Project Evaluation

 This project has taken a long journey to get to where it is now, and I would like to evaluate the final product. Of course, what I have currently will not be the final product as I will need to expand on my shoots, precisely Hera, the Hesperides, Nyx and Eos, however I have written shoot plans for these and aim to go forward with them as soon as I can. 

Overall, the project is a way of experiencing escapism from the world, myself and the issues that come with being alive in 2020, a way of experimenting with nostalgia for multiple periods of time that I do not know, a way of connecting with myself and an eternal yet fictional being, an opportunity to create a mental balance with myself, and to try to help others to escape. Many of this was realised during my assessment of Alain de Botton's ideas, making my research key to understanding my own work. 

While my work offers a great sense of escapism for me, it's not entirely a new world that is presented. I have made the conscious decision to keep in elements of modernity within my images, but these are stuble touches. It becomes creating a better world within the time and world we already have - representing the need for something better than normality, the search for something spectacular in the mundane. It also links back to my belief that we cannot ignore the world we live in through escapism, but use escapism as a temporary way of escapism that can then inspire us and benefit us in the ordinary world.

A large part of the work is the use of painting. This was originally not my plan, but through painting I have made a link through multiple different art forms - the photography is heavily inspired by painting, and the paintings informed by the myths and Greek art of these Goddesses. This feels like connecting the timeline to the modern-day. Just as the paintings were inspired by their eras and art periods, my images stick with the main imagery but done in photographs in a modern world in order to make this modern connection. I think this is also evident in the way that the mythys were written by men, the paintings were painted by men (apart from the one of Eos, by Evelyn De Morgan), it feels that with me as a woman taking control of these representations is bringing the work into modern times.
Through painting, I have also realised my work connects to other periods. It has aspects of post-modernism through the use of appropriating other imagery, it has elements of pre-raphaelite movement ideology where it was believed that the best position for art was both a nostalgic position in the past, yet excitement for the future, and the arts and crafts movement where they merged different mediums to create something new. My work allows a viewer to experience the past that was originally popularised through literature, then paintings on pots and sculpture, and then influenced by the paintings based off these to create something new. The presentation of my work will strengthen this connection with the arts and crafts movement even further, using ornate gold frames that will be individual to each photograph, and using one of William Morris' wallpaper designs on the wall. Morris was inspired by how he was unhappy with the present day and so his work offered a sense of nostalgia, which I think my work also reflects.

The majority of this year has been greatly affected by the presence of COVID-19. This has meant that I haven't been able to go ahead with many shoots that I have planned, and haven't been able to go location scouting as I would have liked to. Despite restrictions easing, a lot of my images need to be by the beach, of which I have heard are all very full around here, and in general I am not comfortable going out unless necessary as I prefer to keep myself and others as safe as possible. Instead, I have accepted that this project will take longer for me to complete than I initially hoped.

My research has been critical for the evolution of my work, and I don't think any of it went to waste. The fantasy photographers such as Bella Kotak and Kirsty Mitchell have inspired me throughout the process to create images that are visually beautiful, and inspired me to start the project to begin with. My appreciation for props that I would have liked to explore further comes from Kirsty Mitchell. Breaking the Angelic Image by Edith Lazaros Honig was one o the first essays I looked at, and helped me understand the need for fantasy and my own need for it. Since this realisation of my need for escapism, the project began to take shape and became what it is now.

Freud's phantasy theory allowed me to understand the way that what we need and desire subconsciously comes through in our everyday live and actions - this also goes well with Botton's theory that we search for whatever we need and are missing within ourselves, in art.

I did a lot of research into artists that are doing something, or particular elements the same as me. Some of these inspired me, such as Tom Hunter and his use of replicating lighting, and others helped me understand what I was doing to a greater level, such as Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Stills which allowed me to understand how and why women use this act of turning themselves into other women within photography.

This work is something that I could continue for several more years, using other Goddesses, and doesn't necessarily have to stop here. I think I am happy with where it will be once I've finished the other 4 portraits, but I am not writing off the possibility of extending the project in the future,

Overall, I think I would describe this project as my way of re-enchanting a world that we see as disenchanted by the modern, scientific and aware world.