Major Project: Scottish History and its Mythology

Ive been reading A History of Scotland by Neil Oliver based on his BBC series, i actually bought this for my dads Chritsmas so glad its coming in handy. When Romans arrived they observed how the locals in Britannia painted themselves with blue woad, a blue pigment used today to dye clothes its the stuff Mel Gibson wore in Braveheart despite the body painting thing having gone out of style at that time.
What ive learned is that a lot about what we know about Scotland in the few centuries after Rome made contact wasnt written by our ancestors but the people who encountered them, often as enemies. I keep getting back to this idea of Scottish history being mythologised, created by outsiders.
Ive also learned a bit about the picts or picti (the painted ones) as the Romans called them, one of the Celtic tribes who after warring with the Gaels united as the people of Alba. The picts are known for their styalised patterns and animals, one notable example is the Drosten Stone. The picts adopted the traditions of the Gaels and their way of life dissappeared, maybe this idea of loss of tradition and way of life can relate to modern day Scotland?
Ive also read a bit about the real Macbeth who was also mythologised by Shakespere. Theres a few more books for me to read but i want to get a lot of research done before i start thinking about my characters, maybe one will be pictish.

Major Project Week 2: Research and that

It doesnt quite feel like this project has properly started yet despite getting my PLP all sorted and sent off. Right now im doing a bit of visual research here and there, thinking about how i want my photos to look. Ive been looking at the photographers Helmut Stallaerts (whose work i saw years ago in Amsterdam) and Charles Freger whose Wilder Mann project is all about taking images of European folklore, tradition and ritual that are being kept alive by communities.

Image from Charles Freger's Wilder Mann project

Ive also been looking at fashion photography, as polished as i want my images to look i dont want them to be too much like something out of Vogue. I saw these images of Tilda Swinton in a campaign for Pringle, i really like the use of colour and going forward i might look at a bit of landscape painting to get a sense of those rich greens and purples of the Scottish landscape.

Tilda Swinton for Pringle by Ryan McGinley

Ive gone back to McQueen again, I have Savage Beauty at home so ive been looking through that as well as a new book, Vogue on Alexander McQueen by Chloe Fox. In this book the collection ive been looking at, The Widows of Culloden is described as 'a theatrical staging of historical cruelty', for some reason this quote is really resonating with me and this project. Ive learned that Lee McQueen traced his ancestry back which was a major inspiration for the historical aspects of his work but also created a personal connection for him, Im not sure if i could manage to do this myself but its maybe something to consider.

This coming week in on holiday so im going to use the time to read some books on Scottish history and get more of an idea about who my characters will be before thinking about costume or anything like that.

Major Project!

It feels weird to be on the last project of my BA and to be doing something for a degree show but here we are. This is that part of the course where we write our own briefs and where i had done a bit of thinking about this over the Summer because i knew it was coming i kinda went off all the ideas i had come up with when i looked over them in January.

Looking back on the briefs ive done before and enjoyed the most i know my work is often about identity from a feminist viewpoint with my own personal experiences being the link. I constantly look to the same people for inspiration, Cindy Sherman, Alis Pelleschi, Molly Soda and Maisie Cousins so as much as i still want to drawn inspiration from their work i dont want to find myself making my own copies of their stuff.

Ive just written and sent off my PLP, thats basically a plan of what im going to do for my project explaining what i want to do. My one sentence project aim is:

 'Creating a series of fantastical images I aim to connect the history of the Scottish landscape with the reality Scottish women face today.'

 Basically i want to use self portraiture again and create characters based around Scottish history and folklore that can be used to create a fantasy image. Its based a bit around fashion photography and the habits fashion photographers have of objectification and glamourizing violence against women, like i referenced in my multiples project with Guy Bourdin.

Guy Bourdin (left) and my photo for Multiples (right)

In order to get this project going im going to read up on Scottish history and folklore, ive got some good books at home my parents are really into that stuff. Im also going to investigate the link between fashion photography and depictions of violence against women, problems Scottish women face today, problems i as a Scottish woman face and create a link to these characters of the past. Ive got a bit of visual research to do, im going to look at Rachel Macleans I Heart Scotland  and Alexander McQueens collections Widows of Culloden and Highland Rape, not just for the costume and visuals but also his ideas about Scottishness and there some really good articles of him talking about that.

Alexander McQueens Widows of Culloden A/W 2006

I aim to produce a body of research looking at Scottish folklore, history and modern day issues facing women in modern day Scotland and a series of images of characters based on this research.