PRESENTATION BOARDS

REFLECTION 4: Module Evaluation

Overall, I really enjoyed this module and felt that I got quite invested in it. However, I did struggle with lots of things throughout and it has been one of the most challenging topics that I have explored to immerse myself in. My biggest struggle was dealing with such a sensitive subject in the practical and trying to do it justice. However, exploring this issue within COP worked well because it gave me so much room to conduct both primary and secondary research, to make sure that I got it right. Although, the 'Mental Health Conference' was less helpful, my personal interviews, questionnaire and market research impacted massively on the decisions that I made. Some of these included weather to take an abstract or literal approach to representation; what color scheme to use; what tone of voice to use (sensitive, not too dark, not too light either); how best to reach my audience and how clear or ambiguous to make my images. Primary research is something I have never really valued the importance of, but it is definitely something I need to continue doing!

The biggest lesson that I learnt from the whole project was how effective illustration and art in general can be in communicating abstract feelings and concepts without defining them in words. This is because of the emotional, subjective yet descriptive nature of art. This is something that became more and more clear as I wrote my essay (it is essentially what connects mental health to creativity) and went on to form the basis for how I approached my practical. In my introduction I talked about my aim to discover weather there are any links between anxiety or depression and creativity so that I could try to use them positively to help sufferers. I think that the project definitely answered this question and I got the outcome that I wanted from it. However, generally I found the constraints of dealing with such a sensitive topic and abstract feelings quite draining and I constantly second guessed everything I created. I can see how effective art can be in doing this so I am definitely going to continue to explore it in my practice but for now I am going to have a break and focus on something more factual and maybe controversial. Something I can make my own comment on!!

Overall, I think that my essay and practical are both quite independent projects with their own aims but with similar themes. Initially, I was worried that they were too separate in that I was not directly practically exploring the content of my essay. However, ultimately I found that they connected and fed into each other in many ways that I had expected. In terms of the t-shit brand, it is on track but there are still a lot of hurdles that we need to cross before it is launched in March. In my SP statement of intent, I said that I wanted to gain some more client/ business experience while I still have the support of University and starting my own business seems like the perfect opportunity. Working out how we are going to ethically print the t-shirts is probably the biggest hurdle and there is still some definite room for improvement on the t-shirt augmented reality videos. I have seen that they are most effective when the movement is simple but obvious, like in ‘Caged Thoughts’. The motion at the moment is too subtle and unclear in designs such as ‘Drowning in Thought’.

REFLECTION 3: Peer Review 2

Since the last crit, I have continued to explore the links between anxiety or depression and creativity. For the practical, after finding a common interest in helping young men suffering from anxiety and depression to speak up, me and a marketing student at Leeds Beckett (who sits within the demographic) have decided to launch a t-shirt brand. Lots of our friends are very interested in fashion and wearing the right thing but mental health is a taboo. Our aim is to bring mental health into men’s fashion as a way of bringing the conversation to them. The brand will also give its profits to mind, further supporting our mission.

In the crit I got some feedback saying that men won’t want to wear their mental health on their backs. Putting my designs on t-shirts is the wrong context and they are better suited to editorial. The fact that not everyone wants a t-shirt that portrays symptoms of anxiety and depression is a definite point for consideration. Since the crit, I have asked around and had a variety of responses so I am going to vary the t-shirts from more subtle to more obvious. On the subtler t-shirts the concept will be made clear in an animated version on the website. We would also like to have something that you scan on the tshirt that plays the animated version on your phone, maybe a bar-code? But we are yet to find an app. This would work well as a light access point to starting a conversation about anxiety or depression. By showing friends their animated t-shirt, young men would do it almost without intending to. However, in terms of it being the wrong context, I personally believe that it is the right context if we want to reach our audience.

Trying to create designs that are wearable and attractive but that also communicate the concept has proved a challenge. This is because I have had to find a sort of a balance between not making light of a dark issue but also not creating something so dark that young men won’t want to wear it on a t-shirt. This is the first time I have had to balance two such different contexts. However, I have found working with someone within the targeted demographic to be very useful because I can get constant feedback from my audience. I have also found that having put so much time into the crafting each designs so that they balance the context, they have become quite separate both in subject and style. This works well to attract a wider audience, but I am worried that they won’t sit together well as a collection. However, I am hoping that I can unite them with a limited color scheme and by using a clean graphic style.

I have also recently conducted the same interviews with two sufferers and a therapist and their responses have really helped me to define anxiety in my essay as well as making me feel more secure in the direction I have taken my practical work. All of them said that the Mind definition of anxiety was accurate, but too generalized. All the symptoms were listed but most sufferers only experience a couple, making each experience of anxiety different. This supports my earlier decision to focus on specific symptoms rather than the disease as a whole, as people will hopefully find specific t-shirts more relatable.

Northern Healthcare Conference

Reflection: Generally, the conference was fairly interesting and I took a few things from it but it wasn’t exactly what I thought I had signed up to. Online all it said was ‘there will be talks from various healthcare professionals sharing their insights and ideas into how we can progress the mental health sector’ then when I got there the theme was ‘the economic benefits of assisted living’ and most of the people there were commissioners. I wanted to interview some people but none of their lines of work were very related to the questions I wanted to ask. I think I’m better off interviewing sufferers, artists and possibly someone in the field of art therapy?

Creativity, Mental Health Triangulation Notes

REFLECTION 2: Peer review 1

Since my SOI I have changed my focus to exploring the links between creativity and mental health. It is something I keep stumbling across, a big debate on the Eye on Design website. It is also something I as a creative would love to solve and a more narrowed approach to exploring anxiety and depression. Initially, I thought about doing some editorials, which describe some of these links. However, I found this to be too limiting. To represent creativity, I found myself using obvious symbols like pencils and paint. This is something I would like to avoid. It also wasn't doing anything to help sufferers of anxiety and depression and this is something I aim to do.

In terms of primary research, I want to do a questionnaire to find out how creativity and mental health come together in my peer’s lives but I am struggling to know which questions I can and can’t ask. This is something I need to be very sensitive toward, so I am going to get it checked by multiple tutors before I use anything. I also managed to get the contact of the curator of the Bethelm Mental Hospital gallery, who I emailed last week. He hasn't replied yet but fingers crossed!! I definitely need some more personal insights.

Generally, I am finding looking at anxiety and depression and trying to visually describe them a struggle. The aim of my work is to use my knowledge to describe them enough to start a conversation and explain them to non-sufferers. I know that as a non-sufferer I can never fully understand them myself and I am not trying to. With the knowledge that I don’t have anxiety or depression I’m finding that people have a very negative opinion on my work from the outset and I have had this voiced a lot. I am finding this difficult and I am unsure how sensitive to be. I have been using visual metaphor to clearly describe different feelings (inner conflict, struggle, tension). However, I am worried I am in danger of making light of a dark issue. Perhaps a more abstract approach would be better. It was suggested that I could use movement and sound to contort a brain on after effects and create an immersive experience. This could work well. In order to tackle this I am going to keep showing my work to friends who suffer from anxiety or depression, to discover which works best.

People also keep suggesting that my images would work well as editorials. However, I don’t want to go in this direction. I want to make the designs more accessible to sufferers (my target audience is still men age 21-25). I am interested in maybe starting a campaign or bringing the designs into a context that they are interested in like fashion. I need to start interviewing some of my male friends to see if they have any insights on how to do this. I thought that the ‘Time to Change’ beer mat campaign was interesting because it bought the conversation to them. Maybe I could do a subtler version of this?

Another change in focus ..

Right, I've decided to change the direction of my extended essay yet again..
I am going to instead look at the link between creativity in mental health. There is lots of really interesting information on this that I keep stumbling across. I feel that it is more narrowed approach to looking at depression and anxiety and i think I'd enjoy researching It much more. I think that it could also make for some interesting studies and questionnaires.

What am I going specifically explore within this?

Why are creatives more creatives diagnosed with anxiety and depression than people in other industries?
Are anxious people more likely to be creative? Because they use it to escape? To express their thoughts to help them cope?
OR
Is the creative industry a cause of anxiety and depression? The pressure, personal exposure, negative feedback, long hours, constant stress?

I could look specifically at illustration??

Mental Health awareness Case Study Notes

 

REFLECTION 1 : SOI feedback

On reflection to my feedback it is clear that looking at weather illustration can be effectively used to educate young people about mental health is far too broad. I would like to explore how much illustration can do to actually help past just raising awareness. Mental health is also an umbrella term so I am going to focus specifically on anxiety and depression. I am also going to stick with a student demographic and maybe focus specifically on how illustration can be used to help young men. Male suicide and depression have been massive in the media at the moment and I have seen it a lot myself. It would be interested to find out why and if there is anything I can do to help. My potential new research question could be ‘to what extent can illustration be used to help young men (/people?) suffering from anxiety and depression’?

In exploring this it would also be interesting to look at weather an illustration alone can actually spur change or if there is more to it. Does it need to be backed by a campaign? Do the materials used to make the illustrations and means of distribution need to be ethical/ support the cause? Does it need to raise money for a charity? Can creativity alone make a difference or do there need to be more people involved. Everyone in my research so far seems to think image making is simply the first step in spurring change. Going this direction also definitely suits my practical interest in exploring how art can be used to comment on and expose social issues.

In terms of ongoing theoretical research I am going to look more into anxiety and depression, the symptoms, statistics and what people have tried to do about it in the past. I am going to look at how artists have dealt with this topic and if sufferers find their work helpful. I am also going to look at how platforms deal with it – indie magazines, pod casts, websites and people’s comments on them. (Suggested: The Sad Ghost Club, My Favorite Murder, Drift) I am also going to look at past campaigns and the impact they have had. Finally, I want to interview people to see what they think of the media boom and if they have found anything helpful or unhelpful.

Practically, I am really unsure what route this work is going. Usually, I like looking at really controversial issues and using visual metaphors to create interesting contrasts and make comments. If I continue down this path my work will ultimately have to be much more sensitive. I’m not sure yet if this is a good or a bad thing but I know I am going to find it a challenge. However, I definitely want to use my work to test weather illustration alone can make a difference. It could be interesting to craft some sort of campaign based around my research or to explore the best way to reach young men with my message – fashion? For now I am going to focus on the theory to see where that takes me..

Project Proposal/ Presentation Feedback Reflections

• General feedback: 
• Looking at weather 'Illustration is an effective way of educating people on mental health issues' is far too broad. 

• Based on the feedback:
• I am going to look at weather it can help instead of raising awareness, to see if illustration can do more than just telling people it exists.
• Mental health is also an umbrella term so I am going to focus specifically on anxiety and depression.
• I am going to stick with a student demographic and maybe also focus on men - male suicide and depression are massive in the media at the moment.
• A potential new question 'To what extent can illustration be used to help young (men/ people) with anxiety and depression?'

• Research to do next: 
• Research into anxiety and depression, what are the symptoms, what are the statistics - what have people tried to do about it?
• Read into the psychology, what treatment paths are there
• Look at illustrators who deal with it, how do they do this, in what way does their work help sufferers?
• Look at other platforms that deal with it - podcasts, indie magazines, websites
• Sad Ghost Club, My Favourite Murder, Drift, Mental Health Awareness Day
• Read articles and comments based on these platforms. Do people think that they are helpful?
• Which parts do people specifically find helpful?
• Look at campaigns targeted specifically at male mental health - how are they helping?
• Interview people - what do they think of this boom in the media? What have they come across that has been useful/ unhelpful? Show them works by illustrators, which are the most powerful to them and why?
• Look at the stigmas attached to mental health traditionally. What have people done to try and overcome them?
• Alternatively, I could instead of looking at weather illustration can be used to help young people with anxiety and depression actually look at the rise in coverage of mental health in the media and its impact on sufferers. 

• Practically: 
• I am totally unsure on the practical element!! I wanted a project that would allow me to create powerful perhaps controversial visual metaphors but if I continue down this path my work will end up having to be much more sensitive.
• If I wanted to go this route I would have to explore creativity and mental health or social media and mental health.
• I could propose a campaign based on my research or use it to craft some tshirt designs? They would have to send a subtle message, be desirable to young men and send their profits to charity.

I need to keep gathering lots of material, then after my tutorial next week I can see what interests me most and re-write my question/ start my practical research!

SOI Slideshow

What work do I want to create for COP this year?

FINALS

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xj38bFCt28ysJjHFEkGBHxDFf7VAk0Ye/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17egPoMIZjCz21AvEQeY1VV5ctyvi2pY5/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HYRE2hjx1iG0tAlXPcfC93pCG-f6g-bS/view?usp=sharing

Summative Statement

This module was useful in forcing me to create work that was driven by a range of different sources . I am often inspired by other artist's work but it was interesting to really research into the theory that it sprung from to understand better how they think and the decisions that they've made. Selecting theory based on space also worked well for me because I enjoyed exploring and working from observation. I feel like I learned a lot about my theme and my outcomes have a rich context behind them. However, I do wish that I had started drawing and visiting the places a lot earlier in the project. When I eventually did it, I found using my own experiences of space to understand and apply some of the theories really useful. This focus on order vs. chaos and other sharp comparisons/ conflicts is definitely something I come back to a lot. I think its because I like my work to be appealing but also to have a more dark, serious edge to it I definitely something I want to explore further - next year (find other contrasts)? The thing that I have struggled with most in this and every module is the blog because I am still unsure how to use it. Last year it was useful for personal reflection but this year I don't think I've been using it enough because I haven't had to.

Synthesis: My/ Kinloch's Photography

• Kinloch speaks about discomfort in liminal spaces due to the unknown. He believes his images portray this feeling and conjure up a sense of ‘vulnerability’ and ‘primal fear’ (2013, Where City Meets Wild)
• Freud thinks this fear comes from something that was once familiar, that was repressed and now becomes familiar again (where did I read this?)
• Slight creepiness and unfamiliarity when objects are taken out of context - marks of age - don't know story

• Surprising: thought my pictures would find middle ground between spaces - chaotic but ordered at the same time
• Thought order of non-place would tone down chaos of liminality 
• Actually: greater contrast in chaos and order - conflict - greater sense of unfamiliarity - even more creepy 
• Almost create a more enhanced version on liminality 
• Essentially created fictional spaces that are even more obscure, unexplained and difficult to navigate

Synthesis: Sound maps/ Psychogeography

•  The dense complex lines of the non-place maps represent the loud layered noise (and the opposite for liminal space)
• Playing with the theme of the order of non place vs. the chaos of liminality - it is interesting to find something that contradicts this within both spaces
• Maps contradict theoretical nature of spaces

Liminal Space Maps:

Contradicts: The antithesis of structure in society, a state that seems dangerous to those tasked with maintaining structure (Shure 2005)

Non-Place Maps:

Contradicts: It is a constructed, ordered space in which the visitor is mediated and directed through the space by signs (Augue 1995)

http://cryptoforest.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/forage-psychogeography-is-here.html

Guy Debord book cover

• Makes me think of psychogeography - random paths on maps - links with liminal exploration
• Crossing established boundries - About how space makes us feel, behave - could look into?
• T. Richardson, 2015, Walking Inside Out, London: Rowman and Littlefield International. Ltd

Synthesis: HELP drawing/ theory

• 
• I did some drawing in Leeds train station - attempted to reflect Auge's (1995) theories in my drawing - Like in Rachel Gannon's work but in my own style
• Focus on masses, signs, space monotony, repetition, information overload, orders
• BUT they feel too similar - not finding out anything new - finding it dull drawing faceless figures and signs
• Want to reflect Auge's writing in my work but how do I make it more exciting ??
• Text is interesting - like insensitivity of it - but not cliche figures surrounded by it
• Could use stand alone text to create contrast? - What is the text of liminality?
• Or could do the opposite - look for holes in his theories - reject them?? create chaos in non-place YES

Synthesis: Theory VS Personal Experience

•  Having experienced it form myself I can better see how some of the general theories on liminality might be applied to space
• Write Practice (Bunting, 2014) about storytelling literature: Liminality = Process - starts with deconstruction of old after a death, resulting in a chaos. There then comes a hope for the new and a transformation out of this state of chaos.
• HERE: Death: Failure of leeds dock, eventual abandonment, decomposition - now in a state of chaos - movement out of liminality would be rejuvenation
• Sunset Liminal website 2014: “Liminality is the threshold of the unexplained. It is full of concepts without phrases and definitions without meanings”
• HERE: Discomfort in unfamiliarity - unexplained objects in weird places - smashed windows - how did this happen??

BUT: feels more urban than space I'm thinking about where nature is taking over!! How do I tackle this?? - Maybe walk down canal out of city?

Study Task 7: Looking at essays

- argument clarity - style (this might make it hard to understand - academic, personal)
- look for waffle - over defined concepts etc.
- Quality of research
- Quotes but not too many - describe too
- Backing up statements
- Use bits of process as well as final piece

**Think about when crafting own project

Study Task 3: Images and Theory

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSVXK3PTnVU88KXelwDq-nqmVBwNuN4-iLuM-OAD8584B-JWW-4lphmriK5aBrDLGqyeIM25GS6MhZV/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

Research: APPLYING General Liminality Concepts

http://sunsetliminal.tumblr.com/liminality
- “Liminality is the threshold of the unexplained.  It is full of concepts without phrases and definitions without meanings'  (Greg Scheiber)
-  'It’s full of ambiguity, uncertainty, and fluidity. For me, it conjures up images of amphibian life, changing seasons, starfish, lucid dreams, big life changes, and (of course) sunsets.” 
(Kate Gulden) 

• Concept of the ambiguity that comes with liminality, fear of the unknown - Can apply this to space - Unexplained objects

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-liminality.htm
- A refugee can be liminal - moving countries - don't belong anywhere for a period of time (like guy in first article)
- Books can have liminal Plots (singleton to finding love) (sunset moment etc)

• Sense of not belonging - Relates to feeling I got in abandoned cafe - unease 
• It is a phase, doesn't last forever - True to space, industry or countryside eventually wins

https://thewritepractice.com/liminality-story/
Liminal Process phases (lit): Deconstruction/ Death; Chaos: destroyed value system, disorientation, discomfort, failure to find new vale system; Transformation: learning to live with tension, embrace, be changed
'of discomfort, of waiting and of transformation' - 'identity disintegrates'

• Confusion of identity - interesting concept - where does it lie?

http://uk.businessinsider.com/dead-horse-bay-new-york-city-photos-2016-6?r=US&IR=T
- Story of forming of dead horse bay

• Perfectly follows The Write System liminality process outline - Death: dying of industry, dumping of detritus/ Liminality - now - chaos, dump, conflict/ Transformation: eventual rejuvenation

Research: Liminality - Richer Texts

• Where the City Meets the Wild Article  - Adrien Kinloch, 2013, A citizen's guide to  the future, slate/ new america/asu

 'once-visible industries have died and nature has crept back to colonise'

 'both beautiful and toxic'

'you might feel as though you are in the past and the future at the same time'

'most of them carry a sense of death, decay and desertion'

'feeling that you're standing on the threshold between present, past and future'

 'unsettling' - the posting of 'rituals' - warning?

• Interesting read, works well to back up my own experiences of liminality - Can apply general theories on liminality to this !!
• I.e. Sunset liminal concept of the ambiguity and the fear of the unknown that comes with Liminality - Illustrated by Kinlochs feeling of unease that comes with creepy abandoned objects/ rituals and not knowing how they got there

• La Shure, C. 2005. “What is Liminality?” http://www.liminality.org/about/whatisliminality/

Summary of the origins of liminality -roots in a ritual context - transitional period, Comes from limen - threshold (key), Turner applies: the state of an individual in modern society 

liminal individuals = polluting/ dangerous/ ‘realm of pure possibility’ ‘betwixt and between', A visible expression of anti - structure, temporarily fallen through the cracks, temporary state

Author Disagrees with T - if temporary state can’t be in it for ur whole life

• Material for introduction - integrate specific concepts - apply to space. Interesting idea: Hasn't left society just in the cracks - So true for space: Still a part of the cityscape just temporarily forgotten about