Author: Rhianna Catt

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So I was surprised I only had enough prints to fill one wall, and originally my plan was to fill the room. However at this moment in time one I can’t create any more prints, and I think with the work I have done it is enough to show where I wanted to go with the installation/exhibition.

I actually believe that this lockdown has forced me to think about what is necessary with this project. I wanted to print the lines on black paper as well. I wanted the emboss the text pages with the string because I love how it looks on the back on the other prints. However now having it all up on the wall I have realised that a lot of this was unnecessary. That I need to learn when to stop. Another aspect of this and the lockdown providing opportunities to think and adapt, is placing this up in my living room. As soon as I realised this was my only option, I realised it should have been the decision I made in the first place. As it works with my theme of domestic abuse, and placing it in a domestic environment works. If I was having a show/exhibition. I think it would best work with filling the room completely with prints, to make it quite oppressive, but then with the contrast of a home, with sofas, or a bed, tv the whole lot. To set it up as a living environment I think I would be extremely successful. I am really proud of myself and the work and the end result of this project.

I am going to leave the work on the walls for a few days, and I want to experiment with photographing it in different lighting and see how that effects the mood in the environment. But also take some better quality photographs in daylight.

After collecting my work from university yesterday, I scanned every single print, not all are displayed above, and I started to work out how I was going to arrange the prints when coming to a physical display and installation. I started by working out 6 2×3 grids, by jotting it down on paper very methodically, which meant each item was never in the same place twice, and then arrange the colours to make sure I didn’t have the same print twice. This was before creating a grid with photo frames in InDesign, to make sure each print in the grid was the same size. I then took my letterpress prints, and I experimented with positioning, to work out where they looked the best but also didn’t didn’t interfere with the methodical layout.

Now I have a guideline for installing them physically. Originally before lockdown I was going to install them in the IVM studios at LCC however now that is obviously impossible. Therefore I am going to install in my flat, just very simply with blue tack, so I don’t ruin the walls. Originally I thought this would be a disadvantage, and therefore was going to move all my furniture out the way to get clear walls. However now thinking about it in context with the subject matter, I believe doing it in my flat will actually enhance the installation. As my subject matter is about domestic abuse. Placing it in a domestic setting, taking an environment which is suppose to be safe and secure, and then making it feel overwhelmed by all these images I think could be highly successful.

With the I am inspired slightly by Tracey Emin’s, ‘My Bed’ by the fact I don’t want I tidy flat, I want it to seem lived in because otherwise there is no point doing it in this environment intentionally, because it would look like a show flat otherwise, and not an environment which feels domestic, and everything a home should be. I am going to experiment with the over the weekend, including which rooms to include, will it just be the living room. Because I think the bedroom would have interesting connotations.

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So today, I experimented. Explored, and now I am just pure confused. At first I just experimented with how pigmented the black was and how much extender I used, and seeing what made the red pop. But then I wanted to explore using the idea of pink as the background image, because domestic abuse is usually connected to feminity, and so is the colour pink. And I really like these images, however the contrast isn’t so great and also it loses the violence and the aggression.

Finally I printed it onto black paper. I only printed the one, as I only had the one sheet, however I have purchased some more to experiment with next week. The pink really shone and drew more attention to the background image, and the wool wasn’t as bright. Here I want to experiment with the opacity here. But also we discussed as it was a little more subtle, and how these situations of domestic abuse are sometimes hard to see not just for the outside world but when you are inside them yourself.

I really need to think about what I want to communicate with these images. Which aspects I want to focus on.

In this post I am going to be analysing and reacting to the feedback I gained from my 1-2-1 with Leigh and my group tutorial. And define my actions going forward regarding it.

Feedback given:

1. Is the red too transparent? Maybe mix some white into it to make it more opaque.
2. Composition. Maybe cut them all down so the images are centred in a square?
3. Liked the uneven inking of the string
4. Maybe use a different colour scheme in each one
5. Maybe use the string to create an image, such as smoke coming out the cigarette
6. Are all the photocopies clean and crisp enough?
7. Maybe introduce some highlights, maybe paint white over the top.
8. Maybe use collagraph, stick the wool onto a plate

Is the red too transparent? Maybe mix some white into it to make it more opaque.

Regarding this and the tone of the red in general, this is something I want to experiment with more, I think once I figure out the inking, it being more opaque won’t matter as much, however I will experiment and see what I think and my preferance, but also what works with the theme and concept as well. I believe the more graphic and bold it is the more it will relate and convey my message.

Composition. Maybe cut them all down so the images are centred in a square?

At the moment, I am going to stick with my guns as I can always cut the plates down at a latter date. I am going to print several of each image in it’s current composition and size, and then I will cut them down and see what I prefer.

Liked the uneven inking of the string

So did I, however what I do not like is the areas which are over inked and then give a smudged line and looses it definition, and need to work out how to get the right balance.

Maybe use a different colour scheme in each one

For my theme, idea and concept I do not agree with this. My concept behind this idea is that the red wool/string is the symbolism of control and power and I think the meaning will shift and what the images conveys will change if I change the colour (because of colour psychology)

Maybe use the string to create an image, such as smoke coming out of the cigarette

Again I don’t think this will convey with message. The wool being power and control, is supposed to dominate the image behind, in a way I want this disconnect. And I believe by making then two very seperate images interact in a way such as that would ruin what I am intended to achieve.

Are all the photocopies clean and crisp enough?

This came from viewing the first proofs of my cigarette and pain killers prints. And with first prints with these plate they come out a little dark and not the clearest. It was mentioned the pain killers packet didn’t seem clear, however I know from viewing the plate and the print in person, plus the positive, I know this is one of the clearest of my images. The cigarette packet isn’t the clearest. It is scrunched up, and as I wanted it to be photocopied like all the other images, it is hard to create a clear copy. However personally I like this, however I am going to see how all six look together and if it doesn’t fir because that one isn’t clear enough, I can always remake the plate.

Maybe introduce some highlights, maybe paint white over the top.

This one is difficult for me. I can’t introduce highlights into the plate when printing, because the plates are textured and therefore hold ink and therefore print tone. I could use a cotton bud and try and get a few highlights, however this could be challenge as my image is full of a lot of very fine dots, and I could easily wipe that ink away. Also I think I would of choose a zinc plate if I want to get white, I want this image to be static, like I am capturing a snapshot of time. I think the more contrast I add to the image the more it would take away to the wool control and overpowering the image.

The idea of painting highlights to me doesn’t make sense with this images, and the method of printing. Because this plate and the wool leaves an imprint, a deboss, the white would be the only this sticking out from the image, sitting on top, I think that would then take control of the image, but I could always paint on one of my proofs and see what I think.

Maybe use collagraph, stick the wool onto a plate

I understand the concept of this, and it would then create the same image on every single print, however because you would be gluing the wool down to harden it, I think the definition in the fluffiness would be lost, but also also the reason I am thinking against this is the same as why I decided to not go ahead with softground plates, because the freedom and how the way the wool can’t be controlled as it goes down, against the super prepared, controlled method of the photo-etchings really works with my theme and message, and I think this method would make for super static images.

To conclude, there is some I agree with, some I will consider and experiment with and some I will disregard. There was a comment about how string in some images work better in others, sometimes it is too much, and obscures the image underneath, which I kind of like with my theme, however I understand the audience needs to be able to see the image underneath. This just requires me to keep printing and printing a lot of each to discover the most successful ones. I like the movement of the freedom of just using the string gives.

In relation to the idea of changing the colour scheme, and creating images with the wool, I don’t think the person understood or was thinking about the theme in my work, because those ideas don’t fit with it, and I think that is on me for not communicating my work correctly and as I am now on realisation, they might be just regarding it for an image in its own right and disregarding the message and the theme and just thinking about how it works as an image.

For now I think I need to keep printing, and see all 6 together, and not just first proofs, and see how they relate and work together, and see how they communicate the message. Then I am going to cut down the plates and see how they looked just centred in a square. But also I have an idea relating to this because at the moment all these images are 18cmx25cm (plate size) A4 total size approx. I might print these, and make plates where they are to scale of the actual objects and just cut down to crop maybe, so they are all different sizes. Also a part of me just wants to go huge and print giant keys.

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I still haven’t perfected the inking of the wool. So far for my experimentation, I believe the best thing to do would be to ink it heavily, as it is difficult to evenly ink lightly. Then run it through the press a few times to get off the excess. Today I made the next 2 plates, but only had time to proof them once, and the first proof/print of photo-etching plates are like pancakes, not great, but they looked good, but slightly on the dark side.

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The four proofs so far.

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I have taken two of the proofs, and cut them down to each have a different size border, the first 2.8cm and the second 3.7cm. I prefer the second, with the wider border. It has more breathing room, where as the first seems a little cramped and tight.