Study Task 4 - Initial Ideas

Discussion and Possible Ideas 

The theme society can be visually communicated through means of line, shape, colour, texture and collage. Line could be used to represent the dangers of society by making harsh, thin, jagged lines compared to more smooth and soft, straight lines. This effect can also be made with texture using rough and smooth textures to represent different areas in society.

Collage can be used to visually communicate different areas of society such as objectification of women or sexist advertisements which is what I wish to concentrate on throughout my essay as well as my visual journal.

I plan on experimenting in my visual journal to find the best possible way to communicate my theme (society) as well as my essay so it relates to objectification of women. I will do this by collecting different materials as well as magazines/newspapers and looking for words or phrases that relate to this. This could be in advertisements or general articles.

Visual Journal - First Pages 

The initial pages of my visual journal are created by focusing on using collage. I have chosen this method as images of women being objectified are most often seen in magazines. Also I like the textured effect that is created accidentally making the work seem more real. 

Some of the pieces appear to be a lot stronger than others as I am still improving my skills using collage methods. 

I have discovered that my most minimal pieces are the most successful collages that I have created.

 This piece in particular is strong because I have only added red electric tape over the women's nipples which instantly creates the message of how female nipples are seen as unacceptable.

The use of two women rather than one emphasises my message further by showing that this is the case with all women and not just a select few.

 On the next page the woman in the piece is seen as a hero for running across a football match topless.

Would this be the same if a man was to do this?

The use of found font strengthens this piece because it adds colour to the page making the text stand out more than the topless woman.

This piece could be improved by showing the direction of the police officer's eyes who has no shame in staring at her chest. Instantly sexualising her even under her time of arrest.

 My research so far has been focused on how women are objectified and used for their bodies in the media. However, this piece doesn't seem to express that. 

This is one of the weaker pages that I have created so far because it doesn't concentrate on the objectification as much as the other pieces.

I need to focus more on an aspect of feminism. 

Do I want to create collages of heroic women or focus more on how women's bodies are objectified in advertisements and other forms of media?

 Another strong, minimalistic piece.

Is the text actually needed to make it clear to the viewer what is going on in this piece?

The woman in this image has her face covered which I believe strengthens the piece further as the male doesn't seem interested in looking at her face.

This supports my current research into the objectification of women in the media.

 This is another slightly weaker piece of work.

Again it doesn't relate to how women are objectified as well as other pieces I have made.

It could have been improved by possibly focusing more on how the man is looking at the woman. He is also placed slightly higher up on the page than her which emphasises how women are often seen as lower status than women.

 Should I have considered using different mediums for this piece?

The use of bold pink pen doesn't seem to work with the found image.

Also, the piece doesn't seem to relate to the images and texts I have previously researched and analysed. I should have focused more on how the woman is looking out of the image at the spectator to make it relate to my research.

I am going to continue on looking at how women's bodies are objectified rather than focusing on heroic women as the collages seem to be a lot stronger which is easier when focusing on bodies as the designs can be more minimal.

The use of collage relates to my overarching theme (society) as well as my more focused research of how women are objectified in the media because women are often seen in magazines to sell products.

I have had ideas about how women are used in the media, in particular focusing on porn. This seems to be a much larger issue that doesn't appear to be looked into enough. 

Women are often portrayed as victims in pornography, almost giving herself to the man. Whilst researching and analysing texts I found the 'Encyclopaedia of Philosophy - Feminist Perspectives of Objectification' had the most interesting points and went into depth about how women are used in pornography. 

I am going to get feedback from other peers on the next session to help support my work and further develop my ideas.