This course was very research intense and with that I found myself applying my research in a different way than I used to. In the past my research and visual representations were loosely connected but, in this course,  I learned how to use both research and visuals as a starting point to make the paper and the project have a direct correlation. I think I really started to see the power of this during studio bridge 3, where we had to directly use our sources to make a piece. Although I hated the outcome of the projects, I learned a lot from this and hope to apply what was successful to future projects and learn from what was not successful.

I found myself using this research to fuel my art in my other classes, specifically my time class. I did a short stop motion film about insomnia and although I do suffer from insomnia, I decided that it was important to see how this impacts others so I asked a few of my other friends who have insomnia what their experience with it is and I applied what they said to the short film so that I can more accurately portray this. I also decided to have my roommate act in it because she has seen me suffer with it and has first-hand insight on how I act. This really helped when I got to the part in my film where she was having a breakdown out of frustration. I am using it in my time class again for my final project. I am basing it off of Edgar Allen Poe’s The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether. It is about the transition between sanity and insanity and the fine line there is. I wanted to accurately portray this and so I did research on mental illness and what the signs are.

I learned about the systems and strategies of research in general but also observation, advertising and fast fashion. The first assignment forced me to observe places and my train of thought. I was able to step back and observe how my mind works and my thoughts filter through me. I also learned a lot about the strategies of advertising. I found myself during and after this project seeing advertisements differently. The readings that we did for this part of the class were very interesting and scared me in how accurate they are. It made me realize that other people can use psychology to their advantage and almost control our thoughts. I really want to look into this more in the future and use it with my photography because I am interested in editorial styles and fashion photography. I think that I chose fast fashion for my own awareness. I wanted to be educated on the topic, so I took this opportunity to thoroughly research this topic. Since I started researching this, I have stopped buying from fast fashion brands and have been thrifting much more. I learned a lot about how and why an issue cannot be fixed and that is because the system is so complicated. It is full of symbiotic relationships and fixing the issue might create different problems. I really enjoyed looking into the psychology of the consumer and this can help me if I am ever given the opportunity to dive deeper into advertising.

An aha moment I had was when I figured out how to connect the different areas of research about fast fashion and make it into a research paper. I loved learning about psychology and the materiality but connecting them by showing that the consumer’s psychology is making the demand for fast fashion was a big turning point in the direction of my essay. I had trouble writing the thesis but when I figured out that I can connect the two, it came a lot easier.

A highlight from this year for me was my book project in my time class. At first, I had no idea what I wanted my book to be about. I reluctantly chose to do it about Catalina Island. I love this island with all my heart and have so many memories from going there weekend after weekend of the summer but I did not know if this would make a strong book. Once I wrote the little poem that I used in it, the rest came easier. The planning when it came to the book was very intense. I made many detailed sketches, then had to do the lay out in InDesign then had to make prototypes. I made probably six prototypes to see the materials and binding methods I would use as well as practicing for the final two books. Before I made the prototypes, I did print tests and made plans to use certain printers on campus. The outcome of the book was great. I actually will be bringing a copy of it to my house in Catalina this summer as a coffee table book. I showed it to my family and they loved it. The way they reacted to it made all the hard work worth it. My teacher also loved it. She kept one copy of it to show it to future students. She also said that my craftsmanship was very good which made me happy because I can get insecure about my craftsmanship skills since I am not very good at precision. I think that this represents dedication, growth and investment into a project.

In the future I want to do work with psychology and the way the human thinks. I recently had an aha moment where I thought it would be cool to do something about white privilege when it comes to rape on college campuses. I thought of this when Cassandra was presenting her work. I think that my love for portrait photography and editorial might fuel more questions about femininity and the portrayal of women.  I want to do more book making, video and get better at my process documentation.