..The African resistance

even though it could seem that the resistance of the slave trade was poor, due to African kingdoms themselves hat enslaved captives.

In 156, King Afonso of Kongo complained to the King of Portugal that he was taking his citizens and “depopulating” his kingdom.
Also, Queen of Angola and King of Dahomey an leader Donna Vita complained, and even tried to fight the barriers of the ships and protect the coasts of Africa.

The slave trade therefore led to Africans immigrating to the Caribbean, North and South America and Europe+.

Slavery in general history

In religious texts such as Islam, Buddhism and Christianity.
The Mayans and Aztecs kept slaves in America; the Sumerians abd Babylionains kept them in the Near East; the Egyptians kept Jews and Ethopians; the Romans had slaves in Uk, France and Germany. 

In 1807, The UK alleged the slave trade illegal. Leading to the USA abolishing slavery in 1811.

Oppression of the people

As in my field work looked at particularly the homeless, I have had an occuring idea about groups of other communities that feel similarly depressed, such as the slaves during the transatlantic slave trade in the 15th Century-19th Century.

I looked in this earlier – about the transatlantic salve trade, (from the BBC website).
I think it is important to consider historical concepts and narratives to be able to understand the goings on in art and in general, today. Other communities of people who have (and maybe still do) suffered oppression are The mentally ill, the disabled, the young and the poor.

So before I start working on ideas practically/physically I want to understand about the history of the black slavery first, to maybe develop particular narratives.

Continued next..

Leonor Fini, artist

Leonor Fini from 1901-1996,

Little Hermit Sphinx 1948 Leonor Fini 1908-1996 Presented by Tate Members 2011 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T13589

 

From the Tate sit, I have been able to understand – this was painted in oils in 1948, in the post-war period.

I like the dark and spooky atmosphere of this painting.

I think it works well with the ‘abandoned buildings’ theme that was an idea for Future generations. I feel like this painting also works well with an installation set – the door being the stage.

 

Ceri Richards, more over

Continuing on the last post, The Flowering skull below displays a great constrast, with an a very dark black that surrounds the foreground objects such as the big bird and the foilage, that looks like leaves, small flowers, some thin branches in the right and maybe some stones and rocks to the back-near the horizon. Again, he creates a textured feel to it.

 

 

 

 

Ceri Richards – Blossoms – 1940

Perhaps a little different to the previous one’s of his that I’ve shown, but the layers of each colour is different every time. There is so much to this painting, where we can pick out each very brushtroke and, looking closely, examining the detail he has applied to the piece. The colours feel neutral, yet the composition feels disorientated and difficult to understand what is going on. However I admire Blossoms’ way of texture it emits.

 

Ceri Richards, artist

1903-1971, Welsh artist that had an interest in painting, printmaking and stage designing. Richards was part of the serrealist group and London group.

In 1940-44 he ran the painting department at CSAD. He also designed the costumes and decor for Lennox Bethley’s opera ‘Ruth’ 1956 and Noye’s ‘fludde’ in 1958.

As well, he designed two stained glass windows for Metropolitan Cathedral in Liperpool. Later using music as a theme in his work that developed into ideas.

Cri Richards’ Rollerman at Bosch with doubler

I really love the textures and the movement this piece creates. The scratches, it seems, that he has made provide a sense that I want to feel and touch, therefore I like the way the piece is more emotive and personal to a person – it makes the connection between the person and the artist/maker, and the theme of the piece of art, increased.

I am interested in the way he has made the piece dark – mysterious and spooky, unsettled. I think it is important a piece of art displays something that will emotionally affect the viewer on a personal level, as it captures their attention, like a horror movie it often affects an audience more than perhaps a comedy would.

field, The theatre…

From the formative assessment, now a couple of months ago – I have decided to look at theatres more closely and the plays and performances that happen there. .

As the theme of the homeless carries on…I looked up on ‘homeless plays’ – which I found

The Lower Depths (1901-1902)  by Maxium Gorky, and it was directed Konstantin Skowvarski.

I also got a book from the Library called ‘The Theatre – a concise history’ By Phyllis Hartnoll – 1985 – Thames and Hudson- so I could find out more about theatres in general, and what happens inside them, as well as their history. The images will help me for ideas to continue the project, which links with installation for what I presented for the formative.

My next post will have some notes, and quotes from the book about the theatre, and my thoughts on what will happen in theatres for the future.

 

 

Key post – field ideas continued

The idea of surveillance was brought to my concern from the interdisciplinary field groups about invisible cities (previous posts).

Before, I was  looking at the decay of buildings and efficiency of land –

Now I can use  the aspect around surveillance issues, and decaying buildings in which I thought about the homeless (people living on streets, poverty). 

from 2nd March 2016

• installation
• boxes to represent shelters and open privacy
• boxes to represent what homeless people have
• use drapes of cloth to represent the blanket over the figures head
• a blanket to represent the hidden, the needing for warmth and shelter

 

kp – Captivity (Field)

So during the interdisciplinary groups for field, our theme we decided from the exercise about Invisible cities was around surveillance and how it would change for the future.

Our particular city was a dystopian at first, though this changed and was debated on about how the citizens of our city were actually so used to this non-privacy society that it would not affect what they did.

So my ideas continued to develop – which I thought about freedom and privacy. Such as captivity, no freedom (also freedom of speech lacking). This then continued to develop into prisoners due to their captivity and also the panopticon (in which I first learnt in Term 1 constellation). The panopticon is a device that was first used in a design of a prison cell- the guard would sit at the middle on top of a tall tower so all of the cells that would semi-circle the tower. The cells would be glass so the guards would be able to see the prisoners whenever they wished to. However, the prisoners could never tell when the guard was looking at them – which resulted in the prisoners always behaving so they could collect their rewards or luxuries (as an example). Therefore, the prisoners are always being watched. They have no privacy and also no freedom. However, they do have safety – though this can also be argued to due events in prisons we see fights and abusive mentally and physical behaviour in prisons. Such as Rudolph von Ripper’s “Defense of culture -and the walls alive” in 1938.

Context for Field – Images of horror and fantasy book (Gerf Schiff, Harry N. Abrams inc.)

Gregory Gillepse – Fragment of a Vietnam shrine, 1966

This appealed to the work I was looking around about the homeless and the sheltering to do around the surveillance vs. freedom and privacy.

I think the image presents pain – due to the blood splatters and the blade across the face. The mixed media image is relatable to homeless lives in a futuristic world. If we take a look at “The Purge” film, we can see that being homeless is fearful and paranoia always interfers with life. (The well-off citizens with housing and surveillance of others are permitted to kill people as they wish to, it’s not a criminal offence in an annual day for 12 hours. Therefore, the people without housing or shelter are not safe and are threatened of killing, stabbing, any form of violence; which I think the image by Gillepse works well for the theme.

 

Key post 1 – Grouped(fine art groups of four) work for Field

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Each person in our group had links to the landscape of a futuristic land/environment.

To collaborate our ideas together, we used a timing method where we drew an idea in 2 minutes and then swapped our drawings with each other, and rubbed it out with our hands to create a sense of depth and transparency.

I like how the drawings are alternative and can be seen in a variety of ways. For example, the figures of people in Picture 3 at the bottom of the page, also, to me looks like a fence or tree trunks without branches.

The overlapping of each of the drawings makes it also more authentic as a landscape piece.

It was difficult at first to decide on how we could collaborate our work at the start. However, I think that the methods we used to collab our ideas together were successful.

How did the drawings develop my ideas? –