02/02/2018

Comments on garment photoshoot : Doing the photoshoot today was really fun as I was not working by myself but getting helped by my friends. We played around with the setting of the camera to get the colours as bright and saturated as possible so it would look like the real colours of the yarn.

We also played around with poses to try and get the feel of a character transforming by moving around and dancing I think I was able to get interesting shots of my garment in movement. Although i regret I did not ask my friend to take a video aswell as the photos.

Over all it just felt like a great accomplishment, the project was finally finished. All that was left to do was finishing off the portfolio for the interviews on Monday.

29/01/2018

Poem :

A dream of sheep

 

Destined figures of snow and dust

Offering the infinity of the sky 

Flickering silhouette shivering and sad

Lost in the white

 

Little sheep, light and fragile

Dreaming about simpler times

Detached, indiferent, wandering endlessly

Seeking desperately a lost treasure, the softness of safety

 

The grief of the mother,  the distraught confusion of an errant mind

Haggard, astray, roaming in the wild

Vulnerable,

Burried in a sea of Opal

 

Shivering tears,

Consciously aware,

Alone 

Suspended from reality

 

The bewitching prescence of a murmur

Rising

The sky whispering

The subtle eroticism of a caress

 

Awakened sensuality,

Fear drowning in sparkles

Irresistible decadence, devouring innocence

Hiding in sequins, truths of feelings

 

Existence, immense and frail

Wounded child, contemplating a heart of white

Bleeding tenderly,

The grace of nihility.

 

                                                                                                                 Skye Willimont

 

 

27/01/2018

Making the garment comments : I went back to the knitting studio to make the garment based on the previous samples I made. I choose to mimic my first weavings for the sleeve aiming to represent innocence by using pastel tones and soft textures, fluffly type yarn in both white yellow and bright white for the sheep wool and velvety pastel thick wool to repesent the blurryness of the snow being caught up in the wool.

I also used pastel/rainbow lurex and silver fringe yarn to show the idea of the moutain landscape being oneiric enligthened by the light of the sunset. I mainly used white, pale pink, pale purple, pale blue and silver because i feel like those are the colours i used the most in my illustrations to portray innocence.

The yarn expressing the metamorphosis were carefully picked to represent abundance and the idea of 'too much" I focused mainly on : violet fluffy yarn to represent the sheep wool turning violet from white, Orange and purple glittery thick yarns and deep blue lurex. All those colours were extracted from screenshots I took from the tv show transformations scenes. 

I sewed the garment after it was all knitted. The results is how I pictured it, and I think I knitted it pretty well there is very few holes in the final piece. It may be stupid but i am proud as Its the first almost real garment i ever made, it looks like a sheep fell in sparkles and I find it quite fun.

Random comments : I faced a few problems using the knitting machine but as I am getting more and more experience I now am able to solve things when it goes wrong. I even manage to knit metal strings to use as my embellishement for my "heart of white" the key was knitting really slowly and adjusting the tension at the same time never letting go of the yarn.

It was a good day, i like going to the knitting studio in Bethnal Green more than in Archway because its open everyday and there is a lot more variety in terms of knitting machines, I am so in love with knitting its so versatile instinctive and ressemble writting for me in a lot of ways, Ba fashion knit really is my first choice.

Finished garment : A dream of sheep

25/01/2018

Narrative developpement comment : That juxtaposition metaphorically  means that the character personality is dual and paradoxal. There is as of the story no embrace of the changes happening however there are still visible on the character's body. to portray the character being reluctant of the changes happening i left a part of negative "mother space" right on the heart of the little child, It shows the character unwilling to move on but being forced to.

Sketchbook comments : The final design shows both the innocence of the child and the the metamorphosis imagery of the lost mother. its mainly based of a painting by Gustav Klimt called accordingly "Mother and Child" and other collages of blacked out moters and victorian childs.

The aim is to present the garment embodying bittersweet response. It should look both visually appealing ans subtly sensual based on the imagery from the anime it takes inspiration from and the book "Pleasure taken". but also hidding a much more nuance overall concept of the character unable to move on still clinging to a "heart of white". I want the garment to look textural therefore i will be using knit as it works well with the idea of transformation and the one of something growing on top of you because of its sculptural feel.

The garment will mainly consist of an extension from my already existing samples representing both the softness of the sheep wool with fluffy yarn and the overwhelmingness of sparkles expresssed by different yarns reminescent glimer profusion as well as lurex. 

Final design developement

23/01/2018

Research comments : This is a tv show I used to watch when I was small in france I was really obssesed by the transformation scenes of the fairies because they were  drowned in sparkles and bright colours and then emerged all transformed and magical.

Its a very popular practice in anime and shows reminescent of that genre to represent  young girls transforming into young women through the metamorphosis. I feel like this is a very interesting idea to fill up the negative space left by the loss of the mother, It replaces the white by a profusion of colours and sparkles.

However this abundance also fits with the idea of the character not wanting the change because it gives the feeling of being overwhelming and frightening as suggested by the sentence in the story of drowning in sparkles. 

Sketchbook comments : I processed to fill up the negative space on the blacked out mothers with colours and sparkles gluing sequins on all of the surface to iniate the idea of innocence and transformation being juxtaposed. 

22/01/2018

Workshop comment : The aim of the workshop was to find and experience with different ways to collage. One of the exercise focused on removing something to change the message of the collage. By using my research images from the book called pleasure taken I found in the library.

i selected a few images representing a little girls with their mothers. The concept of my collage was then to carefully remove the mother blacking her out from the photography to represent the idea of a loss of safety.

Something is missing from the character emotional foundation that prevents him from moving on.

Sketchbook comments : I repeated the experiment of the workshop in my sketchbook blacking out the mothers to create negative space. I feel like this process created very interesting shapes to iniate fashion design because of how "layered" it was, the two different spaces,the one of the mother and the one of the child  each featuring different prints and textile.

So far in the initial stages of the fashion design developpement only the space of the child was filled with prints and textures suggesting innocence and the idea of the frozen sheep. The space of the mother was left blank suggesting the idea of loss, almost like spiritual grief however I aim to use the idea of metamorphosis to change the loss and the idea of something missing into positive new experiences and embracing moving on from sadness and mental health issues.

I feel like today was a successful day because it  brought visual representation of my story as 3 dimentional shapes that could work on the silhouette.

19/01/2018

Sketchbook comment : To represent a form of haze and loss of senses from the snow covering the mountains I used watercolor on the mountains drawings focusing on pastel like colours and soft watery tones.

To emphasize  being lost in the snow I used a white oil pastel on top of the watercolor to create a velvety like effect reminescent of the sfumato technique used in paintings from the renaissance

18/01/2018

Comments on narrative developpement : I feel the story I am creating resonates with where i am currently in my life. the idea of that change would be the one of actually going through puberty for me.

I am not going to go to in depht into this as it is really personal, but to summarize having gone through a period of being depressed and than suffering from anorexia I never actually experienced the "body changes" of becoming an adult. Now I am advised to take medicine to go through those changes artificially.

It echos with the situation of my character feeling afraid of going through change even if ultimately it should be positive and not negative. Therefore embracing the theme of metamorphosis seems relevant as it would bring interesting ideas for design developpement.

Sketchbook comments : i am still building up the idea of suspension in my sketchbook. I used a collage of a little girl photography to wich I added the impression of a sheep by building up a type of mask on the little girl face.

The photography was taken from a book called "pleasure taken" representing a form of sensuality in victorian children it felt tender and sensitive. I placed the character in the moon to emphasize the idea of suspension. She is not on the ground but far from reality fallen asleep on an other planet. 

The imagery of metamorphosis

16/01/2018

Do not go gentle into that good night

Dylan Thomas1914 - 1953

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

General comment on the project : I feel conflicted regarding where my project should carry on, in the initial draft of the story, the change occuring with the arrival of the night time was supposed to feel positive and as a relief from the cold atmosphere of detachement.

However developping the narrative and feeding my research I feel like its not the natural path the project should take. From Kate Bush song and this poem by Dylan Thomas I feel like i should consider the metaphore i am creating to make it more nuanced and actually interesting to create samples and fashion design idea. I am aiming towards the idea of representing the change in a visually positive manner but as a mentally and metaphorically bittersweet event for the character.

I need to do more research to actually decide clearly what that event in the little sheep story will be.

14/01/2017

Little light shining
Little light will guide them to me 
My face is all lit up
My face is all lit up
If they find me racing white horses 
They'll not take me for a buoy

Let me be weak, let me sleep and dream of sheep
Oh I'll wake up to any sound of engines
Every gull a seeking craft
I can't keep my eyes open 
Wish I had my radio 
I'd tune into some friendly voices

Talking 'bout stupid things
I can't be left to my imagination
Let me be weak, let me sleep and dream of sheep 
Ooh, their breath is warm
And they smell like sleep
And they say they take me home 
Like poppies, heavy with seed 
They take me deeper and deeper

Research comments : The song suggest the idea I am trying to portray in my story. Kate Bush feels lost like suspended carried away by the water and the wave, dark black like an ocean of obscurity and fear, she is alone and by analysing the lyrics of the song, you can deeply feel the desperation in her mind.

When she evoques the light as a glimmer in the darkness it feels like she knows it will end slowly, tenderly but without any doubt. Then as a form of statement, she uses the imagery of the sheep, I feel it can be seen to different ways, either as a positive symbol of returning to innocence and a form of safety however the concept of so thought safety is tempered by the word dreaming exploring the unlikely desire of having the rigth to "be weak and dream of sheep".

This image can also be seen in a much more negative light, dream of sheep can also suggest commiting suicide, being greeted with the right to be weak, failling expectation and finally "dreaming of sheep" meaning in this case the "blessing" of eternal sleep. 

This song is probably one of my favorite by Kate Bush because aswell as being incredibly beautiful it also resonates with my personal history. Exploring the idea of depression and seeing "leaving" as the only way to justify being weak, imperfect and affraid.

This is a strong theme in my story because it utilizes the mountain landscape as the theater of that desperation. In some way its extremely violent, but that brutality of loneliness, fear and opacity of all hope is represented by a universe that is a depiction of innocence and airiness, the child as a metphorical representation of how helpless you feel at the mercy of any mental illness. 

12/01/2018

Comments on narrative developpement : The imagery of the mountain enligthened by sunlight will metaphorically represent the end of something and the begining of something else in this case the night. However in the context of the project the idea of the night does not suggest something negative, its rather related to the impression of the scenery giving a feeling of mystery and secrets.

The oneiric symbol of the mountains is highlighted by the beauty and fantasty of the night sky seen as a very positive symbol. The story seems to go in the direction of changes occuring for the main characther my little child disguised as a little sheep.

Sketchbook comments : Following up on character developpement, I decided to represent the innocence of the little sheep by  using my oil pastel. Softly blending in the colours creating new tones and playing up with the visual effect of something being "blurry" suggesting the effect of sfumato in the representation of the little child disguised as a sheep.

The concept was to visualize the character as being caught in a snow blizard. The posture of the character, being all curled up and blue brings the feeling of being cold. Change is about to occure following up my exposition scene however that change in the initial situation does not feel expected by the child, he seems frighten and lost.

11/01/2018

Comments on sketchbook : I decided to introduce my project by drawing a landscape. I used a thin blue pen to draw dots to represent the idea of separation, the drawing seems to suggest something complete but when you look closer you realise that everything is detached and that its only visually that the image appear when you look at the page.

The dots are not connected symbolising de deconection of the character from the world and representing the atmosphere of the corduroy fabric through the different process of using dots.

That representation of the landscape felt quite successful, however I wanted to create a more visually present image therefore I decided inspired by my research on Joseph Mallord William Turner where he mixes thin pencil drawing and really light watercolor. I decided  to use watercolor to express the softness of the light reflecting on the snow as if the moutains where enligthened  by the last glimps of the sunlight.

 

09/01/2018

Comments on samples : I created two weaving samples referencing the idea of the frozen sheep. The first one was made layering fluffy white and yellowy white yarn i used that kind of yarn to make seem as if it was the sheep wool playing with the two colours so it would more realistic.

I hinted velvety pastel yarn that you cant really see looking at the sample but that bring a softness to the colorblock of white and introduces colours I wanted to use, the idea was to represent the moutain landscape as ligthen up by the sunset.

I then thought of using glue to induce that ice was caught up in the little sheep wool i think it was a successful experiment because the glue i used was clear and made the yarn appear frozen, i could also experiment with silicone to reinforce this aspect on other samples, to finish of i added silver sparkles to mimic the appearance of snow in the sun, how glimery and sparkly it gets when lighten up.

The other sample started up by using the same fluffly yarn but only in the pure white colour  and some transparent structural colour fabric wich I think was a interesting choice because it mimics the reflection of light on the snow.

However because its layered up in the weaving samples it gives up a turquoise blue colour wich was not the attended purpouse of the yarn Although i liked the tone because it looked like the colour of ice it did not bring the wanted effect. I liked using white "fur" balls to immitate the spirals in the wool. it brought back some texture to the samples.

08/01/2018

Comments on narrative developpement : To me, personal experience is always interesting to make a project feel relevant to you and others. I decided to bring in my project one of the key event in my life.

This relates to me rescuing a little sheep from the snow while I was at my grandparents in the alps, it fits with my initial concept of being lost in a hostile environement, plus as a visual reference I feel like the frozen sheep imagery is exciting to create textile from.

Showing the softness and purity of fluffly wool tempered by a clear rigid material representing ice it brings a contrast wich feels relevant as a reference to the character, soft fluffly child disguised as a little sheep and the scenery cold and mineral, dry and empty.

The imagery of the frozen sheep

05/01/2018

Research comments : Following up on the themes of the mountain and the idea of  detachement, I went to the library to find some inspiring visuals  to trigger inspiration to make my initial idea into a written strory.

Looking up at books on mountains, i stumbled upon books exploring the themes of ski resort, I found a lot of images of ski lifts, it seemed like the ski lift imagery was interesting in terms of suspension.

Researching suspension I found an artist called Louise bourgeois who made installations of puppet like textile figure suspended from the ceilling. That idea was really interesting because it triggered the start of developping a characther for my emerging narrative.

Suspension and detachement could now be seen through the experience of a person feeling suspended and alone lost in the mountains landscape away from reality, the concept was starting to developp into a story I could write.

04/01/2018

Comments on the brief : Corduroy made me think of separation, by looking at the lines what struck me was how separated they were, like there was a barrier of negative space between the lines.

Barrier made me think about moutains and how they create a barrier in the landscape separating the space. Detachement suggested the idea being of alone witch was interesting because it added quite well with the setting of the mountain, large empty spaces. In that kind of place only surrounded by a mineral and bare scenery the natural emotion i would personally feel would be the one of being detached from reality, away from the world and the compagny of humans.

Then by looking at images of corduroy again I found that it looked really similar to the traces a groomer would leave in the snow wich definetely fitted with the emerging concept of barrier, detachement and mountain.

07/12/2017

Research comments : I decided to focalize my attention on the visual consequences of anorexia on the body through key images such as bruises provoked by the emaciation of the body. The idea was to alter the wealth surrounding the child in his castle.

I choose to use three elements to show the body braking apart. Diamond as a ultimate symbol of wealth and as a source of conflict in Africa (blood diamond war) emeralds mined by the lower class in Africa and the surrealist animals represented earlier in the project, wild animals found in the savannah. The idea is to apply different health issues to those sais elements to show how anorexia destroys the body : I decided to use bruises, osteoporosis, veins., because they are very visible outside the body or inside the body for osteoporosis.

So far I only explored the idea of bruises but I think it could be interesting as a next step to find bone scans of bones with osteoporosis and photography of veins structure inside the body.

Sketchbook comments : The idea was to imagine that the diamonds were getting bruises suffering from decoloration and darkening of the surface. I used photography of bruises to apply sequins or sparkles I also tried to only juxtapose collage of diamonds and bruises but I feel it was'nt a sucessful idea because as I used very small pieces to represent facet of te diamond and it was'nt apparent that the original photography represented a diamond.

I decided to make a sleeve using knitwear because its a material thats builds on the arm as something sculptural very close to the skin

Diamonds and bruises sleeve

06/12/2017

Comments on samples : My samples are essentially weaved and print based. 1) For my square sample representing the daze of an eating disorder, I began by enlarging on of small sample I created in my sketchbook, to emphesize the lines i used a Black marker. This print is associated with another print taken from the sketchbook 

29/11/2017

Research comment : To establish a distinctive visual identity to my caracther I decided to look at different illustrative style to adapt a certain way to draw to my personal style and ideas. I knew I wanted to create a caracther based on a little king  to reference the innocence of the suferer unable to see the reality of its condition, the idea of the king comes from the fact that anorexia can really much feel like having a dictator in your mind controlling every aspect of your life.

Its not only linked with food but with the more general idea of achieving perfection in every thing wether its work exercize or anything else, it is truly exhausting as a pressure to ateign that stage exellence that is very much unreachable, the fact that the child is a king represents that idea the crown on his head is a symbol of domination personifying not a strive for perfection as a choice but the absolute impossibility to not strive for it.

I looked at different illustrators, I liked how Mae Besom uses colour to build up a dream  atmosphere through faded colours emphasizing certain parts of the drawing, highlighting her charcoral drawings. Moreover how she uses curves to represent her characters  bringing a certain innocence to the drawings, I also looked at David Catrow drawings I particurlarly liked how realistic his drawings looked possibly through the use of numerous details despite presenting cartoon like characters.

Sketchbook comment : I wanted my character to be very colourful in the beginning as the aim is to make the colours fade when the story progresses. The child is wearing dungarees as it is for me the most representative piece of clothe to represent a child as well as a more interesting piece to base my design on in the future of the project.

The idea that the dungarees has the colours of the sky shows the idea that the child is almost non existent as he is confounded with the sky. The representation of the character is true to my style of illustration and uses different media such as the juxtaposition of pastel, colours pencil, sequins, irridescent tape, posca to represent the changing colours of the sky.

The faces are alway very important in my work as it shows the true feelings of the caracthers/ the under lying story behind the profusion of colours, here the little kings shows an expression of profound turmoil and delusion. he does not know whats happennig but he is scared. 

General comment : The whole project links back to the quote, not in the way of repeating mistakes because you dont remember the past but because you never made those mistakes and took  those bad ddecisions in the first time; in both cases there is a sense of fatality.

28/11/2017

Sketchbook comment : I tried to represent the idea of the plane heading to the unknown by using surrealist animals and the evanescent colours of the sky. This page only involved drawing as I thought it was interesting as I am building a story to use illustration as a way to visualize the narrative.

I am not showing an precise illustrative style but by trying to use realistic drawing I wanted to bring a metaphorical concept into a disruptive form of reality. The goal was to create a surrealist scenery using figurative representation of reality to enhance the importance of the story i am trying to portray in my project, Its not completely  abstract because anorexia is a real mental illness with serious consequences and issues.

To conclude the whole narrative is a metaphore of something very real and dangerous both for the sufferer and the people around him.

I tried through the new technique of weaving to represent the sky through fabric : i used pastel colours like pink purple or blue to remember the colours of the sky at sunset, the use of wool and other soft fabric suggest the texture of clouds as well as the comforting feeling of starvation in the early stages of the illnesse. Different colours are associated in the weaving pieces placed spontaneously to give a impression of the changing colours in the sky especially at sunset and sunrise.

Sunset is also a interseting scenery for my story it shows in someways the beginning of the "end" represented by night time and the end of one day. In anorexia that sunset is much more cynical as it portrays the early stages before the rapid decadence in much darker state and the ultimate death of the suferer.

 

 

 

27/11/2017

Workshop comment : Today we were introduced to weaving through a activity of creating a game around it, the goal was to create large scale weaving pieces fast and with no primary thinking.

The result was completely hasardous and there fore very relevant to the concept of fruit machine. I did not use the weaving piece as part of my project in a litteral way, instead i used it along with a inspiration from futurist paintings as a way to symbolize the speed of the progression of the illness. 

Sketchbook comment : I aimed to create a full double page showing the plane cutting through colours, shapes and collage of the weaving to show how fast the plane is progressing in the universe of daze and surrealism and escaping reality.

The page is quite succesful I think because it shows a total separation between a psychadelic profusion of colours and totally empty white line as a visualisation of the trajectory of the plane. Visually playing with a juxtaposition between heavy colours and white space could be intersting to developp prints. 

To summarize : its a attempt to bring back the concept of luck into my work related to the idea of fruit machine;  bring in any element that could suggest speed. Its inspired both by futurist paintings and psychadelic solo in rock music. The ideas is to balance an accumulation and emptyness to enhance the power of my original narrative. Its an experiment to represent things "speeding up" I used our weaving samples because they were created randomly and very quickly through the game rules.

26/11/2017

Research comments : Reflecting through my actual research i had to bring in a personal experience to build up the concept, using the idea of detachement and feeling invicible away from a reality I decided to link the project to my personal history of suffering from anorexia.

The same feelings occure, enduring prolonged periods of starvation make the mind enter a state of daze and euphoria, its like living in another world where rationality does not take a part everything seems distorted and denial is constant. I feel its very well expressed by the idea of the plane in the sky leaving the Earth embarking on a long trip no precise destination. In anorexia the ultimate destination is death after encountering numerous health issues but the sufferer is'nt able to see the danger and carries on untill its too late.

I decided I wanted to metaphoricallly represent the stages of suffering from anorexia through a project written as a story, implementing in my research and developpement short text all together at the end creating a poem showcasing the three stages of suffering from anorexia.

The initial euphoria of starvation, the denial that anything is wrong, the body shutting down after months or years of suffering from the illness.

25/11/2017

Sketchbook comment : I decided to represent detachement by printing photography from the inside of planes in the 1960's I found in a book called Luxury airlines design, I decided to cut the images in small paper stripes and separate them on the page by empty spaces the result creates a regognizable image but also a distorted view very relevant to the concept of the castle in the sky detached from reality.

I also wanted to represent power i used a painting from Dali as an inspiration and drew the tigers using a sharp graphite pencil personifying a strong symbol. However the choice of the painting was'nt hasardous because it shows the tiger being eaten by a fish bringing the idea that that dominant figure of strenght can be devoured by something else. I thought that idea of  danger threatening the castle in the sky  could be useful to implement in my project developpement.

I carried on my representation of luxury through a diamond river crossing the page  to link both the concept of detachement and power. The diamonds "flowing" down the sketchbook represent the overdose of wealth displayed in the plane visually expressing the story line written on the page as a summary of it all : "Exhaling luxury and power.

24/11/2017

Research comments : My image represents the inside of the private jet of a African dictator, at first I was a bit deconcerted by this topic as it is not something I would use as research normally but its the concept of the fruit machine project.

I decided to look at luxury and symbol associated with it such as diamonds, gold, hand crafted african textiles.. It was'nt uninspiring but felt like it was a very litteral concept of transposition of african symbols and luxury (through colour, shapes analysis ...) on the body and as textile samples and thats definetely not what I wanted to do.

I decided to concentrate on the idea of the plane even if its not represented in the picture, its quite symbolic because its flying in the sky and not on the ground. There is a certain detachement from the world and reality in that idea of flying in the sky surrounded by luxury, its surreal and that made me research surrealism and principally Dali's paintings as inspiration for my project.

Sketchbook comments : I used a mix of collage and drawing to represent the luxurious plane as part of surrealist universe. I built up the atmosphere by using the colours of the sky during a sunset  and associating with textures and drawing personifying luxury such as gold tape and drawing of luxurious textiles. To emphasize the idea of surrealism i used characters from the surrealist paintings. The aim was to create a poetic atmosphere representing a castle flying in a dream like sky as a base for the project.

23/11/2017

Does your sketchbook show a clear development process ? I think my sketchbook shows a clear development process, because I tried to be as clear as possible in my narrative using illustration, collage and paper manipulations. The aesthetic through the whole project is the same, revolving on quick doll like illustrations, really detailed print development and the use of photography as a major part of research. I think that adding reflective comments and short annotations are really helping the project to be understood in the way it was entitled to.

Have you explored all research possibilities ? I don't think I explored all research possibilities because the images of my partner involved a lot of different cultures. I decided voluntarely to focus on her Slovakian heritage to develop my project, I think I attached more importance in creating a clear, entertaining and complete narrative than on researching everything my partner told me about her culture. However I don't see it necessarily as a bad choice because it allowed me to research in depth one part of my partner culture and to create a project with a certain direction that was relevant and interesting for me I did not overcomplicate the idea and stayed quite simple with my concept while addressing relevant a issue,the view of dancing representing freedom in contrast to the restriction of set tradition.

Has your research influenced your techniques decisions ? I think my research played a role in the choices of my techniques. By choosing a book that showed techniques to represent fluid forms, I think I was able to portray the idea of the dancing prints quite well. Using collage was also relevant to my research as I gathered photography of Slovakian women to then dress up in the new prints I created. My research on my own culture definitely informed my concept as I brought in the culture swap project elements belonging to my interests like movement in relation to music and the use of synaesthestic and visual music to initiate original designs.

22/11/2017

Sketchbook comments : I developped the initial synaesthetic experiment into a variation of prints and started mixing them with my illustrations to see how they will interact with the dancing body. I decided that I had to bring back some of the slovakian culture into the prints so I used them as shapes that I then filled up with a collage of different slovakian prints. I think this brought back the initial research to the prints, I then introduced the color scheme to my prints chosing : -Blue, for the reference to our trip to Wapping, and the water who proved to be very important part of the design developement. -Green for the slovakian mountain and lanscapes found in my partner pictures -Red because it was the most important and recurant colour in slovakian traditional dress. Bringing the colour to the prints was a long process because I wanted to keep them recognizable, I used a mix of collage and drawing to render a detailed and harmonious effect I liked for my prints. I then applied the prints to the design developement of a garment based on slovakian traditional dress and made my prints appear in 3d through paper manipulations such as folding and curving the printed paper. I also did collage applying the prints to photography of women wearing traditional costumes, mixing 2d and 3d to add texture to the design. I am overall satisfied with my work and my outcome this week, however I would have liked to bring in more fashion illustrations of the final garment but i got short on time, also when I printed the prints with my printer, the colours sligthly changed and it was less apparent that i respected the restriction of the project to use only three  colours.

21/11/2017

Sketchbook comments : I decided to represent through my research developement the contrast between the strict vision my partner had of slovakian dance and my own perception of dancing; I used pictures of the fluidity of water I took in Wapping to represent the liberating feeling that dancing has for me, the water is always mooving freely without constraint after having made this observation, the main focus of the project became to bring that fluidity and unrestrained effect of water to the slovakian costume. For me dancing is always very linked to music and how they respond to one another, movement is created from a visual and tactile representation of sounds, its a very synaesthetic concept in itself and I thought it would be intersting to iniate movement in the prints with that technique. Basing my experiment on a book I found in the library called "Visual music" where painters represented music through canvas, I decided to listen to slovakian music with my helmet on for some time trying to absorb myself in the translation of the sounds I was hearing into drawings. The result of that experiment proved to be essential in the developement of my prints design, with always the same focus in mind to make "the Print dance."

General comments : Working in my sketchbook can be a stressfull/anxiety provoking experience as I am always afraid I wont do things "rigth", however I think I found a way to stop being blocked because i want everything to look "perfect" and to just get on with the work and trust myself in what I am doing. I am practicing my own variation on blind drawing, if I take my glasses off I see everything very blurry and it helps me to be more responsive  in my sketchbook and less precious about trying to make it look a certain way. The result of that experiment is that the pages are more expressive and true to my style, I am less stressed and work faster by trusting my instinct I ended up liking my work more. I think it is a good exercize to do when I feel blocked, but the main point I think is that I need to trust myself more and be more confident "to do" rather than think extensively about everything. 

Synaesthetic representation of slovakian traditional music

20/11/2017

General comments : My partner shared her pictures with me, she took very literally the word "culture" and brought in each of her image a different cultural background related to her life. Some of the images informed her time living in Slovakia, one image represented belgium chocolate because she was born in that country, but she also had a picture of a Korean pop band because she is intersted by that culture and a painting about gipsy referencing the cultural background of most of her friends. Its really fascinating how a brief can be understood in such different ways by different people; everything is subjected to interpretation.

Sketchbook comments : I felt a bit overwhelmed working with such a diversity of cultures therefore, I feel like my first collages done in class have the same kind of problem, there is too much going on in them and its difficult to capture particular information from it. Also I think I did not understand the exersize how it was meant to be, My collages where more like textile samples made out of only paper rather than a tool to build up the project narrative. However I feel like I introduced interesting techniques into my work, I created volume through folding paper and brought together a mix of 2d and 3d in the same visuals, it's something I never experienced with before but that proved to be quite usefull to render textures and add depht to my work. Its definetely something I will revisit in future projects.

Comments on future research : At night I decided it will be necesary to focuse on one thing from the 6 images my partner gave me. I decided to keep the images where was showed her slovakian heritage, (as it was what interested me the most) my researches will be directed towards slovakain traditional dress and something she told me about on Thursday. Essentially how she hated wearing her slovakian costumes to school because she was forced to dance and sing wearing it and it was embarassing and forced. I liked how paradoxal it was from my own vision of dancing and how for me it is a form of expression and a liberating experience creating a almost transe feeling. I think it will be interesting to inform that contrast in my work. I also have to research more about slovakian dancing and traditional dress and about the act of dancing in general, its links to music and movements...

Slovakian traditional dress from my partner.

18/09/2017-19/09/2017

The pursue of research in the aim to capture who I am through imagery; A ungoing process.

Comments on research : I looked through my childhood pictures and found one that was particularly interesting where you can see me and my best friend dancing in my grand parents house infront of my familly. This photography represents innocence and being carefree, I look totally relaxed dancing like in my world completely safe and unafraid of any from of judjement its a feeling that portrays well my childhood and my love for dancing wich I consider to be a instinctive, viceral form of expression. Its totally responsive to the music and expresses a moment of spontaneity very true to your own perception, its for me the most direct way to translate a emotion. This photo also brings a element of nostalgia because now I cant connect with dancing and my body because I feel to self conscious and terrified my the judgements of others. However this photography was the starting point to gathering images not only showing where I am from but also what are my interests. After that I decided to include a photography of Kate Bush dancing because she is a artist i really love and who's aesthetic is really close from my own because of the use of colour and the surrealist aspect both in the music and the imagerie. I also included a painting by a artist called Mikhail Matiouchine found in the book Visual Music by Kerry Brougher it references my love for the concept of synaesthetic often found in poetry and literature, Charles Baudelaire and Marcel Proust among others; it something that really intersests me because it carries a particular sense of mystery (see research for more extensive informations). As probably the most important image to describe me, I used a photography I took my self addressing my love for reading and writting; I took a photgraphy of my favorite book, "In search of lost times" by Marcel Proust like if I was geneuinly flicking through it, The book is captured in that instant portraying the great interest I carry for both reading but also writing, a very personal experience and way to translate and let go of emotions. I felt the new images I found were really representative of my culture, who I am, where i am from, what I find interesting.

General comments : Tomorrow its monday, and we will share our images with our allocated partner, I hope I will feel inspired by my partner culture photography and able to be responsive to her images with paper manipulation and collage.

17/11/2017

Another day at the CSM Library.

Comments on research : I decided to organise my thoughts through a mind mapping to define key concepts to help me to find visuals to represent it. I was born in the french Alps and my grandfather was a ski instructor, I found different images of skiing, however those images referenced the technical skills of skiing rather than the imagery it self. I decided I was going to use mostly photography from my childhood hollydays in the Alps rather than using images from sport books wich did not capture the aesthetic I was trying to portray. However focusing on a different experience that is part of my culture, I wanted to represent what it feels like to suffer from anorexia nervosa, a condition that I have been struggling with for a few years, although not directly linked to the subject, I found a collection of photography by Rosemary Laing representing a women flying :  peacefully in the first picture, wounded in the second, and completely unable to control anything, caught in a hurricane in the third. For me it represented the mental state of having a eating disorder, from the euphoria of initial starvation to the hell, unstopabble monster it becomes.                                                                                                                       In Parenthesis :  I like (if you can say so), the idea of contrast between all the happy/careless memories of my early childhood and the constant turmoil that has been my adolescence and early adulthood, I feel it could be interesting to use those experiences I have been through for a future project ( not this one as it is a culture SWAP) , the developement of those issues would be very individual but possibly relevant as a psychological exploration of what i already experienced in my life, something to think about. Maybe express contrast through : contrasting fabric, layering (to express how personality builds up), burning fabric to express turmoil, interwining both aspect through a knit samples capturing my (rather challenging) journey of coming of age...)

General comments : I will continue research tomorrow as I feel I dont have enough things to represent my culture and I would like my images to represent who I am, through subject but also through aesthetic as it is also vital to capture my culture, and perception of reality. Also aestheticly pleasing visuals felt essential for the subject of this project : collage and paper manipulation.

The internal feeling of having a eating disorder

16/11/2017

After the project brief me and my partner went to Wapping our allocated area of London.

Comments on the area : This part of London was completely new to me. I found very interesting the diversity of visuals you could experience there; The river Thames was entering in the city and creating a different atmosphere almost as if we left London and went to a city on the coast. The reflection of the water was ondulating, in opposition to the strict structures of the buildings. I tried to express that contrast through collage of different materials that represented the miroring effect of water for that I used photography,clear tape and mark making. To represent the structures I used thicker medias aswell as fence like design. It portrayed the instability of the body of water against the concrete and metal structures. This relates to the idea of Culture Swap because two opposing things are coming together in a same place referencing the idea of cultural mixity through the diversity of scenery in one are area. The cultural diversity was present in the area and I tried to represent that by quickly sketching with a pencil the poses and postures of the people walking, with that quick response I feel like I was able to get the kind of "feeling" associated with a cultural heritage, through representing the shapes in the clothing. Overall I really enjoyed visiting this area because it blended a contrast between a sea side culture involving different kinds of boats (from yatch to  kayak) and a city culture, referencing attributes of office wear in the garments and tall sky buildings. At the moment I am not really sure where the project will take me, but it could be interesting to play with a idea of contrast between fluidity and verticality as it portrays the juxtaposition of two different cultures.

Comments on the discussion : My partner lived in Slovakia for a long part in her life, she told me that she does'nt have the best memories of that time because of the heavy Cultural heritage present there, she had to wear a traditional slovakian costume to go to school everyday aswell as sing and dance while wearing it. It felt like a constraint to her. I Think its very interesting because its paradoxal with the first goal of those ceremonies wich are more centered on celebrating the culture while engaging in enjoyable activities.

General Comments : I struggle with the sketchbook lay out, I feel like my pages are looking similar and to "crowed". I think its because I rely on the techniques I am confortable with, drawing and collage and I am to scared to try new things. I would like to be more experimental with my work and my project developpement however I feel anxious because this sketchbook will be showed for the Ba interviews and I am scared to ruin it by trying things I cant control.