I started off the research by looking into articles that asked questions about the responsibilities that designers have towards social and political issues. The articles highlight the freedom we have as designers to decided how and who we work for, therefore they claim we do have to take some responsibility. That working for companies that do have unethical practises can reflect badly on you as a designer and sends out negative messages to the wider communities. That we should be creating work that demands the viewer attention in order to bring about social change, thus having a more positive impact on society. Following on from this I reasurched into art movements , such as DADA , Fluxes along with artist such as George Groz who mainly occured during the 19th and 20th Century and held very similar values that art should be for the masses of the privileged class. Inclusive and take a form that involves the audience, and had a strong element of protest and calls for a more equal and fair society.
On the back burn I was also reasurching into the refugee crisis. Looking into the system specifically and seeing what resource and support refugee / asylum seeks have when enter a country. But more importantly how they are received by society. For this I decided that as part of my practical for this module I am going to develop a workshop (that will span over several weeks) in collaboration with the Refugee Council named The Paper Bird that aims to build and promote their community, help them realise their ambitions and as result of this hopefully have a lasting positive impact on their lives. The reason behind doing this is experimental and I want to challenge my practise. I want to see the what kind of impact of learning new skills creative and being able to use that to help identify ambitions and other key self worths has on the families and individual I work with. I want to investigate more into weather or not visual culture has and impact on society and what is the impact, how dose it influence?
Looking into more current practise in this area , Louis Vormittag is a practitioner who's practise revolves around people and generating work that is inclusive for them. Her practise is very much collaborative based , however you then have artists such as George Butler who's work is generated independently but has external influence through the individuals he meets. It is interesting to see the similarities and differences in these two ethic practitioners. And in regards to my practise , I do tend to prefer working alone but I have never tired setting up my own collaboration from scratch and involving first hand the individuals that the issues i'm addressing effects. I externally work a lot with adults and children and really enjoy seeing the impact art has on them. But these individuals tend to come from backgrounds that are supported and safe. So I am really keen to see if art / illustration can have the same if not a more positive impact on people who are in harder circumstances and a fresh into a new society.
Moving on from this I really need to start working practically and figure out how I can record and process information in a practical way , but also research more into possible theories surrounding the impact of visual culture and the ideal of a perfect society. However after a discussion with a tutor , I am in agreement that I need to be careful that this project doesn't get to academic , it is vital that workshops and practical investigation are it fun !!!
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