Blog Post 2 – Creative Practice Reflection
The theme of diversity really stuck with me throughout the lectures I attended, and one that I feel really influenced how I think about my practice was “Representation” by Teleica Kirkland, in particular the focus on how wide ranging the theme of diversity is. During our Fashion Activism session we had to create a brand identity for our group as if we were a creative agency, and came up with the name “spare parts” with a focus on diversity and sustainability, as we had decided to look at aspects of diversity that were often forgotten or not given as much attention.
This made me reflect greatly on my practise as a photographer, as I often used to mainly associate diversity with race and has made me want to really try to include a wider variety of people in my photographs. Coming from a black African background, much of my work revolves around the black diaspora and researching lesser known aspects of our culture in a way that allows me to both learn new things while also representing diverse cultures outside of western society. Including a wider spectrum of diversity, such as body shape, ability, age, gender and sexuality I feel will not only enrich my practise as I learn about people different than me, but also work towards providing more diverse representation in fashion photography.
In addition, rather than just including diverse bodies and people without much thought, what I’ve learned about representation from the lectures and from forming our groups is the sensitivity towards the issue of diversity that is arguably overlooked in the fashion industry. Diversity is often seen as a way to improve brand image or as a marketing tool rather than something which should be a given. With this knowledge, I’m really encouraged to expand my practise through photographing groups of people who I usually don’t or have never photographed before. Just as I’m committed to showing many aspects of black culture, I feel fashion photography is far more beneficial to society when diversity is taken beyond surface level representation. Seeing marginalised groups in positions of status, luxury or as symbols of beauty rather than negative stereotypes is something very needed in western society.
Another aspect is looking at diversity behind the camera, and one immediate way I can promote this is by doing self-portraiture or photographing fellow photographers and image creators working to be in the fashion industry. It’s something that is still lacking greatly in fashion, which can often result in misrepresentation or stereotypes being placed onto models of colour. Putting more emphasis on people behind the camera can help to encourage a wider range of people to pursue photography, and this allows more people to be able to create in a welcoming environment and pursue job roles they wouldn’t have considered before due to lack of diversity in the field.
4th May 2020 @ 3:15 pm
PEER REVIEW:
Blog I’m reviewing: https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2020/05/03/blog-post-2-creative-practice-reflection/
I chose to focus my peer review blog post on Sarah Ejionye Adigwe’s Creative Practice Reflection blog.
I loved the use of in-depth consideration surrounding that theme of diversity and how you can relate to this on a personal level. It was interesting to see how you have developed within your creative practice regarding your wider understanding on the theme of Diversity as a whole and how this will be applied to your work in the future.
You make some really good links back to the topic of Representation and how these boundaries within Diversity can be represented and pushed further by our generation of creatives which is essential to the future of the fashion industry, something I too have become far more aware of throughout this scheme of work. This development gained from the better lives themes is essential to our personal growth, realisation and progress as the upcoming generation that has potential to change the way the system works.
You have touched upon your personal responsibility within society as a creative practitioner, to introduce your wider knowledge on how diversity is currently represented and how this can be developed, which is really insightful along with your understanding of the use of groups within society and its positive and negative impacts.
Overall I think you have reflected fully on the themes of diversity and social responsibility, however I feel you could reflect more on sustainability. It would be really interesting to see how you can apply your knowledge on diversity to represent sustainability within your work; you could link this back to the marginalised groups within society you mention, and how their beauty can be presented through their use of sustainably sourced fashion garments. This could potentially lead to some interesting comparisons between the diverse groups of society and the different ways they can be represented through your photography.
In conclusion, I think this is a really well thought out blog post, enriched with different ideas while touching upon your own personal development throughout the Better Lives project.
– Grace Robertson