Personal Study Essay

Introduction (250-500 words)

Through my narrative personal study, I want to give a ‘voice’ to the historical past of immigrants and why they travel and how they adapt to unfamiliar places as a source of better income. I am going to focus on my grandparent’s story and how they travelled from Madeira to Jersey to seek better income for a better life for themselves and for a better life for my mother and my uncle. 

This topic interests me as there are a lot of immigrants in Jersey, families that have moved here for a better life just like my grandparents. As an island Jersey has opened to places like Madeira. 

There is no specific links between my previous studies and my chosen personal study topic however My grandparents worked at Hamptonne Farm so I will be going back to Hamptonne farm photographing the fields and tracing the path that my grandparents took on their journey for wealth which included a struggle of bringing my mother and uncle over to Jersey due to

I will be incorporating images from my family archive and where I can demonstrate how its modernised from Madeira interlinking with Jersey to what it is like to be an immigrant 30 years in the past to becoming an Entitled Jersey Citizen. 

Paragraph 1 (500 words)

Realism is the opposite of Pictorialism where objects, environments and people are manipulated. Realism is an object, environment, people etc photographed how it can be seen directly through a human’s eye. Realism is focussed on Naturalism with no form of manipulation through scratching onto photo negatives nor pouring chemicals onto images and scratching lines etc.  

I am liking my project to Realism as I want my images photographed as naturalistically as possible to reflect the reality throughout my narrative.  

Paragraph 2 (500 words) 

For my first Artist I am studying Rita Puig

Rita Puig-Serra Costa Where Mimosa Bloom 

https://paper-journal.com/rita-puig-serra-where-mimosa-bloom/#:~:text=Where%20Mimosa%20Bloom%20is%20a,experience%20of%20grief%20after%20loss.

Paragraph 3 (500 words) 

My second artist is

Conclusion (500 words)

Bibliography: 

https://scalar.usc.edu/works/let-me-get-there/immigrants-photographic-legacy

https://paper-journal.com/rita-puig-serra-where-mimosa-bloom/#:~:text=Where%20Mimosa%20Bloom%20is%20a,experience%20of%20grief%20after%20loss.

One thought on “Personal Study Essay”

  1. Cassie, We have already spoken about your essay, but below are a are few key texts for you to read around family and memory.

    Have you decided on an essay question yet, Also you most find at least one or two artists. photographers that have similarly explored family history, memory identity etc.

    Second artist case study:

    Maybe read this essay that includes a comparative study on Rita Puig-Serra and Diana Markosian

    https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo20al/2020/02/12/final-essay-draft-3/

    Key texts:

    What do I remember?
    https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo20al/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2019/11/What-do-I-remember.pdf

    How can you tell a story?
    https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo20al/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2019/11/How-can-you-tell-a-story.pdf

    Stephen-Bulger_Phototherapy_family-albums
    https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo21al/wp-content/uploads/sites/41/2021/01/Stephen-Bulger_Phototherapy_family-albums.pdf

    Kuhn, A. Remembrance: The Child I Never Was in Wells, L. (ed) (2003) The Photography Reader. London: Routledge
    https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo21al/wp-content/uploads/sites/41/2021/01/Annette-Kuhn_Remembrance_the-child-I-never-was.pdf

    Colberg, J (May 28, 2012) Photography and Memory
    blogger on Conscientious
    http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/archives/photography_and_memory/

    Frames of Mind: Photography, Memory and Identity
    by Anwandter, Patricia Marcella. She references Sontag above.

    In Frames of Mind, I have sought to explore the themes concerning the dynamic construction of memory. What do we choose to remember and how do we reinforce it? Who are we in relationship to who we were? Working with a collection of over five hundred images accumulated throughout my life, I have reinvestigated the images and their interrelationship with one another
    https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=curej

    Essay Plan:
    Pg 1: Historical theoretical context: family and memory in photography
    Pg2: Interpret Puig-Serra’s work in context of your question and select a key work/ image as an example for a more detailed analysis. Include quotes for/ against – using Harvard system of referencing.
    Pg 3: Follow similar methodology as above with Markosian – if you choose to write about her too
    Conclusion: Draw on similarities and differences between both artists above and analyse/ evaluate your own photographic responses (provide examples)
    Illustrations: make sure you use illustrations of artists work + your own. Caption each illustration with artists, name, title, year
    Bibliography: list all sources using Harvard

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