BLUE HOUR
IB VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION
photography journal
Acrylic on Wood Panel
20cm×27cm×3
For this piece, I wanted to show that memories around me have shaped me into the person I am today. By having photos forming a silhouette of me, I was able to portray the significant impact photography has had on me. Living in a technologically advanced era has given me the ability to digitalise memories and have them with me at all times.
Preliminary sketches & Idea Development
For this piece, I wanted to show that the memories around me have shaped me into the person I am today. The sketches I have done (on the left) is surrounded by images of key memories I have been able to capture. I am incredibly lucky to be living in a technologically advanced era, where my memories can be digitalised.
Photography has been an important part of my life and I wanted to reflect that in my art pieces. My parents are fond of photography as well and therefore I was exposed to camera equipments since an early age. By having photos surrounding me forming a shape, I was able to portray the significant impact photography has had on me. The goal of this piece was to allow me to preserve as much of the digital elements as possible. In order to preserve it, I opted to try a new method I was recently introduced to. Gel Transfer. I had to experiment with the process and try different techniques before settling on the one I used for the final piece.
I started off by using carbon paper and traced my shapes on to these wooden panels (27 cm by 20 cm). By using carbon paper, it made sure that when the transfer is completed on the entire panel, I would still be able to see it.
Transfer Process
I added transfer gel on the printed side of my photographs then sticking them onto the panels making sure that they were still quite tightly packed next to each other in order to avoid too much negative space. In order to get most of the image to transfer, I had to experiment with the duration I allow the transfer gel to sit. After some trials, I decided to let it dry out for 2 days before attempting to remove the paper section of the transfer.
Challenge #1: Initially, I tried to use photos cut into squares (4cm x 4cm). After the first round of photo transfers, I realised that the photographs were too tightly packed, it was messy and had too many things going on creating a clustered feeling.
Solution #1:To fix the clustered problem, I then tried to space out the transfers.
Challenge #2: Spacing out the transfer created too much negative space and I realised I disliked the straight edges of the photographs that were visible when they were far apart.
Solution #2: Finally, I realised that the problem was that the photos were too small. I changed the photos into 7 x 7cm squares. It filled up more of the wooden panel with less negative space and by putting them next to each other, the transition between each photos felt more seamless.
Completion the Transfer Process
I needed to be careful when completing the transfer as I had to make sure that I do not rub off the entire layer of transfer. I opted to use a damp towel, it gave me the texture needed to remove the paper pulp but wasn’t too rough that it damaged the transfer itself. But after all the paper pulp was removed, the dried wooden panel with transfer would still have a hazy texture. Therefore, I decided to add a glazing spray to help set the transfer in place.
Filling up the outline
After the transfer, I filled the outlines I made on the wood with white paint as I wanted it to look like the inverse of all the pieces that I had created with the elevated styrofoam cut outs. I opted to use white paint as it seemed like a good way to show that I exist in these photography journals without taking the attention away from the photos itself. The plain neutral colour helped show the clear boundaries of where images of me start and end without covering up too much of each photograph.
Challenge: I wanted to use gouache in order to create a slight texture on the segment, however the gouache was hard to control and was too uneven and the paint wasn’t distributed evenly in some areas.
Solution: therefore decided to use an acrylic marker instead, as it gave me more control and the marker was able to release constant/even amount of acrylic paint onto the wooden canvas.
