Blog Post 4- Peer Review
This week was the last session with the better lives tutors on our chosen project, bringing our project to a close. There were many great pieces of work that I enjoyed looking through from my Make up break down class, and also took some time to read through some of the blogs online. Everybody did a brilliant job with their final outcomes, and I wanted to pick someone’s work to reflect on that I thought really understood the better lives themes, and made a clear link to this in their project work.
The blog I selected was Amelia Haslett’s blog post 3 where she showcases her final design from her ‘Mask making and politics’ class. The first thing that drew me to this particular blog was the beautiful illustrations of her final design. The political message that Amelia was trying to get across in her design was one about sustainability, something that I reflected on in my first blog, and something I find one of the most important and pressing issues that we face today.
Amelia started off by linking her idea back to her discipline of Costume for Performance, and I can also see the influence from haute couture as she mentions. Her work was reminiscent of Alexander McQueen’s S/S 2007 ‘Sarabande’ flower dress, that was covered in hundreds of real flowers that fell off as the model walked down the runway, turning it into a statement art piece, much like the mask Amelia proposed to make.
It was clear to me that Amelia had taken a lot of her inspiration from the better lives lectures, as she notes her idea to include smart textiles based on Laura Salisbury’s lecture on inclusion, where she mentions using them in her work. The idea to include smart textiles was a good way to show how the lectures linked into the final outcome of the project.
I think the concept that she has created is a really strong one, and was clearly thought out thoroughly before bringing it to life. It showcases her knowledge of the themes and really does make a political statement about sustainability and deforestation.
There isn’t much constructive criticism I could give on this piece, other than perhaps changing the person who wears the mask. This could completely change the meaning behind it. For example, if a child wore it, it might say something about the future world that they have to grow up in. Or contrasting to this- what might it say if worn by one of the people who work in the rainforests for these big companies that contribute massively to deforestation? This could be something to explore in the future. In my opinion, this could make the theme of Diversity even more clear to the audience, but overall, this is a brilliant piece with a very important message.