variation
/vɛːrɪˈeɪʃ(ə)n/ noun 1. a change or slight difference in condition, amount, or level, typically within certain limits. 2. a different or distinct form or version of something. |
similarity
/sɪməˈlarəti/ noun
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My Moodboard
Andy Warhol exhibition - Whitney Museum
During my photography based trip to New York I visited many museums and exhibitions. My favourite was the Andy Warhol exhibition at the Whitney museum. For my whole life I have been a fan of Andy Warhol, growing up in a home where his Marilyn series spans a whole wall in my house. For me, an exhibition of his work has always been something I've wanted to see, the fact it was at the Whitney in NYC made it even more exciting.
Below are some things from the exhibition.
Below are some things from the exhibition.
Andy Warhol is very relevant when exploring the exam title 'variations and similarities' as he is well known for his use of popular culture, mass media, repetition and screen printing techniques. As seen above, his coca-cola series showcases his use of repetition, his Marilyn Monroe series also shows repetition as well as exploring his screen printing techniques.
Blur Task
City Task
For this task I took photographs of some of London's well-known buildings looking at imposing architecture. Exploring the similarity in their grandeur but variations in the details.
Don McCullin Exhibition
Don McCullin was born on the 9th October 1935 and resided in Finsbury Park, North London. McCullin is a well-known British photojournalist who is often recognised for his war photography. McCullin's career took off in 1959 and over the years, he has specialised in unpicking the underside of society and his intimate photos depicting the impoverished and unemployed. The exhibition itself is filled with an array of hand-printed photographs, both photographed and developed by McCullin himself.
Room 1 - Early Work
The Guvnors in their Sunday Suits
Finsbury Park, London 1958 |
‘I started out in photography accidentally. A policeman came to a stop at the end of my street and a guy knifed him. That’s how I became a photographer. I photographed the gangs that I went to school with. I didn’t choose photography, it seemed to choose me, but I’ve been loyal by risking my life for fifty years.’
- Don McCullin McCullin grew up in Finsbury Park in North London while it was still in partial ruins due to the ramifications of the bombings of WW2. When he was fourteen his father passed away from a chronic illness which forced McCullin out of school and into work, in order to provide for his family. Much of his early work was taken in and around the area he grew up in. A photograph which played a part in him getting noticed was 'The Guvnors in their Sunday Suits'. This photograph is of a local gang who were indirectly implicated in the death of a policeman.
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Room 2 - Berlin
‘I went straight down to Friederichstrasse and started working with my Rolleicord. Of course, I was sitting on the biggest story in the world, I saw the East Germans drilling the foundations and building the Wall breeze block by breeze block.’
- Don McCullin In 1961 McCullin travelled to Germany in order to photograph the building of the Berlin Wall. At the time, Europe consisted of capitalist countries in the west and communist jurisdiction in the east. Germany itself was split into four zones, controlled by the US, Britain, France and Russia. The Western areas formed West Germany, with the Soviet-controlled zone becoming East Germany. The border between East and West Germany was closed in 1952 however, for some it was still impossible to cross over in Berlin.
What compelled McCullin to visit Germany in order to document was a photograph he saw of an East German border guard jumping over the border from East to West. |
Near Checkpoint Charlie
Berlin, 1961 |
The images captured on this exhibit highlight the apprehensive coexistence of everyday life and the military. McCullin’s photographs won him a British Press Award and a permanent contract with the Observer.
Room 3 - Cyprus, Republic of Congo, Biafra
Cyprus
Cyprus, 1964
Printed, 2013 |
‘Cyprus left me with the beginnings of a self knowledge, and the very beginning of what they call empathy. I found I was able to share other people’s emotional experiences, live with them silently, transmit them.’
- Don McCullin Cyprus was McCullin's first international assignment with the images captured being the first of conflict he had photographed. McCullin put himself in personal danger while photographing, as many atrocities were committed. These photos document a very turbulent and violent period of political conflict between Greek and Turksih Cypriots.
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Republic of Congo
‘I first went to the Congo in 1964… The fighting I encountered was vicious and cruel, and on the whole, evil men prevailed.’
Biafra
‘It was beyond war, it was beyond journalism, it was beyond photography, but not beyond politics… We cannot, must not be allowed to forget the appalling things we are all capable of doing to our fellow human beings.’
- Don McCullin McCullin ventured to Biafra in 1988 for the year in order to photograph the humanitarian crisis. The works he produced were published in the Sunday Times Magazine. The Biafran war was fought between the government and Nigeria and the separatist state of Biafra. The war was the consequences of deep-rooted religious, ethnic and political tensions within Nigeria. The government set up a blockade which resulted in restricted food and medical supplies causing widespread famine and disease. Moreover, there were accusations saying there was evidence of deliberate bombings of civilians, rape and mass slaughter with machine guns. By photographing this crisis, McCullin not only raised awareness but inevitably, with support from the British government aided the eventual surrender of the Biafran state. The state was then reintegrated into Nigeria in 1970. However, the devastation of three years of war were still evident with between 500'000 and 2 million civilians dead, many children.
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Biafra, 1968
Printed, 2013 |
Room 4 - Vietnam, Cambodia
Vietnam
The battble for the City of Hue
South Vietnam, US Marine Inside Civilian House 1968, printed 2013 |
‘Seeing, looking at what others cannot bear to see, is what my life as a war reporter is all about.’
- Don McCullin Over the course of his career he visited Vietnam sixteen times. Working on an assignment for the Sunday Times McCullin covered both the Vietnam war and its aftermath. The war was between the communist government of North Vietnam and their allies from South Vietnam. It is estimated that between 1 and 3.8 million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians were killed during the conflict. 58,220 US service members also died.
Most of the works in this room were taken when McCullin spent eleven days with the American troops in 1968. McCullin took some of his best-known images whilst the men were fighting their way into a city in South Vietnam. Images such as these ones helped to draw attention to the war and inspired widespread demonstrations against US involvement. |
Cambodia
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You have to bear witness. You cannot just look away.’ - Don McCullin |
During his work for the Sunday Times, McCullin was sent on several assignments to cover the Cambodian Civil War. In 1970, during McCullin's first visit to Cambodia he was hit by a mortar bomb and seriously injured, while others were killed.
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Room 5 - The East End
‘There are social wars that are worthwhile. I don’t want to encourage people to think photography is only necessary through the tragedy of war.’
- Don McCullin From the late 1960s to early 1980s, McCullin focused on photographing communities of men and women living on the streets of Aldgate and Whitechapel in east London. McCullin started by photographing people who he believed were homeless following the closure of psychiatric institutions. McCullin has previously said that he believes that capitalism has led to the closure of unprofitable institutions like psychiatric ones which in turn, left many residents without a home. McCullin worked closely with the people he photographed and took several of a woman called Jean. His study of her hands reflects the harsh reality of her living conditions and McCullin's connection to his subjects.
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Jean, a homeless woman
Aldgate, East End, London 1984, printed 1985 |
Room 6 - Bradford and The North, British Summertime
Bradford and The North
‘I wish I’d been born in Bradford, and had its beautiful dialect and its warm, relaxed attitude… Bradford’s full of energy and enthusiasm – an exciting, giant, visual city.’
- Don McCullin McCullin photographed communities living in northern cities such as Bradford and Liverpool. Often he turned his attention to this photography after reporting violent conflicts which caused deep-rooted trauma. McCullin saw similarities between their lives and his own childhood, he identified deeply with his subjects; picturing the lives of others as a means of learning about himself.
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Local Boys in Bradford
1972 |
British Summertime
McCullin spent a lot of time during his career capturing the lives of British people, including their eccentricity and humour. The images taken for this project include knobbly knee competitions and preserving sunbathers. McCullin continues to highlight social inequalities through his photography depicting everyday life.
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‘I couldn’t do without the magnetic head-on collision I keep having every time I go out with my camera in England. It’s become a crusade – just walking for hours, day in, day out, with the camera bag over my shoulder.’ |
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland, Londonderry
1971, printed 2013 |
‘One day a sniper, hidden among the stone-throwers, killed a soldier with one bullet… Now it was serious. Returning to my hotel, I had to cross the military lines and suffer the hostile accusations of British troops for aiding and abetting the rioters and ultimately the IRA terrorists. It was inconceivable at the time that the carnage would continue unabated for another twenty five years.’
- Don McCullin In 1971, McCullin was sent to Northern Ireland on one of many assignments set by The Sunday Times. The photographs taken on this expedition were published as part of a photo-story entitled 'War on the Home Front'. The photographs are a documentation of a thirty-year period of intense political violence known as 'The Troubles'.
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Room 7 - Projection Room
McCullin worked at the The Sunday Times for eighteen years. Organised chronologically, this room showed some of these magazine spreads which includes some of McCullins' colour photography and stories that are not featured elsewhere in the exhibition.
Room 8 - Bangladesh, Beirut, Iraq
Bangladesh
‘No heroics are possible when you are photographing people who are starving. All I could do was to try and give the people caught up in this terrible disaster as much dignity as possible. There is a problem inside yourself, a sense of your own powerlessness, but it doesn’t do to let it take hold, when your job is to stir the conscience of others who can help.’
- Don McCullin |
In 1971, McCullin travelled to Bangladesh and India, covering the Bangladesh War of Independence. Over the course of the war it is estimated that more than 3 million people were killed mostly by the wounds sustained from attacks as well as starvation along with the thousands of women that were raped, affecting near enough every family in East Pakistan.
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Beirut
McCullin travelled to Beirut in 1976, in the midst of fighting between Christian and Muslim militaries during The Lebanese Civil War which lasted for 15 years from 1975. When McCullin returned in 1982 he found similar scenes. Israeli troops had invaded southern Lebanon and surrounded the refugee camps, preventing people from fleeing.
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‘The photographic equipment I take on an assignment is my head and my eyes and my heart. I could take the poorest equipment and I would still take the same photographs. They might not be as sharp, but they would certainly say the same thing.‘
- Don McCullin |
Iraq
‘I don’t believe you can see what’s beyond the edge unless you put your head over it; I’ve many times been right up to the precipice, not even a foot or an inch away. That’s the only place to be if you’re going to see and show what suffering really means.’
- Don McCullin |
McCullin was sent on an assignment to Iraq by the Independent in 1991. He was instructed to cover the Kurdish exodus from Iraq in the wake of the Gulf War which spanned 1990 and 1991. Iraq had been at for for most of the previous decade.
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Room 9 - The AIDS Pandemic, India, Southern Ethiopia
The AIDS Pandemic
‘I want people to look at my photographs. I don’t want them to be rejected because people can’t look at them. Often they are atrocity pictures. Of course they are. But I want to create a voice for the people in those pictures. I want the voice to seduce people into actually hanging on a bit longer when they look at them, so they go away not with an intimidating memory but with a conscious obligation.’
- Don McCullin McCullin travelled to Africa in 2000 to investigate the the HIV/AIDs epidemic with Christian Aid. The visit concluded with portraits of communities and the people within them living through the humanitarian disaster in South Africa, Zambia and Botswana.
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A Boy at the Funeral of his Father who Died of AIDS, Ndola, Kawama Cemetery, Zambia 2000, Printed 2013
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India
McCullin visited India multiple times throughout his career, first going in 1966, believing it is one of the most visually exciting countries in the world. For many years he attended the annual pilgrimage to the Sonepur Mela, a cattle fair that takes place every November on Kartik Poornima, the day of the full moon. In Hinduism, it is regarded as a holy site. McCullin has photographed the supplicants and pilgrims who gather at fairs of a similar nature and holy festivals across India.
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‘It was so easy to fall in love with India; its ancient culture and long history… I have been back again and again many times since and never cease to wonder at the beauty to be found there.’ - Don McCullin |
Southern Ethiopia
‘When you go to a country, what do you go for? You go to learn, culturally, to absorb, because I left school at fifteen and didn’t have an education, travel and photography has been a blessing to me because it’s allowed me to educate myself and learn about the world.’ - Don McCullin |
McCullin travelled to the Omo River Basin in south-western Ethiopia in 2003 and 2004. The Omo River spans from the central highlands of Ethiopia, home to Coptic Christian communities, and reaches Lake Turkana in Kenya. Over the last 20 years both Kara and Suri peoples have been suffered ethnic tensions and harsh government policies that jeopardise their way of life. The government has confiscated land which has a snowball effect, including restricting people to smaller territories which are often split by new roads being built. The loss of land also means fewer areas for their livestock to graze, their main economic income. These pressures have made conflict increase between ethnic groups as well as introducing the threat of their way of life disappearing forever.
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Room 10 - Still Life, Landscapes, Southern Frontiers
Still Life
Since the 80s McCullin has often turned to the traditions of still life photography in order to escape the hard memories of the war. He often conducts this in the peace of his own garden, using bronzes collected whilst on assignments abroad as well as plums and mushrooms grown in the vicinity. McCullin described the process of constructing this as being 'akin to receiving a transfusion'. The escapism of the process is refreshing and renewing.
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‘So, there is guilt in every direction: guilt because I don’t practice religion, guilt because I was able to walk away while this man was dying of starvation or being murdered by another man with a gun. And that I am tired of guilt, tired of saying to myself: ‘I didn’t kill that man on that photograph, I didn’t starve that child.’ That’s why I want to photograph landscapes and flowers. I am sentencing myself to peace.’
- Don McCullin |
Landscapes
‘I dream of this when I’m in battle.
I think of misty England…’ - Don McCullin ‘Those colossal Roman stone structures from 2,000 years ago filled me with awe, then it dawned on me how they were achieved. Through cruelty. Through wickedness and slavery. The staggering accomplishment was the product of brutality.’
- Don McCullin |
McCullin says he has 'sentenced himself to peace' after enduring a lifetime of war. In recent years his focus has been the landscapes of Scotland, Somerset and Northumberland. Although these landscapes offer a sense of tranquility, they also reflect the battlefield of the Somme in France. McCullin also sees these landscapes as politicised as they are a result of the constant closure of dairy farms and the development of green belt land, areas designated to natural wildlife, surrounding urban areas.
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Don McCullin's exhibition and span of work relates to the exam title of 'variations and similarities' as he showcases the similar themes within the different wars that he has photographed. Further on in his career he moved into a very different aspect of photography, looking at landscapes that offer a sense of tranquility. This juxtaposition between war and tranquility offers the variation aspect of the exam title. Within Don McCullin's work I like his series on The East End as it captures a lot of culture within London, if I were to do a development based on this I would look at the public and take candid photos to capture their style of culture.
Variations in Light and Shadow
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I explored how different light intensities, colours and angles changes your face. I found a video on youtube to illustrate my findings. It would be interesting to explore all the different angles of light and merge them together to create one portrait. |
Link artist:
Valerie Kabis
Valerie Kabis creates contrast as well as blur within her portraits. I like the contrast she has created within her work however, I would prefer if the face wasn't as blurred so some specific details are still visible. I will draw upon her technique of extreme contrast creating both a response to this and this combined with blur.
Unedited response:
Edited response:
I decided to do an edited response just using variation and shadow and then an edited response using blur
I used a different model and took portraits against a white background to experiment with the different light and variation
Then I took portraits against a white background, these are my results
After experimenting with both a black and white background I came to the conclusion that I prefer the black background as it allows for more contrast.
3 Strands
Strand 1 - Similarities and Variations in Nature
Engineering Nature exhibition - Centre Pompidou
This photograph from my shoot is my favourite as it demonstrates beautiful contrast. While choosing leaves to photograph I kept in mind that I wanted to represent a timeline of the leaf's life.
As I picked various different leaves, I thought I would experiment with both editing and photographing. Personally, I prefer the photographs of the more transparent leaves as their details showed up better and they became sharper when edited rather than cloudier.
Strand 2 - Similarities and Variations in People
For this strand I decided to take portraits of a range people. I wanted to shoot the portraits without expression to show formality while delving into the details via a questionnaire after.
Questions:
Where are you from?
Where were you born?
What language(s) do you speak?
What area do you live in?
Do you follow a religion?
Where are you from?
Where were you born?
What language(s) do you speak?
What area do you live in?
Do you follow a religion?
Kamila
Luke
Mahmud
Tallulah
Dillon
Ella
Margaux
Nancy
Sophia
Amber
Jaime
I then used the flags of where they come from to overlay over their portrait.
Strand 3 - Similarities and Variations in Media
VOGUE
While predominantly a fashion magazine, Vogue has assumed a vital and leading role on the cultural stage. It's history spans the most innovative decades in fashion, the arts and within society. With over 2000 issues British Vogue has created a bridge between fashion and the wider world - how we dress, what we eat, listen to and watch, how we entertain and who excites us, leads us and inspires us. Over the years, Vogue has collected some of the century's most talented photographers, all contributing in a unique way.
For this strand I have decided to take a both a chronological and a typology approach and photograph my vogue collection. I have from the 1900's to present day issues therefore I will not be able to photograph them all however, I have decided I am going to photograph from 1998 to the present month's edition.
Development 1 - Categorised by year
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1999 |
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2000 |
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2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
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2006 |
2007 |
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2008 |
2009 |
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2010 |
2011 |
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2012 |
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2014 |
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2018 |
2019 |
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Development 2 - Typology
I decided to then present the Vogue's in a collage format, however, I struggled to find a software that would allow me to produce one on such a large scale. I settled on a website that allowed me to put five in a row, I repeated this process 51 times in order to complete the whole typology series. Although it was an easy process, the monotony made it extremely hard.
Development 3 - Photoshop response
To develop this further I explored my options in photoshop. Using my categorisation by year, I chose a different front cover to represent each letter if 'Vogue', the idea behind this was to showcase the variation between publications within the same year
Development 4 - Blurring the lines
Whilst on photoshop I wanted to explore ways to blur the images to create a new trend. Within recent decades innovative steps have been made in fashion, making trends that were once nothing into something. I focused on the makeup on the models as makeup is something that has transformed in society, especially as a form of expression.
After witnessing first-hand the influence of makeup as well as social media I decided to do some research into the use, cost and details of beauty products.
I found these statistics interesting, specifically the top three. As a teenager myself, I have seen many people go through different stages of makeup. The majority of women start wearing makeup between 13-15 years old, spending roughly 11-15 minutes doing so. The most interesting statistic I saw was the reasons behind the use of makeup with most people using it as a tool of concealment that makes them feel confident, often using social media to aid purchases.
Here are more statistics that I have collected regarding annual spending in the female beauty category. Again it is interesting that the majority of females spend $200+ in all three categories of body and skin care, hair care and cosmetics or makeup. In the past statistics 75% of women stated they didn't mind the price as it made them feel good in themselves.
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I then focused my statistic search on a trend that has boomed recently: fake tan
My Trip to Paris
During my half-term I decided to take a 3-day trip to Paris in order to look at Paris fashion, look for inspiration aswell as visiting the many museums that Paris is famous for. I chose Paris as it is a major fashion capital in the world, widely acknowledged for its influence in the fashion industry. I was intrigued to see the city aswell and how the city may play a part in influencing and maintaining fashion.
During my trip I took photographs of the many landmarks as well as fashion and the city. Although the city may not directly reflect on fashion, it is interesting to see first hand how the city may have sculpted the perception of beauty and still carves a consistent look, perpetuated through generations, for example, the beret.
Originally I intended on taking my photographs on film, however, due to the limited amount of time I didn't want to risk the film not turning out how I hoped. The camera I used wasn't the best however, it was used as a tool for documenting my trip rather than to produce high quality pictures to be used later.
During my trip I took photographs of the many landmarks as well as fashion and the city. Although the city may not directly reflect on fashion, it is interesting to see first hand how the city may have sculpted the perception of beauty and still carves a consistent look, perpetuated through generations, for example, the beret.
Originally I intended on taking my photographs on film, however, due to the limited amount of time I didn't want to risk the film not turning out how I hoped. The camera I used wasn't the best however, it was used as a tool for documenting my trip rather than to produce high quality pictures to be used later.
Throughout the city I was astonished by the amount of colour and diversity. I took a lot of photographs of posters and graffiti. I liked how the posters were just piled on top of each other, slowly peeling off the wall. To me, this reflects fashion and how different styles are overlapped with different elements of past ones coming through, and when too many are layered they fall off and the process starts again with old trends becoming apparent again.
One thing I am very grateful for was seeing the Notre Dame, I visited it 5 days before the fire broke out, destroying a lot of the structure.
Throughout my trip I photographed people that I saw on the street. These are two of the photographs I took on the first day. The on the left is of a man outside the Notre Dame with two dogs, he used his umbrella to shield him from the sun while asking people for spare change. The one on the right is a man who appeared homeless sitting on a metro chair with all his belonging on the chair next time him as he slept, wrapped in a blanket. In the second image I like the speckled effect that was caused from my camera, it almost reflects a film style photograph which I really like.
I also visited the Pantheon as well as the surrounding area
I visited the Louvre, and took many photos documenting the crowds, famous pieces and the structure of the building, focusing on abstraction.
Within the Louvre there was so much variation between art it housed and the structure itself. The Louvre has many abstract and modern features however, the art within is old, spanning many centuries. In this light the past art has met the present art in the form of architecture.
Within the Louvre there was so much variation between art it housed and the structure itself. The Louvre has many abstract and modern features however, the art within is old, spanning many centuries. In this light the past art has met the present art in the form of architecture.
I visited the Centre Pompidou which I found very interesting, I enjoyed the exhibitions as well as my first first-hand interaction with a structure built around the concept of bowellism. Bowellism is a modern style of architecture that places the services for the building on the exterior to maximise the interior space. An example of this in London is the Lloyd's building.
On my last day, I spent the day visiting the Eiffel Tower and the surrounding areas.
I took a series of the metro as I found that it was aesthetically pleasing, reflecting a lot of colours that are prominent in fashion at the moment. For example, bright yellows and oranges.
Development 5 - Shop Displays
After looking at the bigger city, I decided to then focus my attention back onto fashion by visiting a fashion outlet and looking at the displays and how they differ with each other.
Renewable eco-friendly fashion
Within the photographs above, I found it interesting how some of the windows were representing fashion thats moving towards the trend of recycling and reusing whereas some were stuck in a high fashion market. Personally, through direct encounter with many shop displays, I have witnessed a massive boom in recycled fashion. I believe this is due to increased awareness on recycling and the effects of not doing so. This therefore means that awareness is now fashionable. In other markets there has also been a shift in trends towards ones that are more world conscious. After noticing this trend I decided to do some research on how fashion contributes to global warming and the economy.
I also researched the impact of fast fashion. Fast fashion refers to retailers that produce clothing in a fast fashion from the catwalk in order to keep up with new trends. Another definition that has been attached to the term fast fashion is the idea that it moves from producer to consumer quickly but also from consumer to the rubbish quickly too.
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The two displays of statistics above showcase apparels and footwear's impact on the environment, breaking down each stage of production and showing how each stage individually contributes. I found this interesting as although people have become more aware of global warming, it is more focused on the agricultural industry. A lot of people are not aware of how the apparel industry contributes, an industry that is in high demand in the present day and growing rapidly.
Final Piece
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For my final piece I will be investigating and developing the impact of fashion on the environment. I will be doing this through a series to demonstrate the different elements that contribute to the impact. In order to investigate fast fashion I had to endorse in it. I chose to shop at Primark as it has been the centre of a lot of controversy in the past, concerning workers rights. I chose a varied range of garments based on fabric, colour and point of origin. Whilst shopping I was shocked at the sheer quantity of clothes, highlighting the mass production aspect of fast fashion brands; in order to survive they produce in large quantities and sell the garments for a low price. Firstly, I will research and generate a profile on where the item of clothing has come from as well as the distance it has travelled from it's origin (including details like fuel consumption) and if available, the wage of the workers that made the clothing. My aim is to make a stronger connection between the producer and consumer as many consumers become detached from the point of origin. Then I am going to look at the garment under a microscope, examining the many different fibres and fabrics. I am doing this in order to show the microscopic details of the fabric as fibre production, yarn preparation and fabric preparation are major contributors to the impact the apparel industry has on the environment. After completing fact profile and the microscopic examination I am going to put these together on photoshop and create a final piece designed around the idea of a washing label in an original piece of clothing. I will then print this onto transfer paper and iron it onto fabric I have purchased; calico. After this I will sew the calico onto the original item of clothing so it looks like an authentic washing label. However, it will be on a much larger scale in order to have all the information clear. |
The Rana Plaza Tragedy
In 2013 a garment factory collapsed in Dhaka due to structural failure. The factory was situated in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka District in Bangladesh and was eight stories high. The search for the dead ended 3 weeks after the initial collapse with a death toll of 1134 and approximately 2500 injured. This event has gone down in history as the deadliest structural failure accident in modern history and therefore the deadliest garment factory disaster in history. The Rana Plaza held clothing factories, a bank, apartments and a number of shops. The commodities on the lower floors were closed immediately after cracks were reported in the building. However, the buildings owners ignored the advice to avoid using the building. Instead garment workers were ordered to return the following day, with managers at Ether Tex threatening to withhold a months pay if workers refused to return; the building collapsed during the morning rush hour.
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The decision by managers to send workers back into the factories despite advice not to may have been down to the pressure to complete work on time, putting a fraction of responsibility on the production deadlines created by buyers due to the nature of fast fashion.
The head of the Bangladesh Fire service said that the upper four floors had been built without a licensed permit. Architects noted that there were risks with placing factories inside a building only designed to hold shops as the structure may not have been strong enough to bear the weight of heavy machinery including the movement created by them.
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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
On 25 march, 1911 The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire started, it was the dealiest industrial disaster in the history of New York City and one of the deadliest in US history. 118 women and 23 men died from the fire, smoke inhalation or falling/jumping to their deaths. The majority of the garment workers that died were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged 14 to 43. |
The factory was located on the 8th, 9th and 10th floor of the Asch building which is now known as the Brown Building and is part of the New York University. A common practice was to lock the doors to stairwells and exits in order to prevent workers from taking unauthorised breaks and to reduce theft. Due to this, many workers who could not escape from the building and so jumped from the high windows, leading to their death. The fire led to legislation improving regarding factory safety standards and aided the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union which rallied for better conditions for sweatshop workers.
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Primark and it's changes
Fact Profile
In order to create my fact profile I had to go through a number of steps involving calculators and conversions.
Afterwards, I worked out how many miles you would be able to drive with the amount of fuel consumed on the flight. In order to do this I used a car carbon footprint calculator using an average petrol car. I had to use trial and error and type in different mileage distances until they matched the fuel consumption from the flight.
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Microscopic Look
Artist and me
As I saw this artists work in an exhibition in Paris, I did not manage to get their name. However, I took inspiration from their use of microscopes to show details. In their work they prepared a petri dish with biological elements from nature which was then put under a microscope. In mine I used a piece of fabric under a microscope, instead of preparing a petri dish prior. To show the biological aspect of my work I decided to keep in the line and scale on the scope of the microscope as it is often used to measure cells and details. Our work is similar in the fact that we both used microscopes to showcase details however, the final piece is very different, with mine being extremely magnified and theirs more zoomed out.
Washing label format
To produce these I used photoshop. I used the information I had previously gathered and entered it into photoshop, experimenting with capitals/non-capitals, different fonts and styles. I took inspiration from traditional washing labels which indicate washing instructions and created my own with my fact profile on the different countries. In order to create a unique set of washing symbols for each label I used a break down of all labels, seen to the right, and edited them together to create a full set.
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Printing onto Calico
In order to print onto my fabric I had to flip my labels so they were the correct way when printed, as seen on the right. I then printed it onto the transfer paper I purchased and let it dry for 10 minutes. After this I ironed it onto the calico, ensuring that it was all stuck down before allowing it to cool for 10 minutes. Then I peeled off the transfer paper and cut out the label. The process took a number of trial runs to get the size, time and cooling time right. The finished product is below.
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I am happy with the finished product as I believe that the choice of calico was the best option. It makes it look raw and authentic and makes the writing clear. I am going to hand sow my labels onto the items of clothing they correspond to. |
Landfill
Conclusion
Looking back at my whole final piece I am extremely happy with my multi-media outcome. My aim was to not only create a response to the apparel industry's impact on the world but to also educate both myself and everyone viewing my media on what they could do to reduce their individual impact. At a time where climate related issues are so integral I thought that raising awareness through my project was extremely relevant. I believe that although the world is progressing, many people are unaware that the growing apparel industry has such a detrimental affect. Many people have become educated on the agricultural's impact on the environment and have unknowingly disregarded the apparel industry, an industry that everyone has endorsed in.
If I were to do this project again I would get a bigger sample of clothing and spend more time looking at the microscopic fibres however, the reason I got four garments is that I didn't want to endorse a huge amount in fast fashion as I was raising awareness on the impact. I believe that I responded well to my original idea of fast fashion by researching a lot on the issue and looking at specific events that have happened surrounding fashion labour for example, The Rana Plaza Tragedy. I also believe that my final piece is effective due to its multi-media nature, commanding attention from an audience whether their interests are on the science aspect, fashion aspect or the overall environmental aspect.
If I were to do this project again I would get a bigger sample of clothing and spend more time looking at the microscopic fibres however, the reason I got four garments is that I didn't want to endorse a huge amount in fast fashion as I was raising awareness on the impact. I believe that I responded well to my original idea of fast fashion by researching a lot on the issue and looking at specific events that have happened surrounding fashion labour for example, The Rana Plaza Tragedy. I also believe that my final piece is effective due to its multi-media nature, commanding attention from an audience whether their interests are on the science aspect, fashion aspect or the overall environmental aspect.