Future Past - Visual Research One

'Don't play it safe-push yourself'

This is what I am working from for this unit as I believe it to be very important. 

After our unit briefing lecture, it has stuck with me that I need to not only motivate myself even more than last year, but also challenge myself and my skills to discover what I can achieve. Due to this, I have chosen 'Future Past' for my Intentions project, as I believe it: 

(1) is a completely different brief from anything I studied last year and will allow me to work outside my comfort zone

(2) has an emphasis on observation and drawing, which are areas I have previously noticed are a weakness of mine, and therefore want to further develop

(3) offers a range of archive visits, new approaches to drawings and  collecting information, which will help me experiment and take risks with my work.

During my first week of Visual Research, I have found myself working with a wide range of mediums and also taking on board everything I learnt from my summer project feedback. I chose a starting point of studying African fabrics and designs (following on from my summer project of Southern Spanish art and tiles), initially discovering a Mid 20th Century Moroccan Rug, featuring a variety of bold geometric motifs and ancient symbols. After later researching into this, I discovered them to be the traditional language of the Berbers, from North Africa. 

I spent a lot of time finding ways to rework this ancient language, alongside getting inspiration from other articles and pieces I found. 

I also took the opportunity to visit the Downing Archive Collection and found it to be a huge amount of help. It opened my eyes to Western African designs, after discovering a collection of beautiful wax prints, portraying the depth and richness of colour I knew I wanted my work to have. It also allowed me to continue my studies with the shapes and composition used within African art, as it is important to me that no matter where my project takes me, because I am looking into traditional arts and textiles, my work still needs to have that symbolic nature about it.   

Over the past week, I've tried to give myself a substantial amount of work that I can develop and work back into, as my project unfolds. I've so far pushed myself to experiment with different mediums and layering my work, as well as submerging myself with research and I think this has been the biggest help. It has allowed me to learn more about international fabrics and fully understand about the textiles in Africa, which I can use throughout my project and into the future.