Having read through the entire Unit before beginning, I understand where the material is endeavouring to take students – leading us from the identification of ideas and concepts around which our work will centre, through the use of research techniques – including making as a research method – to the creation of a small body of work around our chosen theme that is curated for a possible exhibition: It is another step towards a more professional practice. And by having this awareness of the bigger picture from the outset I have been able to detach myself from a need to produce a ‘final piece’ or a conclusive piece of research in response to each exercise or assignment for project 1 and engage with the exercises as a process leading towards a more refined outcome in the future.
That was one of the observations I took away from the research into Jon Akomfrah’s work – “There are no mistakes” (Akmofrah, 2015: 0.31s), “Don’t wait” (Akomfrah, 2015: 0.26s). It correlates to a degree with the advice that I often hear from other artists, the exhortation to just make, to just do something. Akomfrah was merely adding a layer of thought to that – just jump on an idea, however slight and pursue it until it reaches its destination: the destination may be what you intend, it may be completely somewhere different, or the pathway may peter out. But until an artist engages in creative process there is no motion and thus no destination of any form is reachable.
I also argue that Akomfrah was guiding us towards making as research when he discussed his use of Bricolage and his adherence to the philosophy of montage. I would suggest that Bricolage, “the process of improvisation through human endeavour” (Wikipedia, 2024) is an inherently research based process: it relies on experimentation to find the right elements and materials to deliver the visual discourse. And it inherently supports the dialectical philosophy of montage as it requires the juxtaposing of contrary and opposite elements
There are also echoes of a mantra in that thinking that I often hear in my professional life – build quick, fail fast: create something quickly to reveal the ‘errors’. But Akomfrah asks us to reframe our mistakes, to realise that there are none within creative practice and see them as opportunities to learn, change direction – birth new germinations!
This is a research and dialectical-focused process though that replies on a repository of information and content, preferably organised – an archive s per Akomfrah. Personally, I have for too long, relied on my memory and intellect as a repository of the potential building blocks of my work, but, I have realised, as I begin to dip my toes into creating work that is more socially, politically and personally focused, that I need some form of content and information repository, that is easily and quickly accessible, that I have a strong awareness of the content of, that I can draw inspiration from. It needs to be a repository, not just of the external material that inspires and informs me, but also the work that I create in response: an archive, in my view, must contain both. I will only learn, progress and develop my own creative process if I understand what I have created before, from whence it came, and what informed it. It is a record of the germinations and how they have grown, been watered, and flourished or died off.
I have spoken, within the exercise itself, about the contrivance that I feel Exercise 1 was. That said I did find it useful to, for the first time, to capture the themes and subjects that are front of mind, that may become the conceptual drivers behind my work (though there is still a large part of me that wants to paint people’s portraits and landscapes!). My issue is being interested in too much and narrowing the mass down to key focus themes – establish a limit to manage me -is a challenge I will work to overcome through this Unit. And then there are the other (interconnected) limits that I need to transcend – laziness, procrastination, motivation (seriously struggling with that at the moment), self direction, the comfort zone of my favourite materials, available time, fear of not being good enough, fear of taking risks, lack of knowledge of materials and ‘zones’ – these too need working on as part of my process.
As for the collage process, I am undecided on the part it could / will play in my process. It is a very powerful method, but relies profoundly on quickly recognising suitable elements to create one or many works. That recognition is not an activity that happens just at the time of the creative activity, it’s an ‘always-on’ activity: the artist has to be constantly collecting content, has to be constantly aware of the themes they are working with and continually trying to synchronise those during their daily lives – it’s about seeing a piece of content or an object that could have a relevance to the creation of a piece of work, taking hold of it, methodically storing it where it can easily be recalled for use when other pieces of the jigsaw puzzle surface. My process was more forced, looking for images only during my ‘creative time’: this is a consequence of my pattern of study, which has to fit around my professional work and my life. With so much context shifting during the course of a single week, it’s hard to maintain the connections that contribute to a train of thought, especially when that train is focused around exploring patriarchy, toxic masculinity, power, privilege and the role Feminism has in disrupting and dismantling these embedded structures: I am wondering if I have ‘bitten off more than I can chew’ in tackling these subjects, but maybe it’s too early to identify that.
List of references
Wikipedia (2024) Bricolage At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bricolage (Accessed 30/08/24)