As part of the series ‘Dirty word’ I have been speaking to members of the local feminist society. Talking to Zeynab was very interesting as we are from different parts of the word but still have similar ideas on feminism. My favourite part of this project is speaking to people who have different backgrounds to myself on topics that effect everyone.
As part of being on the exhibition we have to plan the images we want in the publication and have an artist statement. Doing this I took a whole weekend to do my artist statement and choose my images as if I get the artist statement wrong it could give off the completely wrong message to what the project is about.
Dirty word
Modern day feminism is much more than the stereotypical angry man hating woman, it’s about making everyone feel equal. This project set out to challenge the stereotype of what a feminist is by photographing a collection of people who have an idea of making everyone’s lives better. Women like Beyoncé are praised for their ideas of feminism so why is it that everyday people are mocked and dismissed for the same idea?A positive idea of a feminist cannot be forced but as society moves forward and people are willing to have a conversation; feminist will no longer be seen as a dirty word.
This is part of my ‘Dirty Word’ series, this is Lucy and is the president of the Huddersfield feminist society. Lucy was a big factor to this project as she is such a passionate person and showed me that femininst although they have a bad reputation are out to help everyone.
We recently had our interim exhibtion, this was our final one before our exhibition in June. I spent a long time on the lay out and looking at the sizing of the images. My classmates went round and said 5 things about the project on post-its. They were really helpful comments, most of them suggested making a book which is something I’m now looking into. They also liked the layout of the images which I was happy about as I spent a long time. Other comments said that I need to work on my artist statement as it was too obvious which is something I will work on. The idea of framing was suggested which is something I want to look into but I’m not sure if I like them the way they are; I will test and see which works best.
I really enjoyed this march, I’ve never attended a protest before and I went hoping to get some shots for my current project and although I have some images I could use; there are alot of images I am thinking about attending more in the future and making this in to a project of its own.
I was lucky enough to be envolved with Nasty Womens Liverpools exhibtion which was rasing funds for a charity and a piece of my work was up for sale. It was the first time I’ve shown my work outside of university. It was a wonderful evening and I’m so glad i got to take part. It was a great experience to see the art community outside of uni and I thought it would be a great opportunity to take some photographs for my project.
This is the piece I chose to show and on their instagram
With looking at feminist I think it is important to speak to everyone involved and see what their views are on the matter. I’ve decied that I need to speak to each person I photograph and try and incorprate them into my work some how; whether it’s quotes or something they have wrote. Going forward I’m going to record our conversations (if they are okay with it) and see if I can use what they say. Maybe this will help structure the project better.
I was getting really worried about not having a project for my FMP so I decided to take some portraits of people I know and see if i get anything out of them. Its very early but I think i’m going to look more into feminism. I’m not sure what yet. The women in this images is the president of the feminist society at my uni and it made me think of perceptions of feminists. I consider myself a feminist but I don’t think I fit the ‘man hating hairy legged’ sterotype. I think i’m going to explore what feminist really think and do some research on where this perception has come from.
I was able to speak to Rachel Brown again and she was very impressed by the idea and encouraged me to follow it through. She gave some really useful things to look at points of research. Really hope that she can come to the exhibition because although it’s late I think I know what I want to do for my FMP.
I went to Liverpool this week to see my Family and to go to the Open Eye (blog post about that next week!) I thought this would be a good opportunity to take some images, I have been struggerling the past few week to lock down any shoots and it’s put doubts in my current project because I haven’t shot in a while I felt like I needed to do something or I would be very stuck for my FMP. I don’t know if I have anything out of these but I’m happy with them.
From my previous shoot I was told to look at swagger portraiture. I was thinking of doing a modern style of it with people from the LGBT+community. I need to bring some external lighting with me on my next shoot just to brighten the imagine. I have booked a few models over the next week to see if I can continue with this for definite. I have also been thinking about the locations in which I will shoot; looking at bedrooms and home as well as outdoors. I want to focus on colour a little more and have some contrast between the models and the location.
Artistic word-vomit 