This is where my CoP visual investigation began. With the posters and imagery that I found while researching and writing my essay. The media and the aesthetic are varied, however, all the images have a common message. They all protest the Vietnam War. I analysed most of these images in depth while producing my essay, with that being the case, they provided the perfect starting point for my visual investigation.
Initially I was simply responding to images that I had found on the web and in books. Combining drawing and quotes to reflect upon the effect that the Vietnam War had on the soldiers. Looking back, I can see elements of these drawings that have remained present throughout the visual investigation: The anti-war slogans, the historical research, the atrocities of war, etc.
Initially based on a poster titled “It’s the real thing for S.E. Asia”, I began to consider the use of symbols and how they were used to protest the very things they stood for. This is also something I had started to consider within my essay: “This image could be attempting to comment on the similarities between the worldwide ‘invasion’ of Coca-Cola and the invasion of the US in S.E. Asia; satirising the role of America in the world and particularly in Vietnam.”
The visual investigation continued and I remained focused on using symbolism to communicate this anti-war sentiment. I researched symbols and icons that were inherently American and explored how I could combine them to use them as a form of protest.
Using cut paper and collage, I explored these ideas further. I started to focus a lot more on using the logos of American companies. Splicing them with imagery from the war allowed me to satarise the role of America in the war and reflect on the effects of America's actions.
I continued to push this idea of using imagery from the war using photoshop. Creating GIFs that had a similar aesthetic to the cut paper artwork, but that seemed more impactful. I also started to consider the role of the television throughout the war, “The first living-room war� as put by Michael J. Arlen.
Continuing to work digitally, I started working with photomanipulation to try to comment on the way in which the media portrayed the war. However, I felt that I had started to stray from the “investigative path�, and that these weren’t really relevant to the ideas I had been exploring up until this point.
With the aim of getting back to the ideas I originally wanted to investigate, I set myself a more specific goal that I could aim toward. From this point onwards my aim was to produce posters exploring the concepts I had been exploring earlier on in the project. I also aimed to produce images that were aesthetically relevant to the protests posters that I had researched earlier on.
I felt that the aesthetic of my first set of posters was somewhat forced, as I was trying to produce something that looked printed using a digital process. With this in mind, I started considering print as a process that I could use to produce more outcomes. Using monoprint I produced posters that combined imagery, slogans and type that were all appropriate at the time of the Vietnam War.
Combining all the elements of investigation up to this point, I produced what I consider to be my final outcomes. I used a traditional print process, combined elements of photography and type, symbols and slogans used to comment on the historical events, matched the aesthetic of posters from the time of the war, etc.