Drawing as Thinking

ESSAY - specific, focussed, interesting to me.
PRACTICAL - broad, exploratory, speculative, relative, open.

Drawings in relation to these topics...

Political + NHS

Overworking + Social

Combining to images from previous sections to link to my own topic.

I struggled with this part more than anything because I couldn't really find a connection between the past topics and my essay topic. I put the previous meanings of the images aside and used the drawings to make new meanings. The first few attempts did not get across what I wanted to say but then I started to get some meaning across. The top left drawing is about language barriers which was difficult to show without using words but it links to my theme of cultural blending. The image below that is more specifically related to my them of identity because it shows the different parts of the face on a cut out sheet to show that you as a person are made up of multiple parts. 

I felt like these were tenuous links but I understood the purpose of the task. It did broaden my thinking in terms of image making and helped me to understand that you really can start anywhere when drawing about your topic, something will come out of it in the end. 

This is the work I did in the session about hats, drawing hats from each theme. The hat in the box in the bottom right is relating to my topic because it is a mixture of a variety of cultural hats, merging religion, culture and nationalities. It shows that one person can have parts from all different places and ideas and don't have to be defined by one single hat. 

Lecture Notes - Core Texts and Links to Thematic Lectures

Find, Observe, Record - Task

These are my drawings and photographs for this task. Some of the photographs are from past experiences of mine which I thought were relevant to my topic, they are all my own photographs. I thought the idea of travelling and seeing different things would be good source material because it immediately captures numerous cultures in one image. My drawings focus a lot on people and clothing, also foods from various cultures which we take for granted in a British city. 

This continues exploration of my topic has started to make me understand it more and narrow down what I actually want to explore. 

Does cultural diffusion impact on the way we define our identity? 

First of all, how do we define ourselves? Internally or externally?

Cultural diffusion affecting internal self-definition: what we enjoy, how we relax, what makes us laugh, what we are interested in, our experiences and memories, etc…

Your identity is not an actual ‘thing’, it exists as a combination of numerous things. 

Cultural diffusion affecting external self definition: our surroundings, our upbringing, the food we eat, the people we mix with, the location where we are seen as ‘local’. 

I could explore how some cultures have much less cultural diffusion than others, for example to contrast between people living in western cities and people living in african tribes. 

Cultural diffusion affecting subcultures: what groups to we belong to, what ‘phase’ we exist in, etc. 

Where did these originate, what do they stand for and why do they actually exist?

Cultural appropriation

Do we really understand the cultural background of each part of our day to day lives?

Is it the ‘thing’ self that we like and use to identify ourselves or is it the meaning and origins of it that mean something to us?

• Materialism
• Fashion
• Music
• Trends

Does it actually matter? - the argument between ‘you are free to do wear, do and listen to what you want to’ and ‘not appreciating the origins of things can cause offence to others if used in the wrong way’.

Heritage

I class myself as British but the things that make up my personal identity come from all across the globe. 

Does it even matter what our nationality is? Does it say anything about us?

What would our lives be like if we only owned and experienced things originating from our current location/nation? If there was none or very limited cultural diffusion, would we identify ourselves differently?

• Lack of opportunity
• Less experiences
• Limited products
• Language would be different
• Diet would be different

Does cultural diffusion impact on the way we define our identity? 

• It depends how you choose to define yourself - internally, externally or a combination of the two. 
• Both have impacts from other cultures but externally is impacted more. 
• It depends to what extent we value our heritage. 
• Is each human a blank canvas who chooses and builds up the blocks of their identity as they move through life?
• Can you choose not to ‘inherit’ your identity (e.g. nationality, religion, etc)

Establishing a research question

Suggested Research Question

Is cultural diffusion changing the way we identify ourselves as individuals?

Module Resources Relating to my Question

• Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M. (1967) 'The Culture Industry Reconsidered', New German Critique, No. 6 (Autumn 1975) pp. 12-19. 

• Barthes, R. (1968) 'The Death of the Author', London, Fontana. 

• Carr, E.H. (1961) 'What is History', Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Other Academic Sources 

• Lecture Notes from 15/10/15 (The Flipped Classroom) - specifically the distribution of the sensible.

• Baggini, J. 2011. Is there a real you? [Online]. November 2011, Manchester. [Accessed 28 October 2015]. Available from: http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_baggini_is_there_a_real_you

• Walker, A. 2011. 2011. Defining your identity (Part 1 of 3). [Online]. October 2011, Phoenixville. [Accessed 28 October 2015]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw-w7SzdyXo

• Selasi, T. 2014. Don't ask where I'm from, ask where I'm a local. [Online]. October 2014, Rio de Janeiro. [Accessed 24 October 2015]. Available from: http://www.ted.com/talks/taiye_selasi_don_t_ask_where_i_m_from_ask_where_i_m_a_local

• Joseph, S 1993, 'Identity, Culture and Community', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 28, No 17, pp. 807-809. Available from:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/4399644. [Accessed 28 October 2015]

How could this be investigated through practice?

• Showing how our local surroundings are not entirely local. 

• Go out into the world and explore reportage illustration, focussing on things from various cultures which all exist in the same surrounding. 

• Think more metaphorically about the concept, taking ideas from other processes which require different parts to come together to make one thing, recipes for example or construction manual. 

• Maybe twist the concept around to show what our modern world would be like if we had very little or no influence from other cultures - considering products, language, customs, etc. 

Peer Feedback
Maybe reflect on language and how that helps to define us? Not just the language itself but the way that it allows us to relate to each other? Regional differences in dialects, colloquialisms? 
The argument of 'does it matter'? If we're all raving about equality and how we should be judged by what's on the inside, is it hypocritical in some way to then expect to be defined by a nationality? 
What IS nationality? Just where we are from geographically or where we've experienced society/culture that's had an impact on us? What am I talking about? Why all the questions? I don't know. 
Self identity is such a personal thing, is cultural diffusion not just about nationalities or whatever but also about sub cultures that we associate ourselves with and whatnot? Relating to music and fashion and all sorts?
I found this:
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Acrobat/Global%20Communications/Chapter%201.pdf

Find - Observe - Record

We brainstormed the topics of the people on my table and thought about potential questions and themes to think about and also about how these could be researched. I found this really useful as it assured my that my topic did have some potential in it because I wasn't sure whether it did before. It needs a lot more work and refinement before developing a good argument but I guess this will come with my continued research and exploration of themes. 

Ideas raised when talking about my topic:

Are nationalities becoming obsolete?

Do we need to be categorised?

Should our nationalities define us as people?

Is it more effective to be identified by our culture rather than by our country of birth?

Does sentimentality keep people tied to their nation?

Nationality is a manmade idea, culture is a living, existing thing. 

Borrowing of cultures.

Clothing trends / markets / world foods. 

Blending of nationalities. 

Will we all become one huge race as nationalities continue to blending. 

Ideas raised when talking about other people's topics but are still relevant to mine:

Cross cultural awareness. 

Diversity

Cultural appropriation.

I found this task quite easy in the group because we could just let our minds wander and come up with loads of ideas for each person's topic which as really useful for everyone. It was afterwards, when looking at the mind maps that I realised this project could be quite difficult to handle because most topics have so many different potential avenues to explore, it may be hard to stay on track and narrow my topic to a specific argument. 

Find - Observe - Record

We went outside and recorded things relating to our topics, through photography, writing, drawing and collection of physical objects. This is what I gathered in half an hour. 

There are influences from food all over the world that we take for granted. 

Italian pizzas, nachos, herbal teas, Italian coffees, pastas, to name a few in these examples. 

What nationality are these people?

Do we make an instant judgement about their nationality purely from their way of expressing their culture? 

Their headscarves symbolise their devotion to a certain religion but their nationality or what they consider their nationality to be is totally unknown to us without talking to them about their lives. 

This made me think about how language divides us a human race. Your language normally suggests an idea about your nationality but this is not a definite thing. It does tell us something about your culture and experience though.  

These are about music, art and dance, all key themes in culture. These are showing our awareness of other cultures but also maybe a lack of knowledge and appreciation. For example, the poster with a quote from Buddha on it may be used purely for decorative purposes and the actual meaning of the image itself may not be recognised. 

A lot of this material is linked to the idea of nationality and cultures blending and how we barely notice the influence that other countries have on our daily life. If we don't notice the original nationality of products, why is it necessary to acknowledge the nationality of a human being?

At first I found this task was quite hard because admittedly, my usual first point of call when it comes to research is the internet, closely followed by books. Going outside and finding examples in the real world seemed a bit alien and I felt a bit lost about where to begin. However, as the time went on, I felt this task made it even more difficult to stay on track because anything vaguely related to my theme attracted my attention. I suppose this a good thing at this point because I want to get a good range of research before making an informed decision about my chosen argument. 

Lecture Notes - The Flipped Classroom

Illustration and Authorship - Maxime Francout

Maxime Francout is a french illustrator/artist/designer. He is still a student at the Université du Québéc in Canada but has developed a very professional portfolio and has already worked for some big company names such as Toyota and Urban Outfitters. 

Francout has a wide stylistic range and his work spreads across many mediums which suggests that he doesn't want to get tied down to a particular style or medium. Barthes speaks in his text 'The Death of the Author' about how the creator of an artefact can be considered as a "father to his child" meaning that an illustrator has a direct link to a certain kind of work in the eyes of the viewer. This connection shouldn't really be made, after all a father and son are two entirely different people, the only connection being that one created the other, the same connection an artist has with his work. 

In Steven Miles' 'Consumerism as a Way of Life', Whitely (1993) argues that business strategies have changed from focussing on the effectiveness of the product itself to to focussing on "a continual stylistic change in order to stimulate sales and profits", in other words, keeping the advertising campaigns moving with the changing trends and styles. For a creative looking for employment, this shows that it is key that you have the ability to work in different ways and proves why it could be a hindrance if you are connected too strongly to a style which then becomes out of date. 

A feature by AIGA about Francout lists some names his work is reminiscent of or inspired by; these include poster artist Raymond Savignac and the textile works of Alexander Girard. The fact that Francout's work has strong connections to other practitioners proves Barthes' point that nothing created is original. Barthes describes a line of text as "a multidimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash." This explains that all work created is formed from existing ideas. These ideas will "blend and clash" in ways to create things that seem new, but the components of the work will have existed long before this creation. 

Francout says "humour has always been a good way to get by in life and I think it shows in my work too" which tells us that he puts his personality into his work. Barthes opinions about authorship are controversial but understandable, he writes "the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author" which tells us that it is the viewer of the artwork who defines what it means, so the practitioner's initial intentions are irrelevant and non existent now the work has been interpreted by someone new. Barthes undermines the fact that practitioners like Francout imbue their own personality into their work because this will be irrelevant to the viewer as they will make their own judgement. 

Leading on from this, by saying that "a text's unity lies not in its origin but in its destination", Barthes is telling us that the viewer is the more important party in this artistic process. A lot of Francout's work can be described as abstract. This leaves more room for a variety of judgements and opinions because they are not representational images. In Barthes' terms, this could mean that Francout's work has a higher chance of appealing to more people because it is easier for people to draw their own conclusions about the work to make it relevant to them.

(587 words)

Impressive Illustrations by French Design Student Maxime Francout | AIGA Eye on Design. [Online] Available at: http://eyeondesign.aiga.org/impressive-illustrations-by-french-design-student-maxime-francout/. [Accessed 14 October 2015]. Barthes, R. (1968) 'The Death of the Author', London, Fontana.  Miles, S. (1998) 'Consumerism as a Way of Life', Oxford, Sage.  Whitely, N. (1993) 'Design for Society', London, Reaction Books.

Potential topic - TED Talks Research

TAIYE SELASI - DONT ASK WHERE I'M FROM, ASK WHERE I'M A LOCAL

Nationality 

• A country is not a constant, absolute thing. Countries change and the fact they exist at all is purely by human invention. 
• How can a human come from a concept?
• Culture is more real than a country, it says more about you. 
• A location says nothing about you in terms of nationality nowadays. 

"all experience is local, all identity is experience"

Connection is local, not national

"my experience is where I am from"

Where are you a local? Move beyond the cliche, be specific. 

Rituals - your routines and activities, these familiar things can exist anywhere. 

Relationships - who makes somewhere home to you

Restrictions - external factors, where are you able to life (legality, safety)

Is nationality outdated?

What do we actually want to know when we ask where someone is from?

Do we make a judgement about power, wealth, stereotypes, are we asking why they are here? 

Do these things associated with 'your nation' actually define you or reflect on you at all?

PICO IYER - WHERE IS HOME?

'Where do you come from?' What does this mean?

• Where is your bloodline?
• Where were you born?
• Where were you raised?
• Where do you pay your taxes?
• Which place is embedded within you?
• Where do you wish to spend your time?

Take pieces from many different places. 

Is home about soil or soul?

Can home exist within you instead of being an external thing?

We can choose our home.

Step beyond divisions and regulations

There are 220 million people living in countries not considered their own. 

The 5th largest 'nation' on earth are undefinable as having a nationality. 

You have more in common with someone in a similar circumstance to you than someone with the same nationality as you, even if you live on opposite sides of the world. 

Blend of cultures - making something new. 

Is culture overtaking nationality?

Connection between home and freedom. 

If you stop moving around and realise what is important to you, you will be able to see where to go. 

This is your home. 

Movement between locations is a privilege that is so common nowadays that it may be changing the meaning of nationality. 

Movement only has a meaning to you if you have a place you consider home. 

OTHER TED TALKS TO REVISIT

• HETAIN PATEL - WHO AM I? THINK AGAIN
• EMILIE WAPNICK - WHY SOME OF US DONT HAVE ONE TRUE CALLING

Roland Barthes - The Death of the Author

I found this task really challenging because I am not used to reading and analysing such complex texts. I felt quite overwhelmed in the session so I am hoping that by going over the text and my notes again I will be able to get a better understanding of the topic. 

What message is Barthes trying to convey?
I think Barthes is trying to say that we should look at what a piece of text is actually telling us rather than learning about the author and using these facts to draw information from a text. He tells us that it doesn't matter who the person is who wrote it, all that matters is the content of the writing. When an author is well known for either a style or something in his or her personal life, it is easy to let this detract from the work itself and we don't have an impartial view on the work's overall success. To summarise this, Barthes writes "to give a text and author is to impose a limit on that text". He also says that the author is seen as a "father to his child" when in fact, a father and son are two totally different people only connected by their bloodline. The same with the author and text, there is sometimes nothing in common between the two other than that one is the other's creator. 

He also speaks about how "the existence of writing" lies with the reader rather than the author. I think he is trying to say that the author can publish a piece of writing which he has crafted himself but the writing only really exists once someone else has read it and formed their own interpretation of the text. I think the quote "the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author" is summing up what happens when the reader takes in information from a text and creates their own idea of what is happening which may stray completely from the author's initial intentions, therefore making these intentions void. By saying that "a text's unity lies not in its origin but in its destination" Barthes is suggesting that the most important part of this whole process is how the reader relates to and interprets the text because this is how the writing is going to live on and have a future. 

Another idea he brings up is that no idea is original anymore and an author's writing is "a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture". I think he is saying that the author must have used things that they have encountered or learnt about or heard about in their life time and their writing is an amalgamation of information from a lot of existing sources. It has probably been pieced together in a new and individual way but the pieces themselves are not new ideas. 

How does this impact on illustration?
This impacts on illustration because and artist's reputation and previous work should not define the success of their current work, the same way that a text's success shouldn't be based on a previously formed opinion of the writer. This can suppress an illustrator's creativity because if they know that they will always be likened to a previous way of working they may be reluctant to experiment with something new. It could also deter illustrators from developing a style at all if they think they are always going to be associated with it.

When looking at an illustration, knowing about the illustrator and their intentions can sometimes ruin the initial connection you have with a piece of imagery. If you thought that it meant one thing and you connected with it emotionally on some level, it shouldn't matter what the illustrator was aiming for. All that should matter is the effect it has on you as the viewer and you can draw your own conclusions from it, whether these match with the thoughts of the creator or not. As an illustrator it is important to make work that people will connect with but the reason why each individual connects with the work is useless information to the illustrator because it is a personal thing to them. It works both ways, just like how the work can be personal to the creator but this doesn't matter so much to the viewer. 

It could be considered dangerous for practitioners to give too much away about their personal life because if people know about their lifestyle, likes and dislikes, etc, then they may form a conclusion from this that they won't like any of your work because personally, they have nothing in common. When in reality, a practitioner's interests and their way of working should be considered two totally separate and unrelated things because there is no rule to say that they are linked in any way. 

The thought that no idea is original anymore is really relevant to illustration. We are surrounded by so much visual information that we see every day and all of this is floating around in our heads waiting to be put onto paper in some creative splurge. It isn't always a conscious thing but we take inspiration from things we have seen before and translate this into our own work. Like I said before, all of the little pieces have been seen or used before so these are not original, the only thing that can be original is the arrangement in which we put them back together. On the other hand, it could be argued that everything we make is in fact original because nobody has been in this place and time before creating this exact artefact, but thats getting a bit deep. 

How could it relate to my chosen theme? 
My chosen theme is culture and there are a few quotes and ideas from the text that I think I can link to this. 

The fact that no idea is original is very relevant to culture in my opinions because as supposedly 'new' cultures and subcultures arise, you realise that their opinions and principles normally stem from another existing or past culture. Barthes says that "the text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture" which speaks about the idea of taking influences from lots of different things and bringing them together to create something, however the thing you have created is not new because all of its components were already existing. I see it a bit like recycling. I think this idea is also true for fashion and music which are key themes within culture, a perfect example of this is vintage fashion where the whole point of the trend is to wear something that has been or looks like it has been worn before in a past time. 

If the relationship of the author to his book is considered as "a father to his child" then I think this has a lot to say about culture and their original leaders and founders. We often judge things through the experience of its creator which could be the reason why there is such intolerance of certain cultures. I think this is especially relevant in religion because we tend to judge modern religious followers by the initial texts of their religion from thousands of years ago and use what these stand for as a measure of deciding what these people stand for. In my opinion, it is the original texts and sets of beliefs that are holding religions back from being able to function well in modern times because it restricts them from evolving. This relates to Barthes text because it is saying that the text can only live on "at the cost of the death of the author" which suggests that the product itself (the religion) needs to break away from its creator so that it can have a future. 

Art and music play a large part within culture so I think the idea that an artist's work is "tyrannically centred on the author" explains the reasoning for a lot of famous artists' and musicians' successes and failures. "The explanation of a work is always sought in the man or woman who produced it" explains why we know so much about the lives of famous painters and musicians because their lives are seen as equally, if not more important than their work. I think the entirety of the historical cultural knowledge we have nowadays would be different if we took a step away from looking at the people themselves and used only their work to define what happened in a certain period or movement in the arts. 

Lecture Notes - Research and Epistemology Part 1

Culture

I have chosen the word CULTURE because this is the theme which I feel in my head that I have the most ideas for and that I would find most interesting to invest my time and thoughts in. 

The word culture is derived from the Latin 'culture' meaning a cultivated piece of land and was used in terms of growth. This then spread from cultivation of the soil to cultivation of the mind and faculties which leads to our modern day understanding of the word.

To me, culture is about the doings of a particular group of people who define themselves in a certain way. These groups can form on a basis of nationality, religion, heritage, interests, beliefs and opinions and can express their culture through things such as behaviour, clothing, diet or celebrations. There are some long lasting cultures steeped in history but in contrasts there are 'fads' which come and go which is a sign of times changing a lot quicker as the world continues to develop, the question of what gives a culture its value could be asked here. I think how 'cultured' you are does not just depend on how much you are a part of a particular group but also how aware you are of the world around you. 

Quotes about culture:

Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit. Jawaharlal Nehru.

'Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture.' Allen Ginsberg.

This is interesting, especially for a maker, because it is saying that you can create empowering work but it is dependent on who controls what is fed out into the public whether your work will have the chance to make an impact or not. It starts up the topic of underground subcultures, steering the focus away from the mainstream. This links to the quote below which suggests which says a similar thing. 

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision  wherever it takes him. John F. Kennedy. 

Moral values, and a culture and a religion, maintaining these values are far better than laws and regulations. Swami Sivananda.

'American culture is probably the least Christian culture that we've ever had because its so materialistic and it's so full of lies. The whole advertising world is just intertwined with lies, appealing to the worst of the instincts we have.' Eugene H. Peterson. 

(I like this quote. This is something I am quite interested in at the moment especially after watching numerous documentaries about the American food industry and how twisted it is. Peterson wrote 'The Message' which is the bible written in contemporary language which is more easily understood and recognised nowadays. Although this is not really relevant to this specific quote, it raises the issue of religions becoming outdated and whether or not changes should be made. This can be extended beyond just religion into nationalities and the cultures of classes.)

Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilisation, no society, no future. Elie Wiesel.

'Even through sugar was very expensive, people consumed it til their teeth turned black and  if their teeth didn't turn black natural, they blackened them artificially to show how wealthy and marvellously self indulgent they were.' Bill Bryson

(This quote from Bryson's 'At Home - A Short History of a Private Life' is basically about trying to fit in and giving off an image that is not true to yourself. Although this is clearly an outdated example, this idea is extremely relevant today as fads come and go and people feel the need to keep up so they are accepted into that particular culture. There is definitely an argument to be had about the pressures of different cultures and whether we should be defined and governed by some of these ideas or principles.)

Images relating to culture:

baubauhaus.com

This image could have a lot of different intended meanings but I take the theme of fusion from it. I think it can be interpreted as a humorous way of showing that new and interesting things can come from fusing different cultures together.

Carol Rossetti

I can't say I value the artwork and craft in this image but the message gives off a sense of freedom to do what you want with your own body. In an interview about this series of illustrations Rossetti said that 'its mostly about our freedom to express our identities and make our own life choices.' Tattooing has become a culture in itself and it made me think about this in comparison to a religion. Why is there a difference between people united by a belief and people united by an interest and art form?

Luis Quiles

I think this illustration by Quiles makes you think about how some cultures are becoming outdated - messages in holy books for example may not be relevant to world issues today but people still turn to them to try and help solve their problems. 

Photographs relating to culture:

Dmitri Markine

This photograph is an example of how people use their appearance to show their devotion to a certain culture, in this case an African tribe. 

Ben Sherman - 50 years of style culture

This is a photograph from a 70s northern soul all nighter last Wigan Casino. This says a lot about how music and fashion play a big part in culture. Locations can be significant to certain cultures, for example Wigan Casino was a primary venue for northern soul.

Kawaii culture

In Japanese culture, Kawaii is the equivalent of a level of 'cuteness'. Kawaii culture has different branches within it and is an example of a modern culture - it has influences from the past but only started to emerge properly in the mid 70s.