Sunday, 30 July 2017

About the Author: Naomi Klein


NAOMI KLEIN

“What we have been living for three decades is frontier capitalism, with the frontier constantly shifting location from crisis to crisis, moving on as soon as the law catches up. ”  

“It is a civilizational wake-up call. A powerful message—spoken in the language of fires, floods, droughts, and extinctions—telling us that we need an entirely new economic model and a new way of sharing this planet.”  

“This, without a doubt, is neoliberalism’s single most damaging legacy: the realization of its bleak vision has isolated us enough from one another that it became possible to convince us that we are not just incapable of self-preservation but fundamentally not worth saving.”  

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”  

“Either greed belongs in a war zone, or it doesn't. You can't unleash it in the name of sparking an economic boom and then be shocked when Halliburton overcharges for everything from towels to gas, when Parsons' sub, sub, sub-contractor builds a police academy where the pipes drip raw sewage on the heads of army cadets and where Blackwater investigates itself and finds it acted honorably. That's just corporations doing what they do and Iraq is a privatized war zone so that's what you get. Build a frontier, you get cowboys and robber barons.”

Social activist/film maker. Exposes how giant global corporations' operate in wars, natural disasters and financial crises.
Climate activist
From a family with a history of peace activism
Changed at the age of 17 from a 'spoilt brat' obsessed with brands and shopping after her mother became severely ill.
The massacre at the University of Monreal of female engineering students had a profound effect on Klein and changed her views and sparked her passion for taking on subjects such as women's rights, racism, rape and capitalism.
A university drop out in her third year to work in journalism.
She was a determined activist in the 1980s fighting for reform in gender equality despite rape and death threats.
She tried university again but managed to get an internship in journalism eventually working for the Guardian.

No Logo (2000)
A manifesto for the anti-corporate globalization movement
1 million copies sold. Highly critical of corporations' exploitation of workers in poorer countries, including severe criticism of Nike.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007)
New York Times best seller
Thesis is that large corporations profit from disasters, economic, natural, war etc.
Public schools privatized after hurricane Katrina destroyed most of the schools
Private security companies profited from the Iraq invasion
This creates huge financial inequality

She has become the modern face of the political left's movement against global capitalism and is often seen as an intellectual authority on these issues, often giving lectures and speeches, promoting an alternative vision to the current political status quo.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/06/naomi-klein-how-power-profits-from-disaster

Initially it was interesting reading some of Naomi Klein's articles, the corporate profit making of natural disasters and war in particular are truly shocking and sad. However, as much as I am disgusted by the way large corporations and governments operate, I don't feel I have an active passion for these areas or at least to keep me going through level 5.
It's really alarming to hear how big corporations operate and how sinister governments can be but I feel these subject will not inspire me as I have grown exasperated with the global political climate and may lose the will to live if I read more about the way these psychopaths and morons run the world. I want an author who has more politically neutral work.






Tuesday, 28 March 2017

OUIL406 - End of module evaluation




OUIL406 - Final poster/postcards/stamps

 Final poster - Martha Graham




Postcards




Stamps




What worked?

There is a successful harmony between the different media used in all the designs. 
Balanced use of colour and a coherent aesthetic link between all the images. 
The gritty, defiant tone captures Graham's philosophy and attitude. 
The tone is bold and dark like her dancing style but also celebrates her influence on dance.
The brush strokes create the sense of energy in her dance.
A textured background creates the atmospheric backdrop for the content within the frame.

What didn't?

A comment in the final crit suggested the paint strokes could of been more angular like Graham's dance movements which makes good sense - maybe the brush strokes are too fluid.
Simple things like organising the layers in Photoshop - it's easy to lose track of all the layers if you don't keep grouping and labeling them.
Flattening layers and checking the right canvas size is simple but vital stuff to get right. 



Friday, 24 March 2017

OUIL406: Northern Ballet - Company Chameleon 'Witness'

Witness

I'm glad I went to see this dance even if it is late in the project, because I was able to see and feel the physical movement of the dancers up close. It was an intense dance about coping with mental health. The emotional investment was immense - it was the Martha Graham philosophy of using dance to express raw emotion.


It was very inspirational for the project in the sense that I have a much better understanding of the movement. It was a more brutal and raw movement than graceful and it will help me finalise my illustrations with a more accurate tone.


I can see how it requires the constant, disciplined conditioning that Graham demanded as some of the interactions and movements of the dancers would simply break a normal person physically. The strain must be horrendous on the body. Definitely a lot of respect for the dancers.








Friday, 17 March 2017

406 - Martha Graham

 Layer, repetition, movement

The drawings I started with below I'm scrapping after my tutorial because they don't capture the movement of Graham's dancing or any of the aspects like repetition or the violence she had in her movements.


I've decided to try new things and be out of my comfort zone. It's really been beneficial. I'm getting results I've never had before and like it - I'm definitely enjoying the freedom using big brush strokes gives me. Working at a bigger scale the brush strokes create much more movement and action that drawings ever could. Black ink is perfect for the jarring violence of Graham's choreography. The red paint also works for her exploration of deep inner human emotions and sexual expression.  





Digital

I've tried a few digital experiments which allows me to use textures from landscapes that are appropriate for her style of dance. Rocky landscape photos of the coast line I took recently are symbolically powerful of her uncompromising attitude and philosophy towards her dancing. Photoshop is useful too for repeating images and creating transparent layering for her ideas on practice and discipline.



Chosen direction

Using black ink and found image is the method I'm going to refine and eventually adjust digitally.
I may need to keep the ink marks and collages separate and layer on top of each other digitally
I want the ink marks to create movement and the collages of body parts can merge into the ink markings and with help with composition and act as lines of sight.
Ink markings are more fluid and expressive - collage body parts are rigid and recreate her contract and release movements which were more jarring and aggressive.




Thursday, 9 March 2017

406 - Person of note - research

BBC - Behind the scenes at the ballet


I'm going to get some tickets for next week's Casanova ballet. I'm hoping this will get me closer to the emotional side that Graham thought was so important to her choreography.