– Discussed definition of semantic system of graphical relations (Drucker), see brief. We decided that the form of writing or graphics is inherent with the act itself.
– Loads of interesting references – Jenny Holzer, Gesture of Writing (Vilem Flusser), A Line Which Forms a Volume 8 (Glasgow zine), Calligams, Street are ref ‘Pref’ (UK artist).
– Group exercise – thewhitepube.co.uk/funding-library – analysed 2 examples of Project Proposals (see image). VERY interesting analysis of a standard form used to get funding, its function, audience, grammatical form and visual/material form. I looked at these in a new way
– Difference between TENDER and PROJECT PROPOSAL – Ben, showed interesting examine which was much more visual than a Project Proposal format. Something about agency within a tender over that format.
– Reference – journal for artistic research, jar-online.net
– Great exercise making own captions, progress made on project in the process, redesigning captions will inform my next writing submission.
(3 x home bound passport mockups presented with large prints made in digital print studio at CSM)
– New passport method presented, versions, cover tests
– Used my personal experience as a narrative to show colonial layering, everyday quality to it
– Infinite rabbit hole of British influence
– Tutor: likes idea of own journey to talk about this, wherever we went there was an impact of the UK. It is really impressive how much influence is there. Interested in conversations with kids, explaining to them.
Repercussions still affecting people today.
– Discussion of education, and its shortcomings in the UK to acknowledge colonialism.
(SIDE NOTE – dig up legislation found last project for education reform)
– Not my job to be a social historian, use my kids’ reactions to it
– Script kids reactions? Could this be a conversation – ‘why do the Egyptians have pounds?’.
– Could be a good project for new parents, it’s a big, scary subject and important, but can it dealt with in a simple way – use peoples kids.
– Toolkit for a parent to talk about colonial pasts, parent and child together
– A piece about children’s understanding of colonialism, does it have to be a children’s book?
– Could there be different chapters, 10 different chapters in 10 different passports?
– Could this be by country? Colonialism through traveling, memory
– I can set up conversations with my kids about places that they went, but they won’t remember.
– DIRECTION 1 – a piece about the lack of colonial education in schools? Or DIRECTIONS 2 -TAKE THIS AND LEARN WIT YOUR KIDS, LEARN TOGETHER WITH THEM. This is for both. It’s what has happened for me in this process.
– References brought in – Michael Rosen book (colonial kids book), The exhibitionist / ‘Uncomfortable Art Tours’. “Display it like you stole it” badges
– Make it location specific
– Come up with a narrative style for this, can I use the kids somehow? Get them to pose or have a conversation with them.
– Record some convrerstaisn with them, test the book. Age group? Ella (12) rather than Joseph (15).
– Kids colonial city guides?!! “Colonial Tourism”?!
– Tutor – keep big format? Fun! Make something interactive, disposable, kids can colour it in.
– Poss title – ‘have we been here before?’ Will that work?
– Formatting is interactive and playful, text, content, tone, FUN. When we look at rejects about passports, it’s not fun, it’s serious and adversarial.
– Maybe there’s a collection in unit 3 of 5 different colours?
– Is the narrative conversation based? Guided tours, visit spots?
– Keep execution simple prior to symposium.
LOOKING AHEAD
– confirm reference for writing component
– Kids book concept, develop alongside – production value, script, illustration, look for references
– approach Publications for advice on binding
(Now booked in to start binding test in publications, 16th October 2pm+)
– Consider bright colours for book cover, ‘lemon’ fan foil substrate ordered 091025
– Foil: Magnesium alloy plate, 8 gauge, advised by Helen for use in machines in Letterpress workshop, quite: ‘65mm x 105mm on 8g would be £29.01 + shipping + VAT.’
– Size? Should it be bigger? Have to weigh up folding.
– Map split cover setup discussed, or book like passport opening discussed for fold out map.
– Big newsprint mockup from last week discussed, is that right?
– Tutor – current one feels more polite! It closes nicely, of course, but what would happen if it’s bigger. If paper is thinner, it could work
– Sam – thicker passport speaks of amplifying content, loud message
– Keep cover the same size
– May have to just print one size.
– Is folding perfectly possible?
– Interrogate next prototype for next week
– What about the insides? Could it be a timeline? A Colonial past, not a slogan. Single guillcohe illustration.
– Could it be an amplified or contextualized version of my last subverted passport? MY story, accented with context and facts.
– Infographic in there? Data? Time, fact etc
– Maybe a single printed position on the back?
– Current size mockup size is doable in the time, but can we go bigger?
– Sam – people shouldn’t be judged by their mistakes, so can this be more co-design? Apathy about colonialism. Against white guilt. Identity should still have integrity whilst acknowledging the past. He sees people washing the past, good and bad, away.
– ME: I want I share my understanding, not make this adversarial. Probably will end up leaning towards the colonial, but not executed in a sensational way.
– Tutor – Fine balance. Lack of acknowledgement, causes, side effects of colonialism deep, broad, myriad. Universal truth.
– Could there be some co-design going on?
– Danxi – could this be public art? In a space, invite people, react to it by whiting something down? Film the process. LOVE THIS IDEA.
– Could this be tested or a workshop? Giving to people, film their reaction. Giving it to my mum for example? Give it to a mate from uni? Tendency to make it a white-bash.
CONCLUSION
– Direction is good. Could be educational, understanding the past. Could be much more in your face? Try to avoid big words, like ‘decolonising’. They have been overused and lose power. Borders, etc etc. Don’t use usual parlance to do with colonialism.
– Change of decision aesthetic , paleness, of the new passport. Could I make insides really colourful? Or REALLY sterile. I think it need sot be warm, human, appropriate. Could it be beautiful? Narrate these whole stories through using or reusing iconography of the passports.
– With the above in mind, could it be an embellished versions of my story already? An amplified up version of my last response. Use documents but also narrative illustration? Extract elements, pared back, negative space.
Takeaways from X Yr Studio: – References for criticality, vocational, employment within higher education: H Carasso, R Dearing, J Brown. – Codification of employability into higher education – S. Collini: ‘career relevance became a baseline requirement’ – Acknowledging that there is a tension between criticality and the commercial – Away from ‘atomized individuals to collective practice and solidarity’
Presented Positions through Dialogue essay, file available here: SITE2.pdf
Essay presented with a series of screens asking for the viewers’ documents and granting permission to view it, mirroring themes within
Summarized essay and takeaways from 2 references, Laura Knight (UAL) and Daniel Lowe (British Library).
Some example sketches below….
Tutorial notes 250925
– Position prior to tutorial: ‘My passport embodies colonial Legacy that I oppose. In the current climate of immigration debate in the UK, how can I use graphic communication design to enable the same realisation in others?’
– Key moment in dialogue 2 mentioned, where I realized that mirroring the practice(s) of designers in the British Library Exhibition, and my key references Jana Traboulsi, I found MY position for the first time in relation to the work. I saw that the studio practice and subversion of my document, directly changed my position(s) DUE to the practice itself. Indeed, Graphic Design as research, which in turn changed me.
– Barriers and theme of permissions discussed, paper granting permutations to do things. Interesting quote from Keshavarz reference:
‘Power is not necessarily expressed in the form of mastery or domination but is played out in the field of interactions . . . the task may reside in identifying those moments and localities in order to rearticulate them’ (Keshavarz, p. 69)
– Intention is not to make the results of this practice adversarial, rather connect using co-design, against immigration debate in the UK at the moment
– Visa system discussed, money, time, competition, jobs, geography
– ‘Love interacting’, tutor approved of interactive element
– Reference supplied: Santiago Sierra, Venice Biennale 2003, where an artist only permitted one nationality, showing passports, to the show:
https://passerporter.weebly.com/passport.html
– Invisibility within the passport discussed, is there a way of continuing the subversion of the passport (re immigration) in a really authentic way, research the METHODS of real passport making?
– Subtly discussed, the absence of something like the George Cross on a flag, neutering the image.
– Too obvious makes the message less impactful
– Authenticity discussed, passports looking fake
– Authentic subterfuge hard to achieve in this timeframe, but subtlety isn’t.
– Can I take a set of images and the text and just neuter them, removing an element, the sting of it. Ref protestor image from London recent immigration march, covered in far right iconography but eating at a frying food stall.
– Cold War Steve mentioned – satirical collage artist
– Is there a way of taking imagery across the press an swapping it over, or adding something that is unexpected
– Format discussed, to I stay in passports using the guilloché illustrations above, or do I break it out into different medium?
– Different ways to go – really understanding official passport making methods, what are the tools? Perforation discussed. Very obvious that it’s fake. It’s not as clean! If you don’t get to that level of detail. It could look like parody.
– There is a seriousness to it? People need to trust the document, may not believe it.
– This is a serious project, needs authenticity, but that it very hard to achieve in the time that I have
– Either I show that attempt now, or start with one method and explore?
– Stamping mentioned, real ones used but still obvious.
– What if I forget about this shape? 36pp passport, what of oui put them together in an A2 page. How would it look it all of the design is in one place. Maybe that’s where you integrate the elements. Explode it out into ONE PIECE. It could be a narrative or one image. An exhibition piece. Once it’s all big, it becomes something else, not an imitation. I becomes an AMPLIFICATION. Not imitating. It’s something to try!
– Interested in games? It takes away from the seriousness. This could easily become parody. What if that is intentional?
– Avoid funny or sensational tone of voice
– Is there a way of supersizing this, to lay bare the truth of this?
– Can I gut last term’s piece, and then put it together? Can I overprint?
– Sam – by folding it and all as a big poster will have an interesting effect
– What will happen with the opening up of the passport? What message will that have? Trust the making here, pull it apart again and put it back together!
– Reference supplied: Nolan
THOUGHTS ON NEXT STEPS POST TUTORIAL:
– Could this fold out into a new piece?
– Could that represent the evolution of my positions?
– Could its act as a flag of sorts? This book collaged thing?
– Make the document interactive?
– Amplify the message, what s the intention now?
WHAT IS THE LATEST POSITION OR INTENTION? HOW HAS IT CHANGED?
– How can I amplify the personal discovery of colonial legacy from the subversion of my passport, in order to share that realization with others?
10am-5pm screening of MAGCD 1 video essays in response to Positions through essaying brief, May-June 2025.
I was little nervous today of showing work amongst the rest of the year, but also very curious to see how my work fits amongst my classmates. Is my enquiry far enough along, have I articulated it?
Broadly speaking, I would say yes. Everyone has the same kind of ongoing nature to their enquiry which develops with discovery of references and studio methods. I feel in a good place for the rest of Unit 2 and into next year.
60+ videos were shown over 7 hours. Having had some experience in Adobe After Effects now, I can start to pick apart the methods by which some videos were produced. There were really interesting techniques but also devices to show work, other students were really receptive when I asked how their videos were done.
Highlights for me included a video using a bed as a canvas on which to project, use of a news program device, gender pay gap in design, corners, reimagining the grid system amongst many others.
My only feedback would be that the day was too long to get into all of the videos with any depth or discussion, perhaps that will come with the Symposium in the autumn. The video essay has done its job, of forming my enquiry and giving me a solid base to push forward with.
Video essay available through UAL Onedrive: MEcob_PositionsEssaying_final.mp4 Uploaded privately 28th May 2025, please contact me for access at m.ecob0820231@arts.ac.uk or mecob@hotmail.com
– Group liked the red dot device to follow narrative within latter part, as a storytelling device it worked.
– Liked Mum’s voice, could I add kids voices for their questions?
– Visual jumps between multiple lots of stuff on a page, section 1 and then into reference pages.
– Too many different visual languages?
– Tutor – overall really nice, not sure about overlapping audio point.
2 thoughts about the dot device, this project is about FINDING the message. Is me reading enough? Does it need highlighting? It’s about engaging with the document and finding the sentences. Not a big thing, something to think about.
– Discussion re context of video essay, where we are supposed to show to the work and explain it. Is there a halfway point? Slow down
– Perhaps show someone who hasn’t seen the work?
– More crucial thing to do is to NOT emphasize the content, bit the speed needs looking at. Longer transfers between the page turns, therefore take out to earlier content.
– Could I echo the hidden thing more elsewhere?
– Density of images – could
– Using the passport as a frame is a really strong idea.
– One project a spread o page, free the whole thing up a bit
– Narration is really strong
– Pace of it is good.
– Very sincere script.
– Beginning – make one spread with the passport destruction vid, fill up the page!
– Do something interesting with the references, in stamps or set as page 1 text – same face and colors.
– ESSAY: good feedback, print it in the same passport format. Augment the script from the video. Shoot it. As spreads. Use the typeface in the passport now?
POINTS TO TAKE FORWARD
– Consider red dot, beef up HIDDEN in text.
– Take a step back, look again and see how you can free up the feel to it.
