For my personal investigation I plan to investigated the way that myths and legends can not only be just stories but found and incorporated into our lives and surroundings of where they are suggested to be true or really just a myth and legend. I want to look into ones that specifically surround where I live on the island or where I used to travel along, having come from a fairly superstitious family I have been told the stories before and have a lot of reference made in telling and incorporating them into stories as a child. I feel that sometimes these myths and legends or stories can be a huge part of peoples lives or the identity of a place, these stories occupy peoples lives and these places which is something I would want to explore. I plan to take the photographs and explore my ideas in a tableaux way as well as incorporating photographs showing the landscapes and places of these myths and legends, I want to incorporate these stories as if they are merging in with real life. The folklore of Jersey’s legends has become common knowledge to a lot of locals and has been built into the island (eg. statues of the devil at devils hole). I want to explore this by looking into a few of the legends in detail and exploring how I can portray this with tableaux and landscape photography.

Action Plans:

• Devils Hole – Greve de Lecq
• Blinding fairies – Lavoir des dames
• Women in Black – Smugglers Inn

For my first photoshoots I plan to go out into the landscapes and see how the areas and surroundings of where these myths are suggested to be are looking and how it may effect them, I want to try and speak to some people who live around the areas for example at the Smugglers Inn pub and how they believe it or to what extent they do. I feel photographing the landscape will give me a stronger idea of a starting point for the tableaux photography and an idea of the spaces I can work with and for some outcomes will give me a sense of place and show the island in it’s natural state and compare and contrast it with the tableaux creations of maybe what the island would look like if these legends that occupy the island were real.

For my Tableaux photoshoots I plan to have people in costumes with props and other things embedded and acting in these mythical characters. I want to try and create a sense of these stories actually being true and showing them in the island. My aim is to show these myths physically occupying the island not just as they do now mentally with stories, but instead incorporating the idea and narrative of what if these stories that are told and believed to some extent true or how would they look in our everyday life now compared to when they were spread as rumours or stories that have stuck for generations being known in the island to locals and used as tools sometimes for tourism.

As another photoshoot possibility I also have a plan to take some disposable candid photographs, creating the effect of these myths being seen in real life, I would then plan to move into the studio and take object photographs of these images, suggesting a reality to the myths and stories, seeing to what extent I can push these myths to be real and believed as they occupy the island and peoples beliefs, as a sense of security or identity. To what extent do these myths and legends create an identity, culture and past of the island and its locals, creating an occupation of stories and rumours.

Liberation and Occupation: My personal study is based around the theme of “occupation and liberation”. I have personally interpreted this theme in a historical context, whereby I will be investigating the way gender stereotypes have evolved and developed over the years (from the mid 20th century to now), and therefore will be identifying the differences between the past (where gender roles and stereotypes were more pronounced and conservative – occupation) and now (where gender roles and stereotypes are becoming more fluid and liberal, with focus being drawn towards an individuals personal goals and expression, rather than their gender – liberation)

Gender: My personal study will be focusing on gender roles, and the stereotypes that society labels both men and women with. My work will focus on giving examples of where gender roles are abided to, and where they are challenged, and the difference in the viewers opinions towards these 2 ends of the spectrum.

Stereotypes: I will focus on identifying and presenting well known gender stereotypes in an overt, obvious way, as to allow the viewers of my work to clearly identify these stereotypes, and possibly relate to witnessing/experiencing these stereotypes, therefore allowing them to relate more to the work.

Phoebe Jane Barrett: Barrett’s work focuses on the concept of breaking the stereotype of men having no emotions, with their masculinity being the main focus of their personalities. I will be taking inspiration from Barrett’s presentation of men as just as emotional and human as women, in order to reflect the harmful gender stereotypes that men face (that are perhaps less spoken about), in my own work.

Cindy Sherman: Cindy’s work focuses on creating bold an loud images, that represent the absurdity of how women are portrayed in the media. I feel that her work is extremely identifiable, and I have taken inspiration from her bold style.

• “Compare how Phoebe Jane Barrett and Cindy Sherman challenge gender stereotypes in their work“

• How do photographers such as Phoebe Jane Barrett and Cindy Sherman challenge stereotypical gender roles in their work?”

• “How is masculinity and femininity portrayed in the work of Cindy Sherman and Phoebe Jane Barrett?”

• “Compare how Cindy Sherman presents women in her photography with how Helmut Newton presents women in his photography”