Research links:

http://www.greeka.com/greece-myths/king-midas.htm

Reference:

My storyline came from the myth of “King Midas and his golden touch”.

Similar to Midas, while his desire for fortune comes at the price of his love one (his touch transformed his daughter into gold) my dream narrates how my desire for vanity comes at the price of beauty in nature.

My dream talks about the foreboding feelings I have after dying my hair for the first time.

The cause for my negative feelings came from the pessimistic views of people on the topic of ‘dying hair’. Some of the common pessimistic views are that dying hair would result in hair loss, dry and damaged hair.

Objectives of project:

In my dream state, I explore between effect of photographic sequence and meaning through the use of symbolism described by the use of objects, subjects and space.

My dream follows a clear sequence:

1. The first part of the sequence started with me dying my hair, then moves on to the first occurrence of colour change with my touch on my earpiece, followed by a packet of soybean milk and the chair I was sitting on.
2. Next, I exit from the door of the room I am in.
3. Consecutively, I appear magically outside, in green foliage.
4. Lastly, looking up, I meet my closest friend.

Also, I study how visual rhythm can be achieved through the use of exploring composition, transformation in photographic sequence. One example of how I achieved visual rhythm is through the use of a crimson hue as I transit along the film stills.

Use of symbolism:

The first part of the sequence depicts me in my room with my earpiece, a packet of soybean milk and a chair I lean on for support. My earpiece and the chair represents my source of comfort, whereby I use my earpiece to listen to music which soothes my raging emotions and I rest on a chair to relax my aching body. The package soybean milk is a representation of the food we eat to sustain our lives in relation to today’s world of consumer products.

In the second part of the sequence, I exit from a door to enter another space. In a deeper context, the door signifies a crossing and a transition; the entry and exit from one part of my memory to another and also into and out of another person’s life (with relation to fourth part of the sequence).

In the third part of the sequence, I altered nature with my touch, changing it from its natural green into a contrasting crimson red hue. I drew a parallel between the destruction of nature and the loss of natural beauty when I dyed my hair.

Lastly, my close friend in the fourth part of the sequence represents someone I sought to confide in from the distorted world I have created for myself. She wears a white shirt, a symbolic colour for peace. Reaching out to her shows my yearning for inner peace, yet the same action brought to me a nightmarish outcome when I influenced/ affected her with my touch. I started to fear that seeking her was not a right choice. My selfishness in the attainment of what I desire may bring harm to my friend in return.

Composing images + Reflection:

This project was enriching and I learnt a lot as I direct, edit and produce the final work.

I am really thankful to my best friend who was willing to participate as my subject for my project.

I made use of long shots to establish distance and the space I am in, such as the scene when I magically appear on green land after exiting from the door of my room in the third part of the sequence.

Also, I made use of close up shots to give focus to objects I want the audience to pay full attention to, such as the toppled packet of soybean milk in the first part of the sequence.

I had a lot of fun composing the point of view (POV) shots, especially when I waved my hands before the camera lens as I stood behind it. I felt that I have connected with the camera physically, like the camera has become my eye.

I would also like to give credits to Photoshop for giving life to my photographs. Without it, I will have a hard time altering the colour of specific forms in my photographs and create the scene where I was consumed by light as I walked through the door in the third part of the sequence.

Personally, I learnt to construct stories with the use of symbolism and create rhythm in my sequence through the consistent use of crimson hue.

In Project 1b, I worked on three parts, namely: ‘Fire’, ‘Perish’ and ‘Ice’ in relation to the poem, ‘Fire and Ice’ by Robert Frost. I embarked on this project by thinking of the cause-effect relationship that the two elements have with emotions and visual evidences. For the process, I made use of painting in an abstract way to bring out the emotions I have for each element. I chose to present my final work digitally by incorporating my first hand images with a second hand image of an eye through digital manipulation.

My Idea in translating texts in the poem into images:

• Eye as a medium to convey the poem because we see the world through our eyes; our eyes are windows into the world we see
• Use of circular/ round form to represent a sphere, the form of a globe, like Earth, and to represent a continuous line, unity, balance, a shape that links the three images together

‘Fire’:

• fiery, hot tempered, passionate, bright, destructive (Emotions)
• ashes, disintegration, light, melt things, sparks, steam, smoothen, friction, burn (Visual evidences)

Medium:

• Charcoal powder – consist of carbon and ash, produced by the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen,
• Acrylic paint (crimson red and lemon yellow) – warm and bright colours,
• Impasto gel (matt) – Easy to manipulate with to create thick textures resembling ground

‘Perish’:

• The word that links/ strikes a harmony between the two elements in the poem in the middle line (5th line)
• Represents emptiness, a void, to be gone/ away
• My choice of a neutral hue to show that the word is not specific to any of the elements
• Suggests my unwillingness to have any of the two elements in sight; that I deny both fire and ice to be in my sight

I used only the iris from the second hand image in my final work because I liked the abstract quality of the iris when I zoom into it.

My idea was mainly inspired by Marc Quinn’s Eye series, depicting an eye in each edition like the one shown in ‘Eye of history II’.

‘Ice’:

• Cold, icy, aloof, dark, alone, disharmony (Emotions)
• Cracks, cold, melts into water/ gas (dry ice), reflective, burn (Visual evidences)

Medium:

• Tracing paper – for its inherent quality of translucency to represent ice,
• Painting lines with strings – to create thin uneven & irregular lines, which resembles cracks in ice that tells of the tension in something cold; the emotional strain between relationships,
• String – an object that appear to be frozen in time, stuck onto the paper,
• Gloss medium & varnish – layered onto strings and tracing paper. To serve as an adhesive for them to be stuck onto the paper and to provide shine as a reflective surface similar to that of ice

Final Presentation for Project 1b:

My reflection: I thought that fire and ice are elements that should never go together. In my struggle to create a set of definition for each element, I realised the two elements could actually go together. They are both destructive, or at least to me. I have been burnt by a fog machine once so I could empathize with the definition of the words, especially that of ‘burn’.

Citation:

1. “صور مقربة لبوبوة العين احدث صور احدث الصور – اجمل الصور × صور جميلة HD.” اجمل الصور × صور جميلة HD. September 25, 2014. Accessed September 14, 2015. http://photos-images.net/%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%B1_%D9%85%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A9_%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%8A%D9%86_%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%AB_%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%B1_%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%AB_%D8%A7%D9%84/
2. Accessed September 14, 2015. http://www.thedranggallery.com/index.php/artists/marc-quinn