Eleanor Renwick

Reading through my peers blog posts, gave me a good insight to how they approached and reflected on the themes of diversity, social responsibility and sustainability. One blog that I liked in particular was by Laura Allwood, she talks about the way she wishes to approach future collaboration within fashion journalism, explaining that being introverted within her work puts her at a disadvantage as she only gains an insight from one singular view. I related to this as I find that being introverted has limited my own work, if I was to collaborate and share experiences with more people I would extend my knowledge on various topics. Reflecting back on one of my previous blog posts I talk about how a diverse people equals diverse thoughts and this is something that would benefit the way I conduct and collaborate with my work.

Laura also reflects on the way she approaches creative tasks being on fashion journalism, using new software like InDesign to become more experimental with the content she produces. I like that she has reflected on the better lives themes and challenged herself to step outside of her comfort zone and be ambitious with the work that she produces, exploring more ‘niche stories’. This is something I also aim to do myself, I find that within my written work I am reluctant to talk further in depth about the topic I am researching. In future projects, I should consider writing in further detail by doing more academic reading and engaging with people that can give me a greater understanding of my theme.   

The better lives themes have made me feel more engaged on the context of my work. I chose contemporary portraiture photography as I wanted to hone my skills on using digital and analogue format cameras.

I was inspired by John Lau’s lecture on cultural responsibility and also discussions I had with my peers on contemporary portraiture photography, I wanted to reflect on my own culture and heritage when responding to the given brief. I decided to approach this by photographing my relatives in Ireland. This is something I chose to do as I’m proud of my Irish heritage and it is a place where I feel welcomed and happy and place I can call home.

I thought this was a great response to the theme of culture as in Ireland, family is important and a lot of time spent with loved ones at home. I reflected on a book called “Golden Days in Donegal” which is written by a member of my family on his Life growing up in Ireland and I was inspired by the pictures in this book and sentimental value that they had. My way of responding to this was to photograph my family and reflect on the memories that I’ve grown up with in Ireland since I was very young girl.

I reflected on the spaces that I was photographing with the aim of capturing the sentimental value that I feel within this space, for example the kitchen is a very important space, this is because it is a place where people would gather and is one of the most lively rooms in the house.

Being such a rural area I was able to photograph outside of the home, admiring the untouched landscape that looks out onto the Foyle and the Irish Sea.

After unfortunately spending a short time here, I was unable to capture further pictures of local friends and family and the area that is very close to my family heritage.

I was inspired by a photo series “The English at home” By Bill Brandt, I thought the images were an authentic way of portraying home life, and the domestic differences between a working-class and upper-class household. These images inspired the photo series that I captured in Ireland, I felt connected to the old furniture and tableware in the house making me reminisce on what home feels like in Ireland. Reflecting back to the lectures on contemporary portraiture photography, I feel that I have learned more about the context of what I want to photograph and thinking about who it is that is in the image and what they represent. This is a project I will be returning to in the future as I feel there is a lot more I would like to look further into.

Through the Better Lives unit, the aim is to reflect on diversity, social responsibility and sustainability and how myself as a young creative can push this throughout my work and in the ways I can influence others. This lecture series made me think in-depth about the way the fashion industry is starting to become more diverse and sustainable, yet there are still many barriers to breakthrough.

Diversity in fashion should be about inclusivity, a space where people are represented equally, to feel safe, seen and celebrated. In the fashion industry, I often think that the word ‘Diversity’ has become a buzzword, with fashion companies only aim to capitalise off it, rather than listening to minority voices and underrepresented people.

One brand I think of when diversity is discussed is Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, from the beginning of the brand the aim was to create makeup products that wasn’t for one type of skin. She created a foundation that had 40 shades which quickly became viral throughout the internet. Her leadership shook the beauty industry and other brands continued to follow this. One thing I find interesting about this brand is how in their marketing, they never used the word inclusive or diverse and I think this is an important point about how they didn’t need to include this in their advertising. It was a protest to the beauty industry about the standards it should’ve already been at.

Within my own work, I believe that working and collaborating with diverse people equals diverse thoughts. My social responsibility in this industry is to use my platform and privilege to advocate for minority voices. I should surround myself with a diverse team, and think about who is behind the camera as well as in front and continue to use my voice to push for change.

Even as a creative who uses digital more than physical materials, it is still important to use my voice to push for change within the fashion industry on how we should be more sustainable in times where we are facing a climate crisis. When using print media I should be questioning, ‘is the paper I chose to use recyclable?’ It is my duty being in an industry that operates irresponsibly, to pressure fellow creatives into ethically working and to limit on material waste. Reading an article “Depop and Farfetch on digital sustainability in fashion” it talks about the process of design and how physical products should only be manifested in its final stage, and how we can use digital software to cut the amount of manufacturing.

The themes of this unit has allowed me to think about the future of fashion and how diversity, social responsibility and sustainability should have no end point and should be continually evolving. This is something that I will continue to bring forward in my approach to contemporary portraiture photography.

One area Julia Crew spoke about was the influence fashion advertising holds, one of the most important being social media. As an active user of Instagram, I constantly see photographs of outfits and upcoming fashion trends from my favourite brands and designers, and it becomes apparent how much power Instagram holds as this can affect the clothes that I consume and wear. Instagram puts an unbearable pressure on young people to constantly reinvent themselves, which is the fire to unethical consumerism, ultimately driving and increasing apparel sales, enslaving garment workers in foreign countries. But I don’t believe that the consumers are the ultimate problem behind this. Brand CEOs have a duty to lead and change fashion industry to become more ethical and sustainable, in doing this by paying garment workers a living wage, hosting fair and safer working environments.

Within the Better Lives series, I was captured by Julia Crew’s lecture on ‘Power’. This lecture made me reflect on the power I hold as a creative trying to work in the industry and myself as a consumer of fashion. When I think about fashion, I think of self-expression, colour, trends and what I use to look at fashion, I initially think of fashion as being something positive, however, the fashion industry is unethical and unsustainable and this lecture gave me an insight on the power advertising, media and consumers have in changing this. 

One topic I think should be discussed more is the effects this can have on mental health. Fashion influencers are often portrayed online as appearing ‘perfect’. There is a continuing pressure to post a version of your best self-online, constantly comparing yourself to others and there isn’t a break within this cycle as new trends form we’re constantly reaching to become something better never feeling fully fulfilled. One statistic I learned from this lecture is that only 8% of an ad’s message is received by the conscious mind whilst the rest is reworked in the subconscious, and we process these images over and over again subconsciously. The way consumers are subjected to constant fashion advertising effects mental and social wellbeing as we are constantly thinking about our next purchase and what will gain attention from people online.

This lecture made me think about the quantity I consume and what brands I chose to follow and purchase from, in order to do my part in building a more sustainable industry, as well as the importance of mental wellbeing and understanding that consuming a large quantity of apparel will not have a positive effect on personal mental health.