Rumpus!

So with all the exhibition prep, my blog has been slightly forgotten about!  I don't think any of us realised just how much work and preparation there goes into making a successful exhibition.  Long hours were spent cleaning, painting, hanging, panicking and putting the final touches to the show which all took an immense amount of effort from all of us.  But it all worked out in the end when we pulled off one of the coolest exhibitions we'd been to (if we do say so ourselves!)

For my pieces in the exhibition, I wanted to mix my prints in with an installation piece.  Our wonderful curator Fiona Quill, thought a kneeler and alter would look really cool and include some of the objects that I had been photographing all year.  So I went about building an alter and kneeler only for my prayers to be answered (ahem!) when an old school teacher of mine, Sister Perpetua, offered me a lend of her very own kneeler to use!

People found it hilarious that a nun gave me a kneeler and were saying things along the lines of "if only she knew what your project was about!"  But I don't see my project as being "blasphemous" or making fun of the church anymore.  I think it has moved on from that a lot this year, especially in my newest series of prints.

In my project, I'm no longer ridiculing religious subject matter, but more highlighting passages in the Bible that are preached but not lived by the Catholic Church.  On researching, I found there are so many passages about wealth, how wealth is not important and only for fools.  Yet the church has become notorious over the last two decades for its obsession with wealth, which is what I wanted to highlight.

When I began these prints, I had it in my head to do them as silkscreens.  However, after improving my Photoshop skills and mastering the big scary printer in the Print room, they looked incredibly cool as digital prints.  I originally had photography work in the exhibition but on seeing how well these particular prints were working I decided pretty much last minute to use them in the exhibition and they are what I'm continuing to use as the semester goes on.

I really like the use of colour these prints, with the script like writing.  I got the idea for the writing from a letter I found within a bible belonging to my grand-uncle, Father John.  The script in the letter and prints are very similar.

I wanted the objects to look as cheap and tacky as possible so I did different effects on Photoshop, changing the colours, bitmap effects etc.

I really like where I am with these as I feel they work well and also look well.  But that's just my opinion.  And in here, that doesn't seem to matter.

Rough work Video

This is a video I attempted lately, I hope to eventually do it a bit better the next try but this was the first rough copy for Progress Reviews!

Photography makes me happy

I couldnt wait to get back into photography for this semester.  I really enjoy it, but I do prefer working things out for myself. I've always been an independent worker, even back in early school days.  I feel that working out camera settings, lighting etc. by myself is more beneficial as I learn more in doing so. Trial and error is defo my way of doing things.

So for the latest instalment in my "Knick Knacks, Souvenirs and Apparitions" series, I wanted to use more obvious imagery to show how people's respect in religion and the Church has dwindled and also how other things and objects are taking over as main area of worship.

I also wanted to focus on rosary beads too.  I think in the last few years it has lost its meaning.  It has become more of a fashion accessory than a religious item, being used in sexualised photo shoots and worn by a certain age group of young teenagers.  And if they're the cheap plastic ones, even better!

Porter Inspired Video Work

For the second semester I wanted to stick with what I was doing in first semester and continue with my photography work. I really like Liliana Porter's work and the style in which she films objects and takes photos.

So I tried to do something along the same lines.  I've never really worked in video properly before so this was a very rough attempt that I hope to become better at as the semester progresses.

These videos are in response to my concept in which I wanted to show the way that the Catholic Church and religion has changed in people's lives, how the level of respect has dwindled, and how the materialistic side is taking over.

Video work, Sound pieces and a Hint of Blasphemy

With all the stress of the last week, I cant wait to have these assessments over me.  Course then I have to go through the stress of results...KILL ME.

So aside from last week's dramatic occurances with losing half my work, I've been working on some video and sound pieces over the Xmas break until now.  These take quite a while to do as I'm never sure what it is exactly I'm doing whilst editing.  I tend to wing it a tad seeing as using editing software is not my strong point.  For the video pieces I wanted to use them as another means of displaying some of my photography, as well as incorporating typical "church sounds".

Original link address:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz3U-iwUb3k&feature=youtu.be

Original link address:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlmMp7JtmZ0

I also worked on a sound piece, which I have in my head to use as part of my work in our exhibition in February.  Its the typical sounds you hear whilst in mass and played on a loop I think it would work quite well in that situation.  There was an error whilst trying to upload just purely a sound piece so for the purpose of the blog, I had to include a black background image to upload to youtube but it is primarily made for the purpose of a sound piece.

Original link address:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOgWL4BcxO4&feature=youtu.be

And as a final piece of work before the assessments Tuesday, I also did a bit of extra Photoshop to again bring across my idea of the meaning of Religion and the church in today's society, how some people have forgotten what the true meaning of Religion and having faith means and of course, the materialism of it.

Assessments...be good to me..

More Photography..

As previously done, I decided to do some more photography.  This, along with digital prints from photoshop, are becoming my main practice.  Since getting the hang of using the cameras, lighting and editing, I wanted to collect an even larger collection of photos than the last time.

Instead of working in the photography studio, I again worked at home in my own DIY studio as this was where all my objects were.  Again I wanted to show the cheap, throwaway religious objects people have around their homes but I still wanted the pictures to look good.

 

 



 

 

As my grand-uncle was a priest, a lot of his religious items are in my house.  For instance his bible that he would have used, crosses, mass booklets etc.  He was also a poet and many of his writings would have religious content and a lot of these writings, notes for mass etc, I found in his bible.  I then decided to photograph his religious items along side the cheap, everyday objects you can buy.  by doing this I wanted to show the two sides of religion, what it should mean i.e deep faith and understanding and what it unfortunately has become for many people, materialistic and money hungry.

 

 

 

The fact that the bible is still in pristine condition after all these years and also the fact that he signed his name to it, shows what these items meant to him, very different to now which is what I wanted to show.

 

 

I also began to group the objects together, again inspired by Liliana Porter's work.

 



 

 

And once again I have to thank my unnaturally shakey hands for helping me create the next image.

 

 

This is one of my favourite images.  Its based on Andres Serrano's Piss Christ, difference being that my one was done without the help of bodily fluids.  Its not edited, just done purely with a slow shutter setting, certain lighting from just a normal bedside lamp and my shakey hands.