My final piece for my exam is inspire by two artists, Chantal Gallant and Lucas Simoes. Initially, I wanted to create a story within a keyhole cut out shape similar to my 'Keyhole' shoot however, after some deliberation, I've decided that it was too similar and I feel that my final piece should not be the exact same as my research portion of my project, but I will still be using the same concept of peeking through an aperture in my final piece. I liked the idea of burning memories and that was my favourite piece of work by far and I wanted to incorporate that into my final piece somehow. Eventually, thinking of different story ideas, I wanted to do something powerful and heartfelt so I came up with the idea of a broken home from a child's point of view, a child's innocence can be tainted by how they're treated and the type of environment they are in, in addition to this, your childhood can influence how you are in the future and I wanted to express this in my final piece. So I wanted to show a story of a teenager who grew up in a broken family reminisce those times and eventually she is able to let go of her past and focus on her future. This is represented through the burnt photographs where the meaning lies within forgetting memories. I came up with the idea of creating a house because the whole concept is a 'broken home', so I thought that if I actually build a house it would further emphasise this.
Originally, I wanted the house to look like an ordinary house that I drew above, but it was easier to create rooms instead on 2D design and I could stack them on top of each other to have an abstract look. It could also represent the house 'falling apart' depending on how I stack them.
Originally, I wanted the house to look like an ordinary house that I drew above, but it was easier to create rooms instead on 2D design and I could stack them on top of each other to have an abstract look. It could also represent the house 'falling apart' depending on how I stack them.
Prep for the house:
The images that are shown below were specifically taken for my final piece. I wanted the images to reflect the concept of a broken home that I was trying to convey, since I wanted the pictures to show both the person as a child and a teenager, I had to photograph two models. When photographing the child, I wanted the viewer to empathise with her, I wanted them to question the type of situation she is in. I think the images that I took were effective in achieving what I wanted it to, especially the third photo shown below where she is crying as it is quite authentic-looking since she was actually crying.
When photographing the older model, I didn't really have a plan except for the idea of her walking away, but after some thought, I wanted to ensure that the viewers knew that she was an older version of the little girl, so I wanted to take pictures in the same pose and location as the first shoot so it looks like she grew up and is still in the same house as her childhood.
When photographing the older model, I didn't really have a plan except for the idea of her walking away, but after some thought, I wanted to ensure that the viewers knew that she was an older version of the little girl, so I wanted to take pictures in the same pose and location as the first shoot so it looks like she grew up and is still in the same house as her childhood.
When placing the photographs in the house, I wanted to 'decorate' it beforehand, the house itself is completely empty with no furniture, this helps to show that it does not feel like a home, it is just somewhere you live. For the first room I wanted it to be completely empty except for a little picture in the corner, this is to represent the isolation and loneliness the child felt, the pictures I took of the child will mainly be in black and white to show that it is a memory and the images of the teenager will be in colour to show the present.
The second and third room will have one photograph printed out in different sizes and stuck on randomly which will cover all the walls, this will represent the emptiness the home gives the child and the third room will have a photograph of the teenager in the middle to show reminiscence and the last room will have a single image in the middle with nothing on the walls. This photograph will have the teenager walking towards a light to show that she is finally able to let go of her past and focus on the future, on the floor will be ashes to show that the photos are burnt and the memories gone.
The main photograph of the room will be burnt, the room at the bottom will be slightly burnt and the higher the room the more burnt the photograph will be and eventually the top room will just be a pile of ashes.
The second and third room will have one photograph printed out in different sizes and stuck on randomly which will cover all the walls, this will represent the emptiness the home gives the child and the third room will have a photograph of the teenager in the middle to show reminiscence and the last room will have a single image in the middle with nothing on the walls. This photograph will have the teenager walking towards a light to show that she is finally able to let go of her past and focus on the future, on the floor will be ashes to show that the photos are burnt and the memories gone.
The main photograph of the room will be burnt, the room at the bottom will be slightly burnt and the higher the room the more burnt the photograph will be and eventually the top room will just be a pile of ashes.