Concept
“This is one corner… of one country, in one continent, on one planet that’s a corner of a galaxy that’s a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much, so much to see” – Eleventh Doctor
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-10-28/17-doctor-who-quotes-to-live-your-life-by
For my Home Brief, I want to explore the concept of our home and its place in the universe. To do this I am going to explore the idea of an alien invasion, through the use of fake documentation, and the idea of our home under attack from extra-terrestrials. To achieve this I am going to create a series of files and documents, spanning a number of decades, which depict the growing threat of aliens; visiting our home and slowly invading. These files will document the inside goings on of Area 51, the mystery surrounding the arrival of extra-terrestrial life and the attempted cover up to maintain peace and a safety to our home. I plan to use a range of photograph methods and practises for my work, including still life photography so as to document the artefacts that our found throughout the alien invasion in a way best suited to this brief.
Influences
http://www.spacescorners.com/books/The-Photography-of-Nature-and-The-Nature-of-Photography-Joan-Fontcuberta.html
http://www.aaa.org.hk/Programme/Details/576
My two inspirations for this brief come from Joan Fontcuberta and Walid Raad, who have both created fake documents as part of art projects; using a combination of photo manipulated images and diagrams along with written notes and documents along side them, to give the impression that what they are telling us is true. I particularly like the detail that has been put into the notes the accompany a number of the images, with the ageing of the paper and the scruffiness of the writing. These I think give the images a more authentic look, making the piece seem more realistic which could be mistaken for a real life document. Raad’s approach even included uses of hand drawn images and diagrams which I also think helps to create a sense of realism to his work, something which I plan to replicate in my own work as well.
For my brief, I plan to do similar to that of Fontcuberta and Raad, but instead creating military files, revealing the arrival of aliens to Earth and the cover up/documentation following the growth of the threat. These files will at first document small disturbances and strange lights in the sky, before escalating with the arrival of a UFO, before eventually reaching the stage of full blown invasion, with the threat to our home now a major risk.
Development
Alternatives
I experimented with the idea of producing my images in black and white to give the impression that the images themselves were older than they looked, adding to the effect of the fake documentation. I later decided against this, as I felt the monochrome style took away the visual interest from what colours were already there.
Reflection
Overall, I have really enjoyed working on this brief as it has allowed me to use my creativity to create this series of fake documents. I feel that my concept is unique and works well for the brief in depicting our home and its place in the universe, whilst also contemplating the idea of visitors to our home and what consequences they would have for us. What I like best about my work is the combination and overlapping over images and text for each of the files I have created. I feel this makes the work seem more authentic, replicating perhaps what a real life file would look like, not just a letter in a folder. It also helps make the composition more visually interesting, instead of viewing it as a document and reading down the page left to right, as per normal. I also think the use of hand drawn diagrams and annotations on images makes it feel more personal, to the extent that it appears like someone as been reading the documents and put down their own personal opinions or remarks, adding to the effect of the fake documentation that I wanted to create.