About this module

My Proposal for my Placement Idea

Learning Agreement

Installation with Laura (Tutor)

21/02/2024 23:33

During this session we had to visualize how we would potential set up our end of year exhibition for our placement module. an interesting part of this task was the fact we were asked to envision this installation with no limitations, so we could theoretically do whatever we wanted. We also were instructed envision this task in a way where we were displaying our work with two other artists of our choice. 
deciding on the artists was an interesting idea, I ended up choosing Edvard Munch because a lot of his work is similar in concept to mine, I also found the 'perspective project' who seemed like they would fit well being displayed with my work. They work to destigmatize mental health through creativity and art, an di thought this coincided with what I was trying to do in my placement perfectly.
Thinking about the actual composition of the final installation I didn't have nay concrete sort of ideas as we had barely started our placements at the time of this discussion but I did have some vague ideas. So for my placement I am keeping a sketchbook/journal where I consistently do lots of writing and drawing and art, and for a final installation I was imagining potentially photocopying and enlarging the pages of the sketchbook/journal and putting them all up next to each other on  wall. I like the idea of this but even if I don't go with this and I focus on making a specific finalized art piece I would still definitely want to include the sketchbook as a part of they installation for people to flick through.

Progress Update

20/03/2024 22:28

An update on how things are going with my placement. Currently I have been signing up for counselling and workshops and other support, its not being too hard signing up for things as a process but I have noticed long waiting times. Its been interesting trying to find support as there seems to be a lot of different kinds of help out there but some of it feels unreachable whether that be in physical distance or behind a paywall. One of the main things I've been focusing on is the computer therapy, I've been trying to do art either before and after or just after doing a session of therapy. Sometimes my art seems to reflect the negative feelings I was feeling before but I could tell after having a positive experiance with therapy my art did seem more hopeful or at least more positive. I'm going to continue filling in my journal with drawings and writings especially with therapy but also following along with my journey and hopefully I can keep track of where I'm going and what I'm experiencing. 

Realisation and Enlightenment of Placement

30/03/2024 22:41

So nearing the end of the hours I can take for my placement I've had quite a realisation on this journey. My new understanding is that its very hard to get support even when your reaching out for support. From my experiance and from what I've heard from others its very hard to notice or admit that you need help or support and then to try and reach out and deal with so many barriers or issues, is very disheartening. I found that even when I signed up to workshops they were cancelled frequently or always, which is frustrating. I also had an issue with not being able to afford to live in Plymouth over the spring holiday due to the stretch of student loans, but this means I was unable to attend any counselling I had planned in Plymouth and I couldn't reach any support I had planned out to reach out to or I was planning to reach out to. Its very ironic that trying to reach out for support can create such a feeling of isolation and the helplessness.

Further Realisation and Understanding of Systemic Issues

25/04/2024 16:42

In my last post i wrote about how there are a lot of hoops to jump through and barriers preventing from getting the support I was trying to seek, and I was mostly talking about mental health services and health services in general. But I've come to the realisation that there's a lot more displacement then I originally realised. I was thinking about this because when I wanted to stay in Plymouth to continue to do university and module work over the spring holiday I couldn't, I couldn't afford too, and because of how late our student loans come in, I couldn't come back soon to work either, causing me to arrive late and struggle with doing my placement work in time. I also struggled to continue my placement because I wasn't surrounded by the support I needed, this is also meant I took my sketchbook and journal and artwork with me back home and I forgot it there. So I decided to have it mailed to me and low and behold the postal company I used failed me, my irreplaceable artwork to date has not been given to me, I've used a service and spent lots of money on it and again, I'm being let down. This felt almost like a perfect continuation of placement though, I'd been let down over and over and what's another incident. Its frustrating because my whole final piece is supposed to be based on all my journals, sketches, drawings and research that I had been taking note of, and of course all that work has been lost. Even with applying with an extension, I don't think ill be able to get my sketchbook in time for my deadline, I'm actually pretty heartbroken about it. But I'm going to try and be resourceful and use this information I've come to understand about the lack of reliability on a lot of companies and resources and implement more of an in depth layer to my zine for my final pieces.

Idea for Final Piece

22/04/2024 22:59

I've decided to take my project and turn it on its head. After putting myself in the place of someone seeking support and realising that for a multitude of different reasons its extremely hard to get the support you need. Between not being able to afford certain treatments and not having the time to wait on most waiting lists and not being in the right area etc etc. So I want to make a final piece explaining or confirming or encapsulating the feeling and expressing the struggles that is trying to get help. In this society there is a pressure that if you have a problem you should fix it, I've been told before that if I'm struggling with my mental health I should just "go get some therapy". But as that turns out its pretty hard, and even makes you feel worse in some ways, such as feeling helpless or useless. 
My idea that I was guided by from my tutor is to create a zine reflecting my experiences throughout this placement. I think I'm going to go through my journal and either edit and pull out or redo section from it to create the zine. I feel like a zine is a good way to express this idea, because it reminds me of mental health brochures and medical brochures as well as arty zines, I feel like I'm going to make a hybrid crossing over both worlds. I'm really looking forward to this idea, I was initially thinking of printing out a bunch of small versions of the zine to act as alike a brochure/zine but I'm unsure if I can do that in the time limit. I'm also concerned but curious about doing a zine type final piece as I'm very use to do paintings or drawings that are big and hangable on a wall as a large scale 2D piece and this experiance will be very different but I'm looking forward to it.

Making my Final Piece

21/04/2024 13:21

before having my tutorial I had a pretty good idea about my concept but no idea what to do for a physical final piece. I knew I wanted to raise awareness and express my experiences with the struggles of seeking mental health support, but I didn't really know what direction to take this in, in the way of mediums or final pieces. Luckily my tutor brought up the idea of making some kind of zine, and I latched onto this idea because I thought it was brilliant, I like it because it reminds me of brochures and mental health leaflets and I feel like it would almost be like stair referencing that. another reason I thought this would be a great idea to explore is because the intimate nature of picking up a small zine and looking closely to it, I feel helps understand and share the experiance I'm trying to show through the art on the pages. As well I thought this is a medium I don't explore to often and I love experimenting.
I had a lot of fun but also was learning a lot trying to create a sort of creative narrative going through the zine, I focused on experimenting with themes and compositions trying to represent the journey I had experienced. I also wanted to include lots of words and notes about my experience's. I wish I had my sketchbook with all of my work in because I would have loved to edit and pull bits from it to put directly into the zine, and if I get my sketchbook back before my final EC deadline, this will be how I augment my current piece.

Final Installation 1.0

(A Work in Progress)

30/04/2024 18:32

I am happy with this installation, I like how the composition works with the plinth on an angle being in front of a corner of walls meeting. I also feel like the Zine looks nice on the plinth in terms of its size in relation to the plinths, I also enjoy the pop of colour from the zine on the all white background. My one concern with my install was that people might not flick through the zine as often you view not touch art, so I included a sign to reassure people they could pick up the zine and look through it as that's a pretty important part of the experiance.

Finalised Final Piece - The Zine - Out of Reach

08/05/2024

My plan was that hopefully I would have received my vital sketchbook in the mail by the time my extension was up, unfortunately this isn't the case. But I decided with more knowledge I was still going to expand my current zine, not by much but to include some vital things I felt were not in the original. So I wanted to include some pages that also discussed the systemic issues and struggles not relating to9 medical health services that still create barriers trying to seek support. So I included some pages talking about financial struggles, big corporations and companies and there let downs as well as  a page just explaining how hard it can be to get past all the ese issues.

My Final Install for Placement Module

10/05/2024