Week 2: Research and Concept Development Labs Reflections
“Once you find a point to start, you can enter into your work using your body as a reference, as context. Expand that until you narrow down into a language that translates to your audience. Sometimes research and remembering is difficult, but the impact of art as memorial can be invaluable.”
“Research on the same subject can manifest itself in different ways and be executed in different mediums”
“A piece of art is the greatest tool an artist can best express ones’ self. During the conversations during the Politics of Return conference in Gulu, I got understand that many people in the audience didn’t understand how the artists tried to express their findings or translation of their research artistically. This was based through the questions the audience kept on asking for instance how their involvement as artists will help impact positively on to the people and their past experiences during the war. This gave me a thoughtful challenge on how best can I explain or talk about my work in its absence, just like painting a picture of my work with words to the understanding of the audience or an individual interested in knowing about it.”
How do we layer our work for different audiences ? The artist, as the bridge to the art work, as the context himself.
“The Gulu trip was one of a kind, which enabled me to learn from fellow artists, about how their works connect to the chosen audience. I discovered that research is key before you produce work which helps you to have facts to refer to. Through interactions with the artists it came to my notice that irrespective of a different background an artist has, he or she has to be flexible so as to adjust to a different setting and represent the people in chosen effectively in their work.”
I’ve come to appreciate the value of collectively processing and exploring my work and other people’s work.
I’ve come out of the labs more open to new approaches to visual art that are informed by who i’m trying to connect with and what medium they engage with.
The trip to Gulu was made better by our collective analysis of it the week after.
The labs raised more questions that it answered. Broadened the scope of what there was to address and the ways to go about it, and slowly chipped away at my hesitance to understand research as a method or part of your process.
I’ve used footage of an interview of an artist i’m researching to articulate my own reflections, which are better represented in artist Arthur Jafa’s rants.
Taken from an online interview for SHOWstudio
i also used graphic artist Hanvda’s storm trooper artwork