Better lives blog post 3 – Mask making
For the better lives individual project, I chose to learn about mask making.
Within the mask making project I was taught the basics history of masks, how to make them and more. After that I was given the actual project for the mask making course, which was to create a mask inspired by a political event.
The political event I chose to focus on was the coronavirus. As it was slowly taking the nation by storm, I found that the majority of people started to wear masks to protect themselves from the virus, however it wasn’t long before the masks they used, ran out in shops, which resulted in people taking it upon themselves to create their own types of mask out of desperation. Which showed the extreme lengths that most people would go to, to protect themselves. However I found it weird how little attention people really paid to theses mask, As even if that person was infected or not they would still go so close to them not taking into consideration personal space and how easily the virus can spread. From this I wanted to create a mask that reinforced personal space, along with notifying people that the person wearing the mask is infected. In the end I came up with a dead bloated face mask, which was greatly inspired by the plague doctors mask, The dead bloated face masks would almost scare people into not coming near along with telling people that the wearer of the mask is infected, and just like the plague doctor mask which had lavender in the long beak area (said to prevent the wearer from getting the plague) my mask would have herbs and vitamin C in some areas of the mask which is said to help fight the virus.
Before the pandemic, I quite enjoyed making the mask at Lime grove out of clay, It was a very therapeutic and fun experience to actually make your piece and vision come to life. However when the pandemic took over, the mask making brief was slightly changed, instead of thinking rationally about materials that we have and could use for example my mask was going to be made from vacuumed sealed plastic, we could now think outside of the box, and use materials like glass, wood, fiberglass and more, as our design would now be conceptual. However my idea pretty much stayed the same, but giving it some more thought and using what I’ve learnt these past few weeks from the better lives lectures, focusing on sustainability, diversity and social responsibility, I think it’d be a great idea to use a more sustainable material to make my product out of, like from the rubbish that has bombarded the sea turning it into a dangerous mess for sea life, Or by using Materials locally sourced from other countries used to make objects that identify their culture.
6th May 2020 @ 3:52 pm
Blog 4 – Read another student’s blog and provide some comments (peer review)
The blog that I will be reviewing is by Bianca Alexander. Bianca discusses her experience taking part in mask making and politics. This blog post was chosen as we both took part in the same project, and it was interesting to read about how our experience differed from one another. Not only this, but how our project outcomes were based around different topics within politics.
Bianca successfully reviewed the task at hand within her project, exploring how we were asked to investigate the history of masks and the best technique to make them. This was done in order to develop our ideas on creating a mask used in protest. On the other hand, this could have been an opportunity to discuss what was learnt about the history of masks.
Bianca focuses on the Better Lives theme of social responsibility, as her outcome mask focused on Coronavirus. A mask would be created to signify infection, as well as to socially distance. Bianca explains, “I wanted to create a mask that reinforced personal space, along with notifying people that the person wearing the mask is infected.” This was an interesting perspective, as Bianca explored how a mask could also work as a measure of social distance to prevent infection. The inspiration for the mask was also discussed, explaining how it was “greatly inspired by the plague doctors mask.” This was a clear link to her concept and Bianca’s design would similarly have herbs inside. Not only this, but Bianca’s ideas were also centred around sustainability, as she considered creating a mask out of re-used materials.
Lockdown changed the way the project was presented, as now the outcome could be conceptualised. Bianca explained how this was an opportunity to explore different use of materials, however ultimately her design remained the same. The outcome could have been adapted, as now was a chance to change our ideas. For example, instead of using clay the mask could have been created out of silicon. However, this proves how Bianca had a clear design concept from the outset, so much so that it did not need to be adjusted. Another interesting aspect was how Bianca explained that using clay was “therapeutic and fun”. This was a similar experience to myself, and I understand why the material would remain the same because of this.
In conclusion, I think Bianca reflected well on the theme of social responsibility. As well as this, Bianca discussed sustainability and considered how this could affect the outcome of her work. The theme of diversity was not addressed; however, it could be included in the post through sharing initial ideas for the mask. Each idea could have represented every Better Lives theme in order to have a clear vision for the outcome.