42) Evaluation - 1/5/18

Evaluation:

Within the project, my collaborators contributed to and influenced my process and decision making a great amount. Firstly, they were the individuals who let me photograph them in the first place, so without their permission this project could not have taken place. I also don’t think this project would have gone as smoothly without their welcoming attitude to me coming to visit and document them regularly, because when starting the module, I was scared to even start a conversation or ask for their photograph. It has shown me that a collaboration like this really takes two sides working together to create something successful. As well as being in the project, the van dwellers also gave me historical research relevant to them, such as events like the Battle of the Beanfield, which explains the hardship they’ve had with society in the past, and helps you empathise with them a lot more.

Regarding contextual research, my process and decision making was firstly informed by media articles about the van dwellers (positive and negative), for instance one from The Guardian which gave me lots of facts and figures about this Traveller and Gypsy community. For example, this community has risen by 17% in the last year, bringing the total of 1,524 individuals living in caravans on unauthorised encampments in the UK. The article also highlighted that they are the oldest ethnic minority in Britain and Ireland, displaying they’re not just going to go away and that the government needs to create more authorised sites for this growing community to live on. These facts really spurred me on for my project, because I want people to see them in a good light to change the opinions they’ve formed of them from media representation, and to speed up support for building more authorised sites. Liz Wells’ text ‘Photography: A Critical Introduction’ also informed my process and decision making through reading about the topic of cultural politics and everyday life within documentary practice. For instance, “creating alternative representations” of the van dwellers in terms of trying to show them in a positive light after their negative representation in the media. I think this also ties in with the phrase “gaining power of .. visual literacy”, because I have the power on how I want them to be represented through which photos I choose to present in my final output. I want to show them in this positive light by highlighting “one's personal and political environment”, trying to illustrate their way of life and personal opinions and ideals through my photography. As well as this, reading about techniques for presenting work and different exhibition spaces has made me reflect on where I want my own work to go in terms of this. For example, the East London community group 'Hackney Flashers', used "a variety of montage techniques, together with text and slogans, to overcome the perceived limitations of documentary photography", which inspired me to include some sort of text to accompany the images in the form of interviews, and overcome these limitations of constructs and forcing the viewer to read the system of signs.

In terms of other practitioners, I have a range of research on photography itself as well as on newspapers, both of which really influenced my process and decision making throughout the project. Two key artists who influenced my style of photography were Sophie Green (GYPSY GOLD) and Gina Lundy (Fantastic New Community). Sophie Green inspired me in terms of focusing on the small details of an environment, which I feel sometimes tells more of a story than a wider documentary shot. I went on to do this in my own work, focusing on objects such as milk, gas canisters and close up interior shots. She also presents her work in diptics which I think works really well, and is how I set to lay out my work before putting it into the newspaper format. Gina Lundy also inspired me through her own way through taking insightful home orientated shots, hard hitting images of protest signs and some environmental portraits, bringing the viewer into the world of the residents, seeing what they see and feeling what they feel. This way of photographing the signs and feelings of the residents is another aspect I tried in my own work, as I wanted to capture their full story to evoke empathy from the viewer. I also did some research on practitioners in terms of how they’ve made newspapers, for instance Jamie Hawkesworth, Adam Murray and Robert Parkinson, who all made Preston Bus Station. This was a great publication to research because it showed me you can be experimental with layouts, layering images and making your sequence look less clean and stand out more. This inspired me to experiment more within my process, moving away from the traditional layouts I usually make for a zine. Rob Hornstra was another practitioner who inspired me with his newspaper ‘On the other side of the mountains’, who made a newspaper which also folds out into a full exhibition if you use two newspapers together. This again showed me how creative you can be within your layout design, something which I had previously not explored. However, even though I researched these more experimental photographers, Jason Larkin’s ‘CAIRO DIVIDED’ was the most influential in my process and decision making for layout ideas. The layout of this newspaper looked clean yet engaging, and I was really inspired by how he created his front cover (I used the same technique of wrapping one image over the back and front cover, as well as a serif font), and the placement of text throughout the newspaper (something which I haven’t had to think about previously, so it was very helpful to see how text interacted with Larkin’s work). The final key practitioner who I thought really influenced my work was Matthew Smith, who documented a lot of the rave and protest scene of the 80s and 90s which stemmed from Britain's Traveller community involved in the Battle of Beanfield. This research spurred me on further to document this community in the best way I can, because I found that the two projects are part of a long line of history of a group of people, with my project showing much more recent history of how some of these people are living today.

Regarding strengths and weaknesses, I thought some of my strengths was making lots of successful images, especially portraits which was something I wanted to work on improving in this project. I also tried a different style of output (a newspaper) with a more journalistic feel to it, quite different from work I’ve previously made. Another strength I feel is collaborating in general, because subsequently I feel this chance to collaborate has allowed me to become much more at ease talking to strangers in general, as well as asking to take their portrait. In terms of weaknesses within the final output itself, I thought some of the colours printed in the newspaper have a bit too much contrast, so I should have tried soft-proofing and re-editing before sending it off. As well as this, the font is a little big in my opinion, and I think making it smaller would make it look a bit more professional and more like a real newspaper. I also think the paper is quite thin so I could have paid more for the 90gsm instead of 55gsm. In terms of the project in general, another weakness is that I could have recorded more interviews (as well as being more in-depth) with the residents, which would have given me better quotes to choose from. I also feel I could have gone to do more shoots with the van dwellers and just generally got to know them better over time, as I felt the more time I spent with them, the better my images got. One final weakness after reflecting on the newspaper is also that there's one small spelling mistake on the first page 'sufficienly' instead of 'sufficiently'. This shows I need to improve my proof reading skills before sending something off, and make sure next time I don't rush it because then these little mistakes wouldn't happen.

In terms of exhibiting, I did intend to have it at Greenbank Cemetery, in the chapel. This would have been a perfect location as it’s right next to the van dwellers homes, and is a central location with people walking through all the time. This means the van dwellers themselves would make up a large audience of the work, as well as the people walking through the grounds, a potential other larger audience that I wouldn’t usually reach. These are the people I wanted to see my exhibition, because it’s purpose is to show them the van dwellers in a good light, not how the media and government portray them, with the hope to get through to the residents living near them who think negatively of them and want evictions to begin. However, even after viewing the chapel and seeing for myself there were no safety hazards, and obtaining liability insurance from the university, one individual who works at the council decided to stop it going ahead last minute, so our group had to think of a plan b. This is when we decided to exhibit in F Block Gallery at Bower Ashton, because we were pushed for time and still needed somewhere to exhibit our work. In terms of my audience from this gallery space, the largest audience of the work will be people who attend UWE. However, I’m still going to invite all the van dwellers who helped me create my publication for the opening night, or just throughout the week so they can also view my work. Unfortunately, by exhibiting here I will not be able to reach the audience I would have liked – residents around Greenbank View whose negative opinions need to be changed. However, it’s still an experience to reflect on, and shows that I could have been more time sensitive and organised when it came to the exhibition, and it has shown me how much work it does take to put one together, and the amount of time needed in case plans fall through. Regarding public interaction with my own work, I feel they will be quite engaged with it because it’s in newspaper form. This means they can pick up the work, feel it, turn through the pages at their own pace, and see the story unfold page by page (unlike with prints where they’re all just exposed instantly). I’m also going to have newspapers for sale at the exhibition, which will increase public interaction if people are interested in buying the work. As well as this, at the opening view I’m going to be standing by my work, trying to network and speak to people to boost public interaction and for my own benefit as a photographer trying to meet people.

In terms of collaboration, I think it has changed me as a photographer in a positive way. This is because I don’t usually go for a subject of people within my projects, meaning I didn’t really know how to ask to take someone’s image or keep a subject engaged while taking their photograph, so I shied away from it in the past. Therefore, when the brief asked us to “look outwards, to engaging or working with others in an interactive way”, I just thought I have to go out of my comfort zone and shoot with people involved. Subsequently I feel this chance to collaborate has allowed me to become much more at ease talking to strangers in general, as well as asking to take their portrait.

#creativeinteractions