation with my roommate and my sister- it all came from our worry of applying for jobs and we were just plainly annoyed that in indonesia, the first job requirements which is in the red box... the word ‘pria / wanita’ or ‘perempuan’ are translated as ‘male or female’ is our gender and the second is our age. and that got me thinking about indonesian woman, getting a job, starting a family as well. i am 23 years old and my family now have asked me ‘when are you thinking of getting married?’ or ‘have you found someone serious yet?’- and this as well got me thinking; because they were all sounded more excited about this then asking me about my career. And this photo book was accompanied by a literature review on ‘islam teachings and eastern traditions: how this affects feminism in indonesia’ - and i think that through learning about walter benjamin and how he quoted people, i wanted to do the same but within the context of feminism in indonesia. so, this where my initial point of going forward with this project.
IDEATION RESEARCH Two photographs on the top left of walter benjamin’s quote is really i wanted to achieve for the book, however i thought of putting my own style in itfor this past few months, i have been doing selfinitiated projects of taking portraits of my friends (attached in the left as well).. and i was always so fascinated by the talk that we have while i was taking the photographs and with this tactic, i approach this project- i want to take a candid of our conversation about indonesian woman and include a quote i found fascinating into the book. the two portraits below on the left are only for reference of the portrait work i did, but not the visual i thought i should follow- because the book in its self should have its own mood imagery when it comes to its photography, therefore, i was doing more research about that.
Indonesian minister of women empowerment Arahmaiani, Indonesian artist
Raden adjeng kartini, Indonesian hero on feminism
Silent outburst by Arstrid Rasjid
CONTEXT RESEARCH With more research, i was looking into how different artists capture the essence of feminism and i found arahmaiani and astrid rasjid challenges the objectification of women in indonesia- in marriage or as a property. I also had a chance to read a book on letters of raden adjeng kartini- which arguably i could say that she is the ‘anne-frank’ of indonesian feminism- and yes her book ‘letters of javanese princess’ is a collective of her letter embodied the effects of colonialism on womanhood and nationalism and that is when it’s clicked in my head that colonised country’s ideology of feminism are attached with nationalism- and i found this very interesting because without mentioning all of this research to the women i talked to, they immediately making this reference of ‘ibu kartini’ ‘the dutch’ ‘colonialism’ and feminism- so that ideology are intact within each person.
VISUAL RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTATION My very first idea was to infused the indonesian flag colour into the book ‘red and white’ - but as soon as i did it, i realised it looked ‘dull’ and seems to be ‘patriotic’ than i imagined it would be so i scrapped the idea straight away. i knew that i didn’t want it to be ‘patriotic’ with the red white flag as if it is a government work - and i don’t want that at all. i want it to spark more conversation, i want it more engaging, inviting, and approachable. well, i thought this design would be, but it didn’t work at all. so i was looking for something else, and i was really inspired by the talk i had with everyone and how they view themselves from different places in indonesia and that gave me a bit of inspiration,
by Design Milk
Miiito’s (left) visual branding was a visual identity that i didn’t get to use for their project, but i love its fluidity, non-gender specific and colourful. so i thought that i might use the graphic style for the book, because i want to have the book colourful, connoting indonesian women from all over the island and because i don’t want to have another ‘gender-specific’ colour palette for the book nor i want the book to be maximalist. So i experimented with a couple of design accent (next page) and i chose the first one because with 6 colours it represents 6 big islands in indonesia; java, sumatra, papua, borneo, maluku, & bali.
1
2
3
4
BY ANYA HOLDSTOCK
BY ISAAC MARLEY MORGAN Regards to the mood imagery of the portrait, I try to make it as natural as possible. No extra props, no exaggerated make-up at all. The direction of the I gave to my friends are also quite ‘candid’ and whilst I took the photographs, I engaged in a conversation with them so that they are comfortable with me taking their photographs. What’s more important for me was to extract the quote from them so most of the photographs looks not directed enough because I was engaged with them in a conversation.
BY LESTHETIQUEDELINVENTAIRE
MOOD IMAGERY ON PHOTOGRAPHY
REFLECTION: I guess in way this project feels very personal to me because of its attachment of indonesia- and never have i ever worked on something indonesian before; i looked at my indonesian friends who studied in here and most of their projects or case study are about indonesia, and i always had a difficulty about that, and i wasn’t sure why and how until i made this book. I always struggle with my identity as an indonesian, i have a love and hate relationship about it- i love being indonesian, i am patriotic about our culture but in a way i hate its constraint of me as a woman- the expectancy of getting married early or being a housewife or just judgments of not following those attributes at a certain age, and to create a project about it- seems very ambitious even for me to find the answer of this identitybut through this book, i was able to say the love and hate relationship. And i guess i was looking from some of the kind of collective of people who might have the same mindset- and for me creating this book has been quite an eye opening to me, because i feel not alone in this quest of looking for my indonesian identity- especially when times are changing, young people are more open minded and i want to capture that and how this is in contrast with older woman and how they view being an indonesian woman. I also look at my self as an author or being a protagonist in this project- because i can see my perception changes as i interview more people.