concept
unsung heroes and heroines Reading the brief in detail has helped to generate some initial ideas. I think this is something I will be quite interested in as I agree with the notion of the brief; 'Media produce constant articles and programmes on the rich and famous – tracing their life stories and celebrating their achievements. But what about ordinary people whose lives go unwritten.' I think this is really important to look at, we constantly document the achievements and praise the rich and famous leaving them etched in our history, yet everyday people achieve great things that go unwritten, overcome struggles that are not recognised and face similar life experience that go unnoticed because of lack of status. In most situations everyone will be a 'hero or heroine' to somebody...
For this brief I want to look at people who lived ordinary lives but whose lives tell an interesting story, with notable achievements. I think the words 'hero and heroine' can be subjective and personal to the individual. Its all relative to the people around them and the things they have achieved, what could be a heroic or noble achievement to someone may not have the same effect or impact on another as its personal. I'd like to tell some kind of story about an individual/individuals and I think its important to highlight that 'ordinary' people should not go unnoticed or unappreciated as we live in a celebrity obsessed culture where its very focused on fame and fortune.
Another side to this project that I think would be quite interesting to look at is the memory of a hero, through the media and fame celebrities are remembered by most. An ordinary person, once gone, has only etched memories in certain peoples lives, when the last person who knows/remembers you is no longer living, does that mean the memory of you dies with them? With famous, celebrated heroes they will always be remembered through history, but how long is it until someone ordinary is forgotten? How long until we are all just numerical figures that once walked the earth? After years and years have passed and everyone who knew you is also gone, sentiment seems trivial.
idea
exhibition of a life. I think in terms of visuals and the design I want to explore old photographs/objects/letters/diaries etc. All these objects have an aesthetic about it that I think could suit the outcome of this brief. As this is a past ISTD brief I want to extend the possibilities of it by also focusing on the 'memory' of a hero or heroine. These visuals/objects would really evoke this feeling of 'memory' as the objects and photographs capture past moments of peoples lives. I want to exhibit the lives of ordinary people who are seen as heroes or heroines through a set of posters that depict fragments of peoples lives, ordinary people, unsung heroes.
Through research of objects, photographs, diaries and memories I will explore the lives of my Grandparents, capturing a small part of their lives through the memories left behind. list of props/visuals: photographs diaries letters frames signage
visuals
framework. For the posters I wanted to make the objects and photographs main visuals, obviously text is a main part of the final outcomes, using diary extracts, information and possible poetry if it fits with the story/design. Particular visual ideas that I would like to try would be photographing a wall with a number of frames of photographs of the person whose story Im telling, once edited I would then add text, this would be my main visual poster as it would hold most of the photographs, a kind of overview of the project.
Other poster ideas I had would be photographs of the particular person, more text heavy, telling a small story, events that makes them an 'unsung hero or heroine.'