Progress Report - Draft
1. A Research Outline: and 2. A Contextual Summary:
As anticipated in my proposal, my project has grown organically in surprising directions. Its starting point, as a general investigation of food systems, continues to be its underlying concept.
I began with printmaking and painting images that were quite literal illustrations of my ideas. I found that these had more impact when accompanied by an explanation, either verbal or written. Without such an explanation, the desired ‘message’ was often lost on the viewer. Rather than incorporating text, I felt the need to make works that can speak for themselves.
Judy Darragh encouraged me to look at the potential effectiveness of analogies. Researching food marketing, I was particularly interested in conventions of packaging and labeling. I made a work that turned the dichotomy of food choices into an impossible-to-win game. However, this may have been a one hit wonder as planning more such ‘games’ to represent such systems felt forced and inadequate.
Jon Bywater suggested that I was thinking too much about the concept on its own, and needed to redirect my attention to the materiality of my approach and response to it. This was a helpful clarification, and I now see my project as a material investigation, in which the concept can reveal itself if and as necessary, as the subtle undercurrent, rather than the obvious surface.
Where possible, as suggested by Sean Kerr, I have trying to avoid toxic and unsustainable art materials. This consciousness has determined my current choice of materials, and I am primarily working in painting and printmaking on paper/textiles. This preference is largely due to the printmaking department’s acquisition of new plant-based and eco-friendly ‘Live to Print’ inks.
Learning about the negative impacts of certain materials has meant that, one at a time, I have found myself adding almost every media and material to a sort of blacklist of things to avoid. For example acrylic (my preferred paint medium,) metal-plate etching, and laser-cut MDF, are all material processes I have used at some stage in this project, only to have it pointed out that they are inconsistent with the message of the work by not being eco-friendly enough. While sourcing fabric for my grocery bag prints, I found that even organic cotton is an incredibly environmentally destructive crop. While this is frustrating, I am extremely interested in this dilemma, and think it is perhaps the most interesting part of my project. Rather than trying to avoid myriad things to try to ‘solve’ this issue by creating a ‘100% pure’ sustainable art practice, which seems the most obvious solution but also inevitably dead-end, my goal now is to use them in ways that do not complicate the work, but which are deliberate and self-reflexive in their inconsistencies: essentially pointing out their own problems.
I am also conscious of the prevalence of animal products in art materials, such as paintbrush hair, rabbit skin glue, gelatine in photo-emulsion. I’m fascinated by double-standards in the way humans perceive animals and use them as materials or food, and this interest is evident in my drawing practice. Again, however, I think I need to avoid hypocrisy by using these materials in a more self-referential way.
Most recently, I have become obsessed with making parallels between the way the global food system is ‘broken’ or corrupted, and identical problems within the cycle of art production, being just a small part of capitalist consumer culture. They share an identical growing need for synthetic and chemical fixes, a resulting sense of artificiality, frivolous disposability, total separation from source, prioritizing convenience, quantity and cheapness over quality.
These connections are perhaps inspired by reading Marshall McLuhan’s observations of media and technology as extensions of man (the book as an extension of the eye, the fork as an extension of the hand, etc.) As I see it now, buying ready-mixed paint in disposable packaging is the equivalent to buying fast-food, or heat-and-eat meals. Bleached white paper is the equivalent to refined white bread. PVA glue is like white sugar. By contrast, natural pigments and clays are like a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, natural chemical-free paper and canvas are like whole grains, and of course there are some edible things that fit in both categories, like oils. While I enjoy this analogy, it poses its own problems, and I’m not yet sure what role it will play within my art.
As mentioned in my proposal, I maintain the point that there is a complex and fascinating interconnectedness between all environmental issues. With the TPPA threatening to impose dubious regulations on NZ’s food industry, with a growing intolerance towards food waste, and the proposed ‘traffic light’ labelling system along with many other food-related issues all getting a lot of media attention, I am constantly encountering new information to help shape and direct my project. The research I have been doing has inspired me to use my art practice as a political tool, to spread a message or make some sort of impact. Art can represent and reflect on issues in a unique way, and to a wide audience.
My most recent suite of works were printed X-rays of fruits and vegetables. These works are about biosecurity, travel and food miles, and the ever-blurred line between science and nature/food. After visiting Auckland’s international customs centre and learning about x-ray process and the different colours their scans indicate, I’m interested in the idea of using colour and material ‘codes.’ As a next step, I plan to make multi-media paintings inspired by the idea of airport bag scans and imported produce.
3. Points of Concern:I am concerned about a week recently in which my grandmother passed away, and grief and family commitments kept me from coming into Elam. That is, I attended class, but did not make work or do any research. I now feel that I am a week ‘behind’ and have 40 hours to catch up on. If there are grounds to apply for a small extension, I would like to do so.
Another concern is file management. I have been scanning dozens of pages from each of the books that I read, because I don’t want to print paper where it is not totally necessary. While I have each book organised into folders, they are image files, so for my essay I will need to go through these files thoroughly and type up the passages and page numbers that I want to refer to. This process is underway but it is very time consuming. I also need to come up with a way to submit these with the rest of my research, as uploading such quantities of copyrighted material onto the internet via my blog is definitely not a good idea. I also worry that my research blog, which I use regularly, is perhaps not being read.
When I look at my time management so far, I feel that the research component is too time-intensive, and is resultantly taking away from my project itself and the notion of ‘research-through-making.’ Because of the institutional pressure to academicise my practice, it seems that the process of artmaking takes the back-burner while it should be at the forefront. I particularly feel I have wasted a lot of time as many of the artists and texts I’ve been told to look at have been of very little use. I’m not sure if this is a personal imbalance or a problem with the programme, as I have talked to other students experiencing the same difficulty.
4. A Study Plan:
-By the end of the inter-semester break: sort through all books referenced so far, compile quotes and annotations.
-From now on ‘read actively’ - write notes (quotes, page numbers, and personal responses) while reading; scan only pages with images to reference.
-Only do ‘research’ for 1.5 hours per 8-hour workday; spend the other 6.5 hours actively making.
-Produce a suite of works (multi-media paintings, and perhaps some sculptures) for critique in the first couple of weeks of next semester.
-Then, depending on the feedback received, make a plan for work to follow.
5. Notes on Resources and Needs:
I am waiting to hear back about a show Jane and I proposed. We are waiting for information about the possibility of producing a publication, depending on funds, dates, and interest.
6. Notes on Assistance:
As previously mentioned, I would appreciate it if supervisors would have a thorough look through my blog, and check it every now and then. This blog is meant to be convenient, an open workbook: it’s online so that supervisors can look at my outcomes, research, and thinking processes at any time. I’d like to know that it is regularly being read, and to be able to discuss the things that I post on it during meetings.
1. A Research Outline: and 2. A Contextual Summary:
As anticipated in my proposal, my project has grown organically in surprising directions. Its starting point, as a general investigation of food systems, continues to be its underlying concept.
I began with printmaking and painting images that were quite literal illustrations of my ideas. I found that these had more impact when accompanied by an explanation, either verbal or written. Without such an explanation, the desired ‘message’ was often lost on the viewer. Rather than incorporating text, I felt the need to make works that can speak for themselves.
Judy Darragh encouraged me to look at the potential effectiveness of analogies. Researching food marketing, I was particularly interested in conventions of packaging and labeling. I made a work that turned the dichotomy of food choices into an impossible-to-win game. However, this may have been a one hit wonder as planning more such ‘games’ to represent such systems felt forced and inadequate.
Jon Bywater suggested that I was thinking too much about the concept on its own, and needed to redirect my attention to the materiality of my approach and response to it. This was a helpful clarification, and I now see my project as a material investigation, in which the concept can reveal itself if and as necessary, as the subtle undercurrent, rather than the obvious surface.
Where possible, as suggested by Sean Kerr, I have trying to avoid toxic and unsustainable art materials. This consciousness has determined my current choice of materials, and I am primarily working in painting and printmaking on paper/textiles. This preference is largely due to the printmaking department’s acquisition of new plant-based and eco-friendly ‘Live to Print’ inks.
Learning about the negative impacts of certain materials has meant that, one at a time, I have found myself adding almost every media and material to a sort of blacklist of things to avoid. For example acrylic (my preferred paint medium,) metal-plate etching, and laser-cut MDF, are all material processes I have used at some stage in this project, only to have it pointed out that they are inconsistent with the message of the work by not being eco-friendly enough. While sourcing fabric for my grocery bag prints, I found that even organic cotton is an incredibly environmentally destructive crop. While this is frustrating, I am extremely interested in this dilemma, and think it is perhaps the most interesting part of my project. Rather than trying to avoid myriad things to try to ‘solve’ this issue by creating a ‘100% pure’ sustainable art practice, which seems the most obvious solution but also inevitably dead-end, my goal now is to use them in ways that do not complicate the work, but which are deliberate and self-reflexive in their inconsistencies: essentially pointing out their own problems.
I am also conscious of the prevalence of animal products in art materials, such as paintbrush hair, rabbit skin glue, gelatine in photo-emulsion. I’m fascinated by double-standards in the way humans perceive animals and use them as materials or food, and this interest is evident in my drawing practice. Again, however, I think I need to avoid hypocrisy by using these materials in a more self-referential way.
Most recently, I have become obsessed with making parallels between the way the global food system is ‘broken’ or corrupted, and identical problems within the cycle of art production, being just a small part of capitalist consumer culture. They share an identical growing need for synthetic and chemical fixes, a resulting sense of artificiality, frivolous disposability, total separation from source, prioritizing convenience, quantity and cheapness over quality.
These connections are perhaps inspired by reading Marshall McLuhan’s observations of media and technology as extensions of man (the book as an extension of the eye, the fork as an extension of the hand, etc.) As I see it now, buying ready-mixed paint in disposable packaging is the equivalent to buying fast-food, or heat-and-eat meals. Bleached white paper is the equivalent to refined white bread. PVA glue is like white sugar. By contrast, natural pigments and clays are like a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, natural chemical-free paper and canvas are like whole grains, and of course there are some edible things that fit in both categories, like oils. While I enjoy this analogy, it poses its own problems, and I’m not yet sure what role it will play within my art.
As mentioned in my proposal, I maintain the point that there is a complex and fascinating interconnectedness between all environmental issues. With the TPPA threatening to impose dubious regulations on NZ’s food industry, with a growing intolerance towards food waste, and the proposed ‘traffic light’ labelling system along with many other food-related issues all getting a lot of media attention, I am constantly encountering new information to help shape and direct my project. The research I have been doing has inspired me to use my art practice as a political tool, to spread a message or make some sort of impact. Art can represent and reflect on issues in a unique way, and to a wide audience.
My most recent suite of works were printed X-rays of fruits and vegetables. These works are about biosecurity, travel and food miles, and the ever-blurred line between science and nature/food. After visiting Auckland’s international customs centre and learning about x-ray process and the different colours their scans indicate, I’m interested in the idea of using colour and material ‘codes.’ As a next step, I plan to make multi-media paintings inspired by the idea of airport bag scans and imported produce.
3. Points of Concern:I am concerned about a week recently in which my grandmother passed away, and grief and family commitments kept me from coming into Elam. That is, I attended class, but did not make work or do any research. I now feel that I am a week ‘behind’ and have 40 hours to catch up on. If there are grounds to apply for a small extension, I would like to do so.
Another concern is file management. I have been scanning dozens of pages from each of the books that I read, because I don’t want to print paper where it is not totally necessary. While I have each book organised into folders, they are image files, so for my essay I will need to go through these files thoroughly and type up the passages and page numbers that I want to refer to. This process is underway but it is very time consuming. I also need to come up with a way to submit these with the rest of my research, as uploading such quantities of copyrighted material onto the internet via my blog is definitely not a good idea. I also worry that my research blog, which I use regularly, is perhaps not being read.
When I look at my time management so far, I feel that the research component is too time-intensive, and is resultantly taking away from my project itself and the notion of ‘research-through-making.’ Because of the institutional pressure to academicise my practice, it seems that the process of artmaking takes the back-burner while it should be at the forefront. I particularly feel I have wasted a lot of time as many of the artists and texts I’ve been told to look at have been of very little use. I’m not sure if this is a personal imbalance or a problem with the programme, as I have talked to other students experiencing the same difficulty.
4. A Study Plan:
-By the end of the inter-semester break: sort through all books referenced so far, compile quotes and annotations.
-From now on ‘read actively’ - write notes (quotes, page numbers, and personal responses) while reading; scan only pages with images to reference.
-Only do ‘research’ for 1.5 hours per 8-hour workday; spend the other 6.5 hours actively making.
-Produce a suite of works (multi-media paintings, and perhaps some sculptures) for critique in the first couple of weeks of next semester.
-Then, depending on the feedback received, make a plan for work to follow.
5. Notes on Resources and Needs:
I am waiting to hear back about a show Jane and I proposed. We are waiting for information about the possibility of producing a publication, depending on funds, dates, and interest.
6. Notes on Assistance:
As previously mentioned, I would appreciate it if supervisors would have a thorough look through my blog, and check it every now and then. This blog is meant to be convenient, an open workbook: it’s online so that supervisors can look at my outcomes, research, and thinking processes at any time. I’d like to know that it is regularly being read, and to be able to discuss the things that I post on it during meetings.
