It was really lovely to be back to lectures again. It always feels weird to be in lectures when the children are on holiday as it slightly takes me by surprise but I like the feel of easing back into the summer term. After the low residency it was really lovely to see everyone, and it felt like a very long time since I'd seen some peoples faces as not everyone was in London.
We were talking about the assignment we have to write for unit 2. I feel strangely excited about this. It's going to be rather a different writing style to anything I've done before and it's interesting that we only need to reference what we cite directly rather than providing a full bibliography of everything we read in relation to it. I'm used to building up huge bibliographies by reading around lots so it feels slightly strange that only 8-10 references are needed, although I presume were still expected to do a lot of reading and researching, just not to list anything not directly cited in the writing.
I was really pleased to be put in a group with Jason and Ellie, they weren't at the low residency so it was nice to connect with people I haven't spoken to for longer. We had a good chat about our ideas and initial thoughts as well as the value of writing for artists. The comment that struck me the most was 'to make the unconscious conscious'. I think through writing ad thinking more deeply I'm starting to do this through this MA.
My initial idea is to look at how print is used within climate activism and more widely to communicate narratives around climate and the changing natural world. Neil Bousfield's work fascinates me and I wonder whether I might be able to speak to him in person since he lives very close to the village we frequent in Norfolk. His work has been exploring the effects of coastal erosion and the changing coastline in Norfolk, but more recently he's been connecting this to similarly affected places in America and looking at the theme of local problems being global in scale. I was fascinated when I watched an episode of the V&A programme Behind the Scenes at the Museum and they found and collected a woodcut block by an unknown artist which was used to print propaganda material for Extinction Rebellion. It highlights the reproductive possibilities open to printmakers. I think I'm more interested in looking at the work of artists such as Neil who are creating work with the message and a story behind it which is what I would like to be working towards, telling the story of our interactions with the landscape. I think really focussing on this would be both useful and interesting.
'Below the Sea' Neil Bousfield