Negotiated Practise

These are a few pages from my sketch book for the Negotiated Practise unit. I've been looking into ethical design and the responsibility we hold as visual communicators. How can a designer (or illustrator in my case) effect social or political change? I think I have a tendency to 'preach' a lot in my work; almost forcing my opinions upon people which can be quite off putting to the viewer. I have realised the most effective way to effect change in peoples behaviour is to simply inform. Information is knowledge and knowledge is power. It's not about preaching my own opinions, its about about facts and figures.

I have decided to produce a book, or perhaps a set of books which includes facts accompanied by illustrations to do with environmental issues, which is a subject I feel particularly passionate about. The book could consist of facts about recycling and/or the food industry.
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A Crude Awakening

I'm skipping forward in time slightly. This weekend I joined around 500 other protesters at Coryton Oil Refinery where we successfully blockaded the entrance, stopping over 50 oil tankers entering and leaving the site, essentially cutting off the oil supply to london for the day.

'oil is not only at the centre of the climate crisis, but also the modern day engine of the growth economy that is driving us to the brink of catastrophe'.

we were there at the source of the problem to place our bodies in the way of the relentless flow of oil. To say: no more. Places like Coryton need to be a thing of the past. By doing this we reclaim power over our lives and our future.

I can really see my work taking it's own direction now. Especially in the subject matter; Iv learnt that i want my work to cause effect. I feel deeply concerned over environmental matters and believe that the use of creativity to create awareness is the key to generate change in peoples behaviour.

I did a series of images aimed at a younger audience as I feel that it's this generation that will be picking up the pieces of our parents and grandparents. I HATE OUR GRANDPARENTS.

I Want To live In A Tree House When I'm Older

I want to live in A Tree House when I'm older

These series of Illustrations explore the meaning of 'absolute silence'. I was looking at how in silence all we have is our own thoughts and how that can be very 'noisy'. looking back, I feel I could have pushed this concept a little further and my final outcome (an animated doodle) didn't successfully 'visually explain' silence or my concept. However, I was pleased with the animation as a piece of work on its own.

In December 2009 I joined thousands of protesters at the Copenhagen climate talks (COP15), to push our world leaders towards making crucial decisions about the state of our climate and what we can do to prevent 'runaway climate change'. Unfortunately, world leaders failed to deliver a legally binding commitment to cutting greenhouse gases. On the plus side, I came away with a totally fresh outlook on everything, from my own way of living, to my illustrative practise. After that week I knew that, my role as a visual communicator holds the power in creating universal awareness of our over-consumerist impact on Earth (potentially, anyway!).

Berlin changed so much for me. I started viewing image making and visual communication in an entirely different way. Berlin is such a visually rich city. The wall art culture is such an exciting platform for artists to get their work out there. I noticed so much of the street art is carried through the city as a theme by one artist which is a great way of getting the public familiar with your art work.

I hesitantly went on the 'berlin alternative tour' which turned out to be the best thing I had done in a long time!

In the summer of 2010, I went on a train journey through Europe. I stopped off in Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Zagreb (via slovenia), Split, Korcula, Mostar, Sarajavo, Pecs, Budapest. I saw, learnt, I explored my curiosities.

I found myself taking an excessive amount of photos.

I just wanted to capture everything.