This post is my final entry for the Professional Practice 2 module, here, I will upload and throw together every bit and piece of content that I’d like to be looked at and taken into consideration when assessing my work throughout this module. It will also double as an article in which I will talk about the “apply” part of the project. Additionally, I will write out my 400 word evaluation at the very bottom of the post in which I will answer the questions that we were asked to answer.
In the post above I explored 3 exhibitions of interest and highlighted 2-3 key points in each of my reports. The list of key points I ended up with were:
- Structuring.
- Layout.
- Variety.
- Meaningfulness.
- Elusiveness.
- Openness to anyone willing to find it.
- Controversy surrounding it and its availability to the general public regardless of the controversy.
- Its critique on history and attempt to reclaim it.
The Develop page has every part of the development process in greater detail. The most important piece within that sea of information has to be the overall concept behind our revisit/remake.
The idea for the remake formed after some careful selection of the main keywords was done, I ended up using “coven, ritual, taboo” as the foundation for this concept. The idea would remake the piece in a way that instead of having the piece display the act of a wiccan ritual by witches, it would instead be more so a group of women practicing the ritual of self-love. The remake would challenge the negative outlook on people that participate in such practices, much like the original piece with the goal of it being to oppose the Spanish inquisition and the witch trials that came with it. While portraying the group in a seemingly negative light, the piece’s goal is the polar opposite. In modern context, the act of self-love, if carried out by a woman, is often seen as an attempt to cater to the needs/thrill of a man, as opposed to doing it for their own personal well-being and needs, for example: getting dolled up (make-up, dressing up) to get a MAN’S attention, shaving to please a MAN’S sensual needs, dancing to appear more “inviting” to a MAN, and so on. Essentially, women are expected to cater to the male gaze, but when they cater to their appearance for their own pleasure, they are ridiculed and looked down upon for being vain. There is a heavy emphasis on the feminine struggle within both renditions of the piece – original and modern – but I am not completely sure how we will go about translating that with our remake – will we focus more on our own, individual understanding of self-love, or will we go for the route of exploring the acts of self-love that women practice in a modern context.
And focus more on our own, individual understanding of self-love we did. What followed suit were these posts in which I looked more into self-love and a way in which we could portray it with our project/installation.
After the research and development had been conducted, I took upon myself to develop the self-love artefacts that would act as offerings to the deity we recognize as Vanity.
By the time I had finished the masks, it was time to set up the exhibition itself. Below are process pictures for it.
To answer the apply aspect of the project, I believe that everything I’ve retrieved after my research to do with exhibitions checks out with what we’ve been able to achieve as a collective working on a project that has a sensitive subject matter such as Witches’ Sabbath. Before, during and after the process of setting up our exhibition, we were met with questions from coursemates what our project was all about – after we would have said what it was based on we would be met with confused, concerned or even scared looks and a lot of misinformed (and, dare I say, borderline insensitive) remarks. After we’d explain what the true idea behind the painting itself and our own remake was, the tone of opinion would change drastically within moments. I’m glad we were able to achieve that – changing the mind of someone with even a mild case of prejudice and ignorance is very difficult, having multiple people ask if they could join our coven was more than rewarding in my eyes, haha. Therefore, taken everything into consideration:
- Structuring. ✓
- Layout. ✓
- Variety. ✓
- Meaningfulness. ✓
- Elusiveness. ✓
- Openness to anyone willing to find it. ✓
- Controversy surrounding it and its availability to the general public regardless of the controversy. ✓
- Its critique on history and attempt to reclaim it. ✓
Exploring different exhibitions – successful.
Developing our project using findings – successful.
Application of findings towards the creation of the final piece – successful.
Module completed successfully.
Onto the evaluation!
EVALUATION
I came into this module having suffered a massive blow to my self-confidence because of how I finished the previous one. Finding out that group work was mandatory was essentially the last nail in the coffin for me, I had started to brace myself for what I thought would be the worst experience I would have at university. To my shock, it went in the complete opposite direction. I ended up doing a relatively great job at working within a group. I had struggles here and there, but not even close to what I had anticipated would happen. Going out of it, I think I’m in a headspace where if I ever had to work in a group again, I could, but I would never willingly choose to do so as it simply is not for me. I learned that I’m quite the control freak and an overall anxious wreck when working on something with someone else, not always though, as I’ve managed to work with the group most days, but at points I ended up low-key clashing with some of my groupmates. What I think it might be is the added pressure of a fast deadline as well as the fact we will be marked for the work we produce, both things I don’t take lightly. For the future, I would like to work on loosening up as I do think at points this mindset hindered the progression, unfortunately.
My contributions towards the final piece include coming up with the base idea, researching self-love/self-care, developing totems, making them, developing masks, having a heavy hand in making them, setting up the final exhibition (namely helping to figure out the layout, stapling the wallpaper, gluing some stuff, other small tasks that were beneficial), transporting pieces to campus.
Overall, I believe I’ve been able to do a stellar job with this project with the art I’ve created, upholding my composure throughout it (I had my moments, but they were shortly resolved), doing some beneficial soul-searching as well as developing a better understanding of what goes into developing a successful installation/exhibition. As a team I believe we have been able to achieve a grand outcome given the time restraints and other unfortunate circumstances. We were able to work well with one another as well as with members across other groups. We were mindful of those around us and did anything we could to improve the experience for everyone doing this module, although, sadly, that wasn’t the mentality every person in that gallery had, but alas, there’s no need to address the elephant in the room as I’m sure it was ever so obvious. I am excited to apply the experience I’ve garnered in this module to my future projects. Moving forward, I will take every positive part of this experience and reflect on the negative and hopefully recognize it soon enough in the future to avoid it.
Robertas Tijusas 