Building the foundations of my project:
Initial Ideas/Concept generation
Finishing off my last project titled 'Futures' for the end of stage 2, I'm considering carrying some of the same ideas and themes that I was exploring during that project into the FMP. A lot of my last project centred around Queer futurism, my ideas for a queer utopia and looking into how LGBTQ+ people create and use alter egos to escape the restrictions and prejudices of society, concluding the project with thinking about possibly creating a digital mask that would create another avenue for queer expression. Coming into this project, I'm thinking that I might want to keep exploring similar themes as I still feel like I have a lot more exploring and learning to do. However, I wanted to shift it slightly and expand my project thematically to start thinking about how these ideas I was exploring in terms of the state of the world currently, could be achieved, and how it feels like we're in a state of in-between. We've achieved so much in terms of legal rights and legal equality in this country that my ideas for a queer utopia shouldn't feel so alien. But yet we seem to be going backwards in terms of there being a return of far right political groups, a recent dominance of right-wing politics and there still being major problems with racism, homophobia and sexism, all issues which should've been solved decades ago. So, after thinking along this vain I thought my title for this project could be 'The In-between', possibly exploring the in-between state I feel British society is existing in at the moment.
After coming up with a title for this final project I decided to mind map more ideas around it as seen below:
I was particularly drawn to my ideas around the supernatural, especially folk horror. I remember that Luke did a lecture on Folk Horror and I really enjoyed the aesthetic and messages of it but completely forgot about it until now, so thought this could be the perfect opportunity to explore it more.
Initial Mood-board:
Potential forms for this project:
- zine
- installation
- projections
- photobook
Initial Artist Research:
Alex Binder - Is a self-taught German photographer who uses vintage lenses and optical toys. The results are abstract and diffuse images with burning sunlight, psychedelic colors and strong contrasts. His fascination with all things spiritual and occult has made him travel to many mystic places around the globe – from the Aeolian Islands, to Bohuslän, Karelia, Iceland and the Judean Desert. (https://phroommagazine.com/alexander-binder/)
I'm particularly drawn to how macabre his work is and how he really subverts reality through his image, something I would like to try by having a go at using vintage lenses and optical toys myself to try and re-create this dream like, in between feeling Binder has in his photos.
Void Publishing:
Dimitra Dede - https://void.photo/mayflies
I love Dede's work. The haziness and faded nature of the the black and white photos alongside the dead looking bodies gives the collection a feeling of purgatory, and transports me to a very baron and eerie place which I really like. The style of her work really fits with the folk horror aesthetic I'm thinking of going for as these photos feel like they're straight out of a folk horror film. The low exposure, blue, grey and purple colour palette and featuring of nature of the human body is definitely something I will consider for my own photos for this project.
Marco Marzocchi:
Here are some images from Marzocchi's book 'Oyster'...Using archival and original imagery, the artist ransacks the past to build a presence in a process of forgiving and letting go, as a quest to find love and healing. Marzocchi had to reevaluate his whole family history from the point of view of an adult and close a circle, like an Ouroboros (which is ancient symbol depicting a dragon eating its own tail which represents the concept of eternity and endless return.) https://void.photo/oyster
I think that the symbolism in his images and the nod to ancient legends to help him navigate his world is really clever, and definitely something I should consider in my own work considering my folk horror references. Looking at his work has also made me discover that I really want to create a photo-book as my outcome for this project. I love the way that Marzocchi has laid out his book, obviously very diary and scrapbook inspired which gives it a very raw and personal feel, and similarly I would like to do a series of images for this project and I think that a photobook would be the best way to express this. I also really like the lofi look of Marzocchi's work, using what looks like a single flash in a lot of the images gives them a very unsophisticated feel, as though the artists is deliberately using the visual language of an amateur. This is definitely something worth considering in my own practice, as it's this unfinished/imperfect look to Marzocchi's work that gives it such a folk Horror feel for me.
Dylan Hausthor:
I really enjoy how strange and supernatural Hausthor's work for this collection is. The way he uses flash and over exposure in the portraits and has brought in a strong connection to nature is something that I'd really like to try in my own work. His work in particular feels the most folk horror inspired, especially the images in the woods.
I really like style of the work of the artists that Void have chosen to support (two of them being featured above ^), there seems to be a shared theme of exploring political and deeply personal matters in the works through photography that feels very eerie and other worldly, very similar to my own style and what I want to explore in this project. I will definitely be using the site as a big source of inspiration, particularly when laying out and designing my own photo-book.
Week 1 Reflections:
Kicking off this final project this week feels a bit daunting, but I think I've chosen a subject matter that I'll really enjoy exploring creatively and I've already found some artists and sources of inspiration, such as Void Publishing, which have got some ideas rolling in my head. After consideration, I don't think I will be deliberately continuing my ideas and themes from my last project as I've realised that I want to start a fresh for this final body of work. Some of the LGBTQ+ themes may crop up in the work, but my main focus I think is going to trying to express and document the recent rise of the far-right through the lens of the folk horror aesthetic. I think next week I want to start doing some more research into Folk horror when I have time, but mainly focus on getting my project proposal written. After how I've begun this project, I think I'll be in a strong position to write my proposal as I'm pretty set on my idea and where I want to go with my work.
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