Rafael Garrido

About Rafael Garrido

Posts by Rafael Garrido:

brother

Connection

⋅

Following the same line of my two previous blogs, my final goal to achieve in the better lives unit is to transform my work and my way of thinking to be more respectful with the environment, sustainable and aware of the current situation. 

My chosen project during this second term is “Contemporary Portrait Photography”. I have always been interested in photography and wanted to learn more about its possibilities, and that’s why I decided to join this project in order to ​​learn more about the techniques to make photographic portraits. Finally, after attending the initial lectures, I understood that I had to use this new learning platform to experiment with nature and make it the protagonist of my work.

Due to the current situation, it has been impossible for me to carry out some of the ideas I had for the photographic project since I do not have the materials and I cannot leave my house due to quarantine. However, I have managed to simplify the main idea and adapt it to new circumstances. Instead of using different models and natural landscapes for my photographs, I have been forced to use members of my family and the plants on my terrace. This has reduced my options but has resulted in a series of simple and direct photos that express the naturalness of the act of photography itself. With these premises, I intended to take a series of photographs that represented the connection of the human being with nature in a simple way, as if nature itself were part of the family. I have rejected any type of non-natural adornment to beautify my models (only makeup) with the idea of showing natural beauty in harmony with nature, without plastic or any type of synthetic material. The final outcome of the pictures was not as good as I thought it could be, but thinking about my limited resources, I think it matches the main idea.

Today we are in a complex situation that will mark a before and after in history, we just have to take a look outside of ourselves to see it. Due to the worldwide quarentena by COVID-19 and the massive decline in human activity, nature is gradually returning to its natural order. The return of marine life to Venice, deers and other animals walking through the streets of Madrid and the dissipation of the pollution clouds in countries such as India and China are just some examples of the effects of reducing our activity to a minimum during just two months. That is why I think it is so important to make people aware of the situation through all the means at our disposal, in my case this photographic project. Realizing that this situation is unsustainable and Changing our way of acting as a society is vital for the conservation of the planet, and that begins with each one of us. 

IMAGE CREDITS

Brother, Rafael Garrido (2020)

Liked Liked
No Comments
trash

Waste

⋅

After attending to all the lectures of the project better lives, I realized that my way of seeing the fashion industry and my subsequent way of working would change in fields like inclusivity, diversity or sustainability. The topic of sustainability has always been a priority for me, but after learning about the impact of the industry on the planet, my efforts will be mostly dedicated to respecting the environment.

As we already know, the biggest problem we are facing now is the planet impossibility of reabsorbing and synthesizing the large amount of waste that the human being has been generating over the past 40 years, so thinking of solutions to reduce that waste can have incredible benefits for our future well-being.

We, as fashion students, can help to fight the waste choosing biodegradable and sustainable materials. When it comes to makeup, we don’t use as many materials as for example in fashion clothing or pattern making, but even so, many of them are highly polluting, so replacing them with other eco-friendly options can make a difference.

As a future makeup artist, I am surrounded by thousands of chemical products and non-biodegradable materials that can be a danger to the environment. This can become a headache, how should I be concerned about the health of the environment around me if my work involves the use of products potentially dangerous for it? therefore, my duty as a professional will be to minimize the use of these products, experiment with different ways of approaching the same project with different materials without abusing or wasting them and strictly following the specifications of health and safety. 

Reducing waste is also crucial in this profession, since most products are disposable or made of plastic, reducing their use and recycling them is a must. For example, when removing makeup, now that I am fully aware of the crisis we are living, I will be replacing makeup remover wipes and cotton pads with microfiber towels, it would reduce the tons of waste produced each year from this type of hygiene product… Another way to reduce the wastage list, mostly made of plastic products, is by supporting brands and consuming sustainable products with biodegradable packagings such as bamboo, wood or other materials.

The recovery of our planet depends not only on how my way of working in the future can change but on how society evolves to adapt to the needs of our planet. That is why I believe that all these measures for the conservation of our environment and many others should be supported by governments, with zero tolerance for any discrepancy. Experts say that we have a period of ten years to reverse the effects of what could be the end of the human species and change my way of working (and everyone else’s) for a more sustainable one will be crucial. Big changes start with small steps.

REFERENCES

Fletcher, K. (2020) ‘ Nature’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 12 February

IMAGE CREDIT

Trash, Sebnem Coskun (2019)

Liked Liked
2 Comments

  1. Sarah Ejionye Adigwe: Peer Review I think you explored the theme of sustainability within your practise really well, in particular how you’ve pointed…

  2. Madara Stankus: After reviewing Rafael Garrido’s blog post called ‘Waste’, I can say that the post is well composed and the ideas…

Polluted New Year

Nature

⋅

The Better Lives project has been an amazing opportunity to learn about different areas in the fashion industry from professional in the sector. We have been taught about the importance of diversity, social responsibility and sustainability and how these premises may have the power to change the future. However, there won’t be any future if we can’t find a way to join human and nature necessities.

I have attended some very interesting lectures about diversity, emerging technologies in fashion or well-being, but everything just felt meaningless after the lecture about nature. I have always been aware of the increasing problems of our planet, but after Kate Fletcher speech I was shocked. How can I be worried about culture or diversity while the whole existence of the planet is in danger? 

At the beginning of the lecture, we were asked to play a game and write a few lines of what we think about when we hear the word “nature”. I have been always aware of the actual state of deterioration of our planet, so my writing about it was very depressed and negative from the beginning, and it turned even darker when we played the same game at the end of the lecture. Through the whole session, Fletcher told us about a bunch of depressing facts such as examples of previous civilizations that ended up in environment collapse by overexploiting the natural resources, people knowing more about car brands than about native species in the countries or how humanity has crossed three of the nine planetary boundaries. All these facts were completely unknown to me and I ended up being very concerned about the future and what I could do by myself to change it for the better.

I guess the whole idea of this lecture was to encourage people to fight against climate collapse and to try to change the industry for the better, but, is It really possible to find the way to balance nature and humans before the disaster? And even if it were possible, is all the damage that we have been doing for decades possible to erase? Sometimes I feel that maybe all the effort of the new generations in trying to find eco-friendly ways to operate in this world is just pointless, that maybe we are in a point of no return and we are living in a countdown to the disaster. However, at the end of the lecture, I started seeing the bright side of it, if there is any. We, as a fashion students, have the power to use the industry to raise awareness on the climate crisis that we are living. The Fashion industry is known for being capable of transform people needs, so why not use this power to change people´s minds? The future is in the hands of our generation, every step from now is crucial.

REFERENCES

Fletcher, K. (2020) ‘ Nature’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 12 February.

IMAGE CREDITS

New polluted year, Eliud Gil Samaniego (2019)

Liked Liked
1 Comment

  1. Belen Revenga Lopez: Blog 4: Peer review I decided to do my peer review on Rafael Garrido’s lecture reflection on Nature by Kate…