Right now, I feel that a sharpening of my work for the exam could to present these pictures that I drew in Lesvos, and not necesseraly make anything new. I am considering ways of maybe mixing the paintings I made with the pictures I took, in a digital way. I’m imagining some overlapping or photoediting. I am not quite sure how I want to present this for the exam, but I’m hoping that by experimenting with this sort of combination, the digital presentation of the work can more varied and interesting as well. I gave the paintings to the farmers, so I have only the pictures of them to work with. I think I’ll see where this goes and come back to this issue later when e
Generally the aspect I feel the most lost on is finding relevant theory for the written part. Is there anything about encounting people? Maybe Places of Learning by Ellsworth could be relevant? I want to connect this experience to school relevance and pedagogy, and I think Ellsworth’s text could do that through the aspects of experiences being crucial to understanding. Maybe also Gert Biesta and Lave & Wenger’s theoriy of situated learning, who I feel thouch this issue as well.
Hi Leslie,
Thank you for sharing the images.
The idea of giving your paintings to the farmers is a noble thing to do. We tend to hold onto the things we make, while this gesture reminds us of temporality and the process – integral aspects of creativity. Perhaps use your images, sketches, notes and memory from Metochi as stepping stones toward a more encompassing and comprehensive work? The idea of documenting your sketches and processes generally is aesthetically enriching. By saying that, I would try to make the process and the (more)complete work accessible to the viewers.
Thank you for the response.
We can talk more about this if we’re having another meeting on monday, but I agree in what you’re saying. Maybe I could make a video documentation of the process and that could be a nice way to represent the work altogether.
Hi Leslie, Thank you for your reflections! Based on this, and Elmedin’s input, I think an idea that could be worth exploring further, is looking at your whole process as your ‘work’ (even artwork); the different images (paintings, photos), the different visits, the gesture of giving back… as part of a processual work where relations and ideas, as well as impressions, expressions, and reflections, evolve over time.
As for theory, there is a lot on ‘encounters’ in the ethnographic literature we have proposed (I will also be updating the ‘traveling library’ this week). But how about Roger Sansi’s Art, anthropology and the gift – you could discuss this whole idea of ‘the gift’ that Sansi is taking up? (He does so somewhat critically; it is a concept from Anthropology that he finds re-used in ethnographically-inspired art projects, so perhaps you would like to take him on in relation to how you experienced this, from a different position?).
Lave & Wenger on community of learners could of course be relevant to your own learning process, or Anke Coumans: ‘Art as encounter’. (See the traveling library for these references). We can also talk if you would like to brainstorm this more. Keep up the good work!