Planning

Here we have collected ideas for the group project as a whole, noting the concept of the film, locations for shoots, props, actors, lighting and the potential camera settings. This gives us an idea of how we are going to execute each shoot for both the still images and the film.

Then we went on to making a final plan for the still image shoot only, stating how we are going to produce our images that relate to our film. These will be made with the intention of creating a collage with the edited photographs. These images will look different to any stills from our film, however they will convey the same message of unity between the LGBTQ+ and religious community.

Shoot 1

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Here Bethany went through and flagged the images she was going to edit on Lightroom, selecting photographs that displayed the entire quote on the signs, and ones which helped express the message of turmoil between the two communities of LGBTQ+ and religion. In this shoot we took photographs such as close ups of the signs with hands covering discriminatory parts of the passages, in order to show rebellion of the heteronormative conventions of such religions. In addition, we also took photographs in which the models were standing behind the sign, showcasing how people also hide behind religion in fear of revealing their true identity. We took these in a dead-pan manner to show neutral expression between the two communities. However, with this shoot we also noticed how the shadows are very prominent in each image and ultimately decided to produce another shoot after this first one, to display softer lighting and background that does not distract from the portraits.

Shoot 2

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With this shoot we wanted to produce photographs that had softer or no shadows at all, as well as clearer and higher quality images. For this we re-made the previous shoot although this time with different and more people, allowing for a wider variety to choose from when in the editing process. Furthermore, in this shoot we also focused on producing standalone portraits, without the signs, showcasing images of couples with sense of fear or sadness towards the discrimination they receive, allowing for more emotion to be conveyed through these new photographs. With these images Bethany selected the photos that contained little amounts of shadow and a clear and in focus portraits in order to start editing them.

Editing and Developing

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From both our photo-shoots, Bethany then edited these images with some having a colour overlay, increasing the saturation and vibrance also. This was done in order to present the colours seen on the LGBTQ+ flag. These will also be integrated with the normal colour images that mainly showcase the passages on the signs that condemn the LGBTQ+ community. These images will then ultimately be stitched together in a collage like manner, accompanied by embroidery over the top of the photographs that present positive meanings and passages that connote acceptance and a peaceful coexistence between the two communities. Examples of this could be passages such as “Love thy neighbour” from the Bible, also the name of our film, as well as embroidered hands that cover sections of the negative passages in the photos. By stitching together our images, it also creates a metaphor for the merging of the two identities that a person should be able to share without discrimination. In addition, this assortment of colours and images can also be linked to artwork seen in religious settings, such as stain glass windows seen in many churches.

Cindy Sherman

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Cindy Sherman’s “untitled film reels” showcase female innocence and femininity from a satirical viewpoint. She works as her own model, morphing into different characters to represent all women. Like the name of the project, each photo looks like a film still, creating the idea that there is much more to the story and the narrative. In ‘untitled film still 21’ Sherman dresses in the style of a 1960s French new wave heroine. Like a majority of the stills, Sherman’s expression is reactive and she seems to be scrutinising something out of shot to express the contingency of women’s since of self by always regarding subjects out of the audiences frame of reference. The act of Sherman using herself consistently as her own model and masquerading as different personalities reflects the performance of womanhood and the many masks a woman wears to conform to society. By using such a variety of characters, Sherman presents the liberating and anti-essentialist idea that identity is not a fixed medium but a chosen path which connects to Judith Butlers ideas of gender and identity as your identity is not something which is culturally imposed, instead it is freely chosen. It is ironic that despite this anti-essentialist view Sherman’s roles in this particular series are all ultra-feminine and stereotypical who’s reactive expressions depict them as fragile. Working in tandem with the semantic field of cinema allows Sherman to establish her character to connote Hitchcock’s stock character of the blonde victim.

Lissa Rivera

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Lissa Rivera’s “Beautiful Boy” explores gender and sexuality through cross-dressing her model. The images are brightly coloured and evoke feelings of nostalgia, where the background connotes different eras. Rivera started the project to counteract the idea that femininity in western culture is less valuable than masculinity in both men and women. She uses the ideology that one “can’t deny the power of a glamourous image”. By making her model look beautiful and comfortable in his feminine identity she severs the idea that men who cross dress are being emasculated for amusement as a commodity, like the gag of cross dressing in mainstream media as an object of ridicule as by becoming a woman you are stepping down in society and losing agency. The power of glamour is very important to this project as it is a tool to inspire and gain acceptance rather than the parodic representations of gender expression seen in film and television over the last century.

In this image Rivera uses a vintage aesthetic to challenge modern perceptions of gender identity. Her models gender fluid identity directly contradicts the hegemonic, heteronormative ideals of the 1960s mise-en-scene she is conveying. The use of solid colours shows deeper meaning in this photo as the bedroom, a persons most intimate place is completely pink, showing the stereotypically feminine personality and identity of the model while he wears blue to signify his biological identity and the identity that other perceive him as. This over the top use of colour creates a fantasy world or hyperreality of the models perception of their identity. Rivera’s photographs are often taken within the boundaries of an intimate and constricted space to show the rigidity of society’s view on gender and the desire to categorise a person based on their perceptions of outer appearances. Essentially, Rivera’s message is to stop being so closed minded and begin to make judgments based on character rather than physiognomy.

The Bayeux tapestry depicts the battle of Hastings in 1066 and is over 900 years old but its embroidery still remains in tact and in good condition with popping colour. The tapestry is culturally important as it shows a piece of history that has determined the royal family who now rule over us and the way our country’s culture has grown.

The tapestry is thought to have been made by queen Matilda, wife of the victor of the battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror and is one of the most famous tapestry’s ever made, as well as the most longlasting. The tapestry is 70 metres long and intricately designed showing the battle of Hastings in vivid detail. Most recognisable is the killing of King Harold and the crowning of the New King William the Conqueror.

With the separate embroidery we each made, we plan to join together to create our own tapestry and put on display on exhibition

An NFT (Non-Fungible Token) is a piece of data that represents ownership over a product in a modern technologically advanced way. This is most often used to sell pieces of art and is becoming an increasingly popular way for media personality’s to make money off pieces of media that made them viral e.g memes. Lots of money has been made throughj the selling of NFT’s, the most profitable NFT was the sale of piece “Everydays: he first 5000 days” by artist Beeple for $69.3 million

We are aiming to complete our own NFT to sell at an exhibition, with the profits hopefully going towards a newspaper displaying our work

We were taught simple stitching to allow us to make our own embroidery pieces. We looked at other artists embroidery and were particularly taken by Ghada Amer’s ‘The Bugs and the Lover’s’ which at first glance was a beautiful piece depicting insects and flowers but after further research represent female sexuality. We used this embroidery as a blueprint to influence our own work.

With the help of yulia we learnt how to embroider. We connected this project with out theme of identity and community by using cut-outs from the display we went to see at the jersey museum. To link with the theme of feminism I embroidered halo’s onto the women’s heads and horns and a devils tail onto the man. I used thick red thread to symbolise femininity and brutality.

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After I was done stitching I used photos I had taken while creating the piece and turned them into a gif by layering the photos on top of each other and creating a loop on photoshop. This basic form of animation made my piece look much more interesting an showed the progression of my work.

The next week Yulia came in to help us with the last piece of our embroidery work. In this session we worked to put all of our pieces together ready for display. We decided to sew it together like a tapestry and came up with a few ideas of how to present the layout. Some ideas included making it like a patchwork quilt, putting it in a line in order to tell a story or to just put the pieces together randomly to see what looked good. Ultimately we decided to do the latter and set to work arranging our pieces and then sewing them onto the tapestry, hopefully to be displayed in our NFT exhibition.