Better Lives Blog post 3
Initially, fashion activism was seen by me to have a slightly more narrow of meaning. In my close-mindedness I saw activism in fashion to remain within the confines of more aggressive acts that were in no way tied to commerce, however, this can be tied to my dismay for the term fashion. Yet again the lack of a broader scope had taken away from my ability to see a multitude of outputs as fashion. I took the term fashion for something purely material and in that same sense superficial. The acquisition of knowledge and thus the expansion of the concept of fashion can be primarily attributed to the better lives unit as my studies in fashion photography represented an artistic component as opposed to one where creativity and commerce meet. In essence, the better lives unit was to allow me to comprehend the full spectrum of what fashion means but more importantly means to me and my own practice. From my understanding fashion can be seen as more of an all-encompassing practice taking into account socioeconomic, sociopolitical, sociocultural and capital attributes. When applied to my own practice I had started to realise that fashion can be kept at an arms-length to tie into what I consider more predominant concepts. The better lives module introduced a new method of production to my own creative process. Moving image allows for an entirely new narrative to unveil and form in an opposite (yet similar) narrative process. To quote John Breger “A film unfolds in time and painting does not.” I had used this for an analytic method for critique as opposed my own practice to some extent.
With the events of recent I have had to overcome the obstacles that limitations posed but this was quickly combatted with the point I had once heard and it explained that the less you have the more creative you have to be with the tools that you have to produce out of curiosity and not ease. Over the course of the film making process, I had to learn Adobe Premiere Pro which is a professional video editing software which I had always seen to be too convoluted but instead found it an impeccable tool for what I needed. Already that is two new skills in a very short time, Videography and video post-production both of which relied on me applying knowledge of photography and all that is associated it. The film its self uses key sociocultural themes all of which required me to look within to externalise a narrative. The poem which I wrote came from a place I had only wondered and never searched, themes I’ve felt and never truly known. This has prompted me to work more with moving image and even make it a part of all that I do. For example, implementing a short clip into my test shoots.
Better lives have taught me not only should we be active in our own lives and what we as individuals do but how change is a collaborative process and requires many minds to make something happen.
References
Breger, J. (2008) Ways of seeing. London. Penguin Books.