When receiving the brief for this new project, I was interested in using the body in relation to time. The title ‘We are Where We Are’ makes me think of being in the present, and how things have changed so drastically over the last 8 months. 

Since moving into my new flat, with my best friend (a film student), we have been watching music videos/films using her projector. I had wanted to use this for my art somehow and thought this project could be a good opportunity to do so. Therefore, my initial response to the brief was to photograph my current self in front of projected old photographs. This however was difficult for me emotionally, so I decided to change my idea slightly. I began to project the photographs around my flat instead. Over the first week, I collected more and more visual memories before lockdown, focusing on activities we are no longer able to do safely, creating a juxtaposition of old vs new (the ‘new’ being my current living space). 

When editing these photographs, I began by using Photoshop. I wanted to include the point of our reliability on technology throughout the pandemic, and so started editing my work to look like a glitch. I developed more with this using an app called Hyperspektiv, enabling me to create short films of glitch effects on my photographs. 

During my first tutorial, we discussed how a glitch can relate to mental health. The dictionary describes a glitch as to ‘suffer a sudden malfunction or fault’ – this can be interpreted in how the brain works.  As mental health has been hugely impacted throughout the pandemic, I wanted to use this in my project for further development. 

My research will be primarily done via the internet due to resource issues. My contextual research so far has been focused on Jenny Holzer, Shimon Attie, and Rosalind Main. I plan to research more into video artists, as well as distorted portraiture further in the project. 

The techniques and processes I have been using in my project so far have been projection, photography, drawing, and digital editing via Photoshop and Hyperspektiv. The photographs I have edited have been the inspiration for my drawings – editing myself and surroundings to look distorted and warped, relating to my subject of mental health. I plan to use collage further in the project as my edited photographs already resemble digital collage. I would also like to combine projection and drawing, as well as creating short films of me creating this work. However, I am nervous about this as photographing myself at the beginning of the project proved difficult. I may have to adapt slightly to what I feel comfortable with. 

When evaluating the project, I plan to take my time to stop and constructively analyse what I am doing and why. With the space and time of working at home, I see this as an opportunity to take bigger breaks to look at what I am doing. This however might be difficult as I do not have my classmates around to give feedback in a studio setting. We have been video calling and sharing work so far, but this is not possible every day all day. I also want to consistently remind myself that more does not necessarily equal better. I have a tendency to create a lot of physical work, but I need to make more of an effort to ensure the work I’m creating has a reason behind it, instead of just trying to feel like I have accomplished something as I have a lot of physical evidence. I would like to use my blog, as well as crit feedback to help with ongoing evaluation throughout the project. I have a notebook to keep a daily record of my work, and tend to write blog posts at the end of the week – I think this would be an appropriate time to assess what I have done so far and what I should do following.