Final Post

I received my results for this SYP module last week and I am very happy. My mark was 80% which taken overall with my CS & BoW scores will mean I've been awarded a BA Hons First. I am over the moon! It has been such a long journey to get here but very rewarding too. I've taken some interesting twists and turns of discovery along the way and the OCA tutors and college have been so supportive.

As to what I do next I think I need some time away from social media and studying to gather my thoughts. I know that I'd like to spend the next year practising my drawing and painting skills - and maybe incorporate that into my photography in some way. I am also interested in taking part in collaborations and group shows. There are a couple of possible things in the pipeline. I will update my Instagram and personal website as and when.

So. This is my final post for my OCA photography degree and I wish everyone on the same pathway all the best for their continuing studies.



Regards,


Michael M Colvin



https://www.michaelmcolvin.com

https://www.instagram.com/michaelmcolvin/

Assessment - Evaluation

This final post is to evaluate what I have learned from studying this module and to highlight pertinent elements for the assessor's attention.


Evolution

I realised during the course of Sustaining Your Practice that the work I produced for Body of Work needed to evolve. The original eleven images highlighted the elements of Josef Kohout's narrative that I felt were important. These included the handwritten Christmas card that got Josef incarcerated in the first place; the behaviour of the guards at the electric fence and the target range; the unrelenting cruelty at the clay-pits and the medical experiments; and finally the diary extract 'Amerikaner gekommen' (Americans came). Once I began to think about hanging the work at the Pie Factory the physical aspect of the space began to take on a prominence that needed to be addressed in relation to the work. For one thing there was more space than I needed. I viewed this as a positive as I knew I could make more work to reinforce certain elements of the narrative or introduce new ideas. I was also able to include the physical props that I use as part of my working practice into the gallery.

I feel that the Target Practice work has certainly evolved since Body of Work and even moved out of the gallery space when I took one of the pieces on the 2019 Margate Pride parade. I have realised that a piece of work does not need to remain static over time and can be adapted to different outputs such as a book or an exhibition and beyond. I learned what worked well in the gallery space and maybe other elements that needed tweaking. Overall I really enjoyed making new pieces for the Pie Factory and the experience of hosting an exhibition for the week that it ran. I learnt a lot from it that I can take forward and put to good use.

  

 'Josef'. Collage from folded paper triangles.

The 'March!' exhibition piece taken onto the street for the Margate Pride parade, 2019.

Publicity

SYP really pushed out of my comfort zone in this respect. I was not comfortable with promoting my work in the highly visible manner required for a professional exhibition. Being used to my OCA college bubble and the support of a like-minded peer group this aspect of the course was quite challenging. In retrospect I think I did really well in managing to promote my work both online and in print. I enjoyed devising a publicity campaign and thinking up ways to keep it fresh and interesting. My press release attracted the attention of the local papers and it was amazing to have my work so prominently featured.

'Target Practice' exhibition featured in the Dover Express and Thanet Gazette.

Using Social media for promotion was a challenge and took up a lot more time than I realised would be needed. I pushed out posts to all my social media platforms on a weekly basis that showed my engagement with my work and the exhibition planning and setup. A GIF promotional campaign was also designed that aligned my work with other visitor attractions in the Margate area. This ran on a Friday for four weeks before opening.

Promotional GIF for Target Practice exhibition.

My Kickstarter campaign to achieve part of the funding for the exhibition was a total success. Pushing myself to ask for funds in this way was one of the most difficult aspects of self-promotion. I wouldn't have entertained launching such a campaign had it not been for the SYP module challenging me to do so. It was very rewarding and gratifying to see that many people inside and out of the college wanted to contribute to the Target Practice exhibition.

My Kickstarter page.

Exhibition

Although I have tried to document all parts of the exhibition process during SYP there is nothing quite like attending the exhibition itself. I know from experience that seeing the work in a physical space is so different to an online blog post. Therefore I made a number of exhibition videos at the Pie Factory to talk about my work. These videos give a flavour of the venue, the work, and my process. They are also a useful record of the event and are uploaded to my website so that visitors after the exhibition event can access the work and find out all about the subject of LGBTQ hidden histories. This videos are very useful in this respect because a number of my social media followers that were interested in my subject matter but lived in other parts of the world were able to follow along.

I have linked to the videos here:

Target Practice exhibition videos

This is my final post for SYP and indeed the whole of my photography degree programme. It has been a very enjoyable few years and I have grown as a creative person during this time. It has been great to attend official OCA study days and engage with fellow students both online and in person.

This work will be submitted for November assessment 2019.

Queer Spaces: London, 1980s - Today

This exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery was based around a collection of memorabilia that included advertised past events at a number of LGBTQ London venues; bar and club flyers predominate interspersed with leaflets sharing same-sex health information and evidence of political activism pertinent to the times; physical artifacts from closed Queer spaces and photographs of protests around the closing of many of these LGBTQ places due to gentrification are on display.

The exhibition was housed in a single room with glazed cabinets surrounding the walls. Headphones attached to each cabinet provided first-hand spoken testimonials that indicated how life had been for many Queer people during the 80s and onwards. I was quite touched listening to these accounts and hearing how special and safe these places made them feel. The format was well planned as I found my eyes perusing the cabinets as I listened to the spoken commentary, alighting on leaflets and photographs that helped me to understand what I was taking in. This setup was very effective and listening to the spoken word brought the cabinets to life and slowed down my experience of the exhibition, making it more contemplative than a visual perspective alone.

It is important to archive such ephemeral pieces of advertising of long gone clubs and bars and memorable events at these places. For example the physical changes to the layout over time at the 'City of Quebec' pub. It is only in the context of harassment and oppression could these changes be fully understood as the small back rooms and secluded corners make way for a more open plan area; indicating the growing confidence of the Queer community to stand its ground as a minority in a hetero-normative world.

Target Practice Exhibition Videos

During the run of the exhibition I made a number of videos to explain my thinking behind a number of my images and to also add a bit of background information from my research. The vids were also a good way for viewers not attending the physical gallery space to see the exhibition and hear my thoughts on the subject matter. By making a permanent record they also help to extend the longevity of the project once the physical exhibition closed.

Vid 1:


Target Practice Exhibition Vid 1 from ammoniteM on Vimeo.



Vid 2:

Target Practice Exhibition Vid 2 from ammoniteM on Vimeo.




Vid 3:


Target Practice Exhibition Vid 3 from ammoniteM on Vimeo.




Vid 4:


Target Practice Exhibition Vid 4 from ammoniteM on Vimeo.

Assignment 3 - Case -Study Transcripts

This assignment consists of two case-studies on artists working with installation and performance art. The following transcripts are primary source interviews conducted via email and used to write my essay. I posed a number of questions and received the answers back via text and voice recording.


Voice recording from interview with artist Angela Wooi:



Question 1:

At your recent Pie Factory exhibition the Planet Pussy textile sculptures of vagina and penis were elaborate and intricate. The colourful fabrics, textures and shapes drew the viewer in closer. Some of them were interactive, involving chopsticks for delving deeper and pins for piercing/decorating. How important is interactivity between the viewer and your pieces to you as an artist?



Wooi Q1 from ammoniteM on Vimeo.




Question 2:

There is a strong sense of playfulness and subversion in your work. Do you use these two techniques together to purposefully challenge the viewer to ask questions around cultural assumptions of femininity and the patriarchy?



Wooi Q2 from ammoniteM on Vimeo.





Question 3: No response.



Question 4:

How do you approach making art? Please describe your working practice and how a new idea evolves into a finished piece.



Wooi Q4 from ammoniteM on Vimeo.




Question 5:

As a practising artist it is important to network and collaborate with fellow artists. How do you balance the process of promotion, networking and collaboration, considering that it can take time away from making work?



Wooi Q5 from ammoniteM on Vimeo.





Transcript from interview with Michael Johnstone & David Faulks (Verasphere).


I watched the documentary 'Verasphere: A Love Story in Costume' and I was struck by the beautiful nature of a collaboration which began under such difficult circumstances for you both. As I understand this began with the Mrs.Vera's Day Book series in the early 1990's and has evolved into Verasphere with many participants at SF Pride. Do you both also work on individual art projects or has Verasphere become all consuming in your lives?

Michael: I currently am between putting together my archive additions for the Hormel Lgbtq Arhivr thst we have ,and ing work on some photography motion graphics and small video projects.

David ( Mrs.Vera) however has found the Verasphere to be all consuming to a point .

Artists work in context of having a studio: 

David definitely painted more when we had a dedicated art studio .

We had an art work  space for about 10 years.

david would show paintings ,I would show more of my series related photography , Mrs. Vera's Daybook photo series ,other subjects at other times naive yards ,roadside attraction series .we also put the costumes on mannequins which took me forever to convince david to O’Donnell because he viewed it as "craft" 

But also as Verasphere has organically grown ,in the past 3-4 years especially ,we find more and more time going to preparation ,planning ,securing temporary workspaces for our weekend diy workshops .as well as handling an ever growing costume bank that is now basically a large storage container . Scheduling fittings so it had become quite all consuming .Yet the Verasphere has many people willing to help us .

It is a kind of very small scale social experiment .

How many can we dress and get out to a parade as a huge group and still keep the personal sense of joy for each and all.

The Verasphere aesthetic seems to me to have a vibrant pop culture/space alien vibe. What are both your influences in this respect?

for me it is silly clothing , art plastic ,vibrant colors and the "toy" like aaspects of the costumes that make me laugh out loud .if it makes me laugh it is a contender for the base of a hat ,shoes ,gloves ,a skirt .

Ait adds to that visage as if we were fro some strange new version of midsummer nights dream ,or a circus .Yayoi Kusama ,has been someone who's work I have followed for some time ,her sense of color and the almost craft like repetition.recurring themes .dots etc. (as fo my Daybook series ,influences are Duane Michals ,Arthur Tress ,Deborah Turbeville ,Brassai,and many more )

Re costume materials my particular bent for the plastic started as I found more and more discarded items that I would think ,hmm,turn it into a hat .

For David it is purely a matter of putting things together,lately the thrift stores here will not accept toys due to possible toxins or dangerous parts so we are looking at upcycling the very ubiquitously mundane household things from the countless”dollar stores here in sf" are we contributing to the consumerism ,or working with waste materials that we pay for?re working together , .we often collaborate on the beginning materials ,found vintage or new clothing that we can modifying.we also look at every day objects differently ,together or on our own .so it is really collaborative in a very organic way .

I really like the performative aspect of the Verasphere project and that it is welcoming, participatory and interactive. Was this a conscious decision from the start and possibly a pushback against 1990s attitudes to the AIDS crisis?

Originally I didn’t think of us as performative ,but I didn’t go to art scgoll beyond a couple of drawing and beginning photo classes  I have spent a lot more time in lit. And creative writing over the years .so perhaps I didn’t have the descriptive language for what we do. We have since lectured a few places and some years later a curator called us interventionist performance artists . That is a lot of syllables .lol I still think of our group as one big bundle of joy ,and leave the interpretations to the masses. but to respond more personally ,yes the simple fact that I insisted on going to the parade ,dressed up in that dark era was my very personal form of sensory restoration .it was a constant  to not let  my spirit be swallowed up by the emotional and psychic darkness of the times ,as well as five near death experiences and almost going blind . Every time I recovered from one illness or another I wanted to turn up the color even more . so I suppose it was a kind of push back to the times ,but more a response to living ,like coming up for air .each time the colors were more vivid ,everything sharper ,somehow the simplest things became the essential things and for me at the time . depression ,situational ,organic , and or induced by staking scores  of "medications' for my hiv and the related complications became a kind of treadmill.coupled with multiple losses , career , financial , social , etc . All I could do was pick up my toys and start over every time . Persistence was my paint . i just wanted to keep saying "I am still here " In a way at the start it was just David myself and a couple of out of town younger friends . we went from being that to creating a veritable tribe for ourselves and to share with the world .to say to them "You are here " enjoy this moment . When I think about it ,I suppose it is a lot of work for such a simple yet palpable effect on (now) so many . 

Do you think that the work an artist makes is in a sense a conduit to reflect society back upon itself?

Art is such a personal kind of expression .i think some art is a reflective conduit ,but then there is what I think of as a more visionary conduit  to the possibilities of change .Some art is highly personalized and about the psyche ,that May reflect to people much in the way that a writers personal style expresses or speaks to an individuals sensibilities or vision of possibilities .some art says nothing to many yet hits some point in the brain for others that can be cathartic in many ways .

I loved your quote in the documentary that the Mrs.Vera's Day Book is your way of 'communicating to him [David] the stuff that I find it hard to express in real life […] is silently through a lens under a ton and a half of garbage.'As a photographer do you personally find that the visual arts are a richer form of communication over language?

david said that about how he expresses in real life ,and it is definitely accurate for him and his perspective,and way of relating to me . i personally have always felt that visual art can communicate at many levels that are indeed wordless.yet we as artists have our own "language" Whether I was working on puppets ,video,dance ,drawing painting prose/writing ,collage ,etc .and of course photography ,I have always called myself a storyteller .i use the various mediums to explore then express ,what is interesting is the personal evolution of what one considers to be "a story" I like to make things that can leave the viewer determining what the story "is".seeing the obvious ,or unseen ,hearing the  words out loud ,or unheard ,having their own kind of sensory restoration .


Edit 24th August:

After discussions with Clive I need to edit this assignment to reflect his points so a bit more to do with this one. This assignment was left to last in the course module so this will be my very last OCA assignment to complete!

Kiss My Genders - Hayward Gallery

 This show exhibits over a hundred artists pieces of work from thirty five artists over fifty years. It seems timely that this exhibition that looks at the fluidity of gender identity is put on now. There is much discussion over gender neutral toilets, self identifying, non-binary genders in the media. The work on display shows us that artists have regularly grappled with gender identity for over fifty years if not long before. Indeed Claude Cahun whose photographs does not appear in this show was making work in the 1920s. The video work of Victoria Sin greets the viewer as they enter the exhibition. This is an impressive start. The area is sectioned off by plastic sheeting, heavily draped to create deep folds. On it is an oversized projection of what looks like a heavily made up starlet/model reclining in lingerie. The figure is speaking, reciting something in a foreign language in a sexily suggestive manner. Or that is at least how I interpreted the scene. The folds of fabric scatter the image, break it up and overlap in a way that plays with the notion of fixed identity. It is a striking piece of work that holds the attention.

There is the work of Peter Hujar whose dark and foreboding photographs of the Hudson river hint at gender fluidity and the oppressive situation that non-conformist lives were/are compelled to live and the intolerance they suffer. Nevertheless the waves are changing, refusing to remain fixed countering entrenched gender narratives.

There is an impressive array of work spanning the period from Pierre Molinier's secret black and white images of himself in lingerie to another Hujar piece 'Candy Darling on her Deathbed' which shows the transgender Warhol muse reclining on her hospital bed with dignity while dying from cancer.

I was transfixed by Hunter Reynolds sculptural piece, a spinning memorial dress that names countless AIDS victims. A second dress now has over five thousand names printed onto the fabric which had been collated into a memorial book during the artist's wearing of the dress in a performance space.

This show is too large to cover in one post and requires at least two visits to take the wide ranging works. It is a show that challenges gender assumptions and the definition of gender. It is certainly worth a visit.

Assignment 5

This assignment requires a 2,000 word essay on the output of a piece of work (usually the body of work from the previous module). My Target Practice project is the obvious choice as I have been building up to putting on an exhibition from the start. My essay detailed all the preparation and planning for the exhibition and the final outcome.

The exhibition photos can be seen here:

Target Practice exhibition

With this essay written I feel that there just a few more pieces of work to complete and then I will be done. I skipped assignment three (the internship/case study) which is another essay. I hope to have this complete by the end of July so I can concentrate on assessment for November.

It feels quite strange to be nearing the end of the degree pathway after all these years. At the same time it will be good to move on and pursue other interests. I am looking at incorporating new elements into my photography and will probably begin with some painting or drawing. I have never fully explored drawing on, painting and cutting photographs so that may be a good place to start. I have always been interested in making pieces too so some kind of sculptural/installation activity may be on the cards in the near future.

Lots to think about and look forward to. I just need a last push now to clear up all the bits and pieces.