These are the pair of shoes I would wear to an interview because they are my new favorites and I absolutely love chunky shoes.
The last meal I cooked for my family was a Mongolian Beef dish. In the IB system we have CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) projects that we come up with and complete so I decided it would be great for me to cook for my family once a week and make a collection of recipes and instructions in order for a cook book to be created for all the students in my year when we go off to university.
The last cause I supported was the "Pink Box Appeal", a project I created to supply for the women in female labour camps with the common necessities they may not have access to. My team ended up collecting a total of 405 boxes which were delivered to a female labour camp in Al Qouz as well as POLO (the Philippine Overseas Labour Office).
The last book I read was Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. It is about a bourgeoise white male living in Cape Town and it explores the darker side of life with the baser instincts of humanity, according to Coetzee.
The last song I listened to was Graceland by Paul Simon.
Written Work: Theory of Knowledge Essay
“Labels are a necessity in the organization of knowledge, but they also constrain our understanding" Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge
A label is a singular word or phrase which categorizes or defines things with similar characteristics. Labels can be sufficiently broad or granular and this purely depends on how well we know the label which is based of our own experiences or schemas which can be problematic. Despite the organisational aspect of labels, they are restrictive especially if labels are oversimplified which precludes the complexity of the label itself. Our schemas are heavily linked to active labelling as they are cognitive frameworks which organize our knowledge. The hypothetical cognitive structures create generalizations about situations, people and places which ensures the preservation of our cognitive energy. In human sciences we find that labels are either based on existing differences between groups of people or through discriminatory biases, which is when labels can become constraining. In art, we find that labels are used to separate one form or style of art from another. However, what benefit does this have for our knowledge? And is it necessary in organising our knowledge?
Labels are necessary for the organisation of our knowledge, in order to differentiate one from another whilst conserving cognitive energy. If labels did not exist, we would constantly use descriptions to describe every single object or idea we wanted to talk about, which would be both time consuming and exhausting. Labels in Art hold significance because they symbolise different movements which have developed over the years and they hold their own meaning. In graphic design, sub-labels exist such as Swiss (International) design which originates in 1940-1950, post-World War II (Bradley, 2013). This minimalistic style of design was inspired by other styles including Constructivism; however, it could be said that the Swiss style of design was a reaction to Nazi Germany which suppressed geometric abstraction (Bradley, 2013). A renowned designer within this movement is Josef Müller-Brockmann whose designs feature elements of simplicity with minimal text, lots of white space and expressive images (Burkhard, 2011). The neat and simple designs created within this movement completely contrasts with alternative styles under the label of “graphic design”, such as Punk style design which is well known in the design of albums for the famous band, the Sex Pistols. Jamie Reid was the creator of their album cover which involved the note-style message ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’ (Punk's Influence on Graphic Design, n.d.). Reid’s approach provided inspiration for many designers and this style is now seen on music flyers, posters and more, made by both amateur enthusiasts and experts (Punk's Influence on Graphic Design, n.d.). Punk style design was initially created to oppose the orderly fashion of styles such as the Swiss (international) and to that extent, is anti-style. The label Punk style can draw connotations such as anarchy, anti-establishment and can trigger emotional reactions such as fear. Labels are a part of Art and the sub labels are vital, otherwise we would be grouping together completely opposing styles of design such as the real-life situations mentioned above. Therefore, we use labels and language to conserve energy and facilitate the ease of shared knowledge. Moreover, labels are not neutral. We do in fact bring emotions to labels which can prejudice our understanding of the label.
Can labels within art and more specifically, the sub-labels within graphic design, be constraining? Most designs under the sub-label Swiss (International), share similar characteristics: negative space, blocks of texts, sans-serif fonts, geometric shapes and more (Alyssa, 2015). In addition, if photography is utilised, it is regularly free from distortion (Alyssa, 2015). However, not all design within these categories align themselves with the ‘guidelines’ which are followed by most graphic designers. This is not saying they are not conforming to all of the guidelines; for instance, Armin Hofmann, a well-recognised designer, explores a similar approach to Swiss International Design, yet utilises an approach which is very distinctive, employing striking tonal contrasts which is unlike many designers following this movement (Bigman, 2016). In this sense, labels within art can be constraining as people assume artists who follow, or are labelled under a particular movement, share all the same characteristics, when this is never the case. Especially in an Area of Knowledge such as art, each artist’s work is unique and distinctive, regardless as to whether they follow a particular movement or not. Therefore, the labels and sub-labels we allocate art styles and movements can be constraining.
Labels we create or allocate to people can have damaging effects on their behaviour. These labels are a cause of stereotypes which are widely held but fixed and oversimplified images or ideas of a particular types or groups of people. The self-fulfilling prophecy is when a person’s expectations or their general idea about can lead to them behaving in ways which confirm the expectations (Jussim, n.d.). A person’s expectations of another take the form of labels, and these can either be positive and negative. This can be quite harmful to the mental wellbeing of people, especially when the label used eventually affects one’s behaviour, as the self-fulfilling prophecy expects. Steele and Aronson conducted an experiment to investigate test performance as a function of stereotype threat in white and black participants (Popov, 2018). To do so they gave black and white college students a 30-minute verbal test which was difficult for most (Popov, 2018). In the experimental condition, participants were told that the test determined intellectual ability and in a control condition, participants were told the purpose of the research had nothing to do with intellectual ability (Popov, 2018). Steele and Aronson found that white and black participants performed equally in the non-diagnostic condition (Popov, 2018). However, in the experimental condition, black participants performed worse than white participants, whilst white participants performed the same as they did in the non-diagnostic condition (Popov, 2018). The researchers suggest that this can be explained by increased apprehension of black students over conforming to the undesirable group stereotype, which made them nervous and therefore disturbed their performance (Popov, 2018). Therefore it can be said that the stereotypes or labels we give to people may affect their behaviour through the self-fulfilling prophecy, a clear portrayal of the limiting aspects of labels. In this case, the stereotypes caused by a biased and distorted representation of reality led to black students confirming the unfair expectations, destroying their self-belief, and impacting their mental health. This shows the questionable ethics surrounding labels, as the labels and stereotypes we assign and associate with people can truly affect their behaviour and emotions.
Is it possible to assign people labels that have positive effects on behaviour? Even though we assign negative and limiting labels to some, we also allocate rewarding labels as praise. Could it be that these labels provide encouragement and therefore lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy? Rosenthal and Jacobson conducted an experiment to investigate whether students who are expected to have greater intellectual growth will actually show greater intellectual growth in a period of 1 year or less (Popov, 2018). Teachers in a school were told that certain students were expected to be "growth spurters", based on the results of their IQ test, when in reality, the test was fictitious, and the students selected as "spurters " were chosen at random (Popov, 2018). The results showed that in a year of the experiment, control-group students (students who were not given the label) gained an average of 8.4 IQ points, whilst students from the experimental group gained 12.2 IQ points (Popov, 2018). This led to Rosenthal and Jacobson to the conclusion that changes in teachers' expectations produce changes in students' achievement. This shows that although labels can be over simplified or constraining, they can also provide motivation for people. This particular label encouraged students to prove their intelligence, which they may not have done before. The positive reinforcement provided through the label eventually led to an increase in IQ points, providing evidence that would suggest the effect of labels within the human sciences are not always negative and detrimental.
To a certain extent, labels are useful and can be necessary for the organisation of our knowledge, however in many cases labels are oversimplified and can potentially have harmful effects. In regard to human sciences labels can cause someone to behave in ways which confirm the label’s expectations and can be damaging when they are based of a biased and distorted representation of reality. On the other hand, labels we assign as praise to people can encourage them to be the best they can be. Within art, labels have less harmful effects, however this does not mean the labels within art cannot be limiting. An artist’s work does not always conform to the regular characteristics of a movement and this is when labels can be both confusing and limiting. Assigning a singular word to a piece of artwork with so much meaning, reduces its significance. However, labels within art also help in separating and organising different movements to understand their purpose, no matter how general the purpose appears to be. Simplicity in labels is not very problematic because as intelligent and advanced beings, we can use our imagination and reasoning skills to truly understand a label and it’s meaning. Despite the fact that this can be constraining, it provides enough knowledge to allow us to conserve energy and have normal discussions on topics.
Word Count: 1503
Works Cited
Bradley, S. (2013, July 22). Swiss (International) Style Of Design: The Guiding Principles That Influence Flat Design. Retrieved from Vanseo Design: https://vanseodesign.com/web-design/swiss-design/
Burkhard, D. (2011, August 16). Top 5 Most Influential Swiss Designers. Retrieved from Newly Swissed: https://www.newlyswissed.com/top-5-most-influential-swiss-designers/
Alyssa. (2015, September 7). The International Style & Modern Graphic Design. Retrieved from Design Flair Studio: https://designflairstudio.com/the-international-style-modern-graphic-design/
Punk's Influence on Graphic Design. (n.d.). Retrieved from 3CC London: https://3cc.london/blog/40/picturing-punk
Bigman, A. (2016). What Exactly is Swiss Design Anyway? Retrieved from 99 Designs: https://99designs.com/blog/design-history-movements/swiss-design/
Jussim, L. (n.d.). Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. Retrieved from Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/self-fulfilling-prophecy
Popov, A. (2018). Psychology For the IB Diploma. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The work shown above is from one of my projects, "The City". I decided to focus on the city I was raised in and admire greatly, Dubai. This city is known for it's outstanding and modern architecture, so I wanted to demonstrate this through my work. Zaha Hadid’s architecture had a massive influence on the focus of my project because I admire her fluid and freeform structures which are distinctly futuristic. The bottom right piece was the first collage I created in this project and the images of buildings shown are cut-outs I captured in Dubai. The background incorporated different shades of blue as I thought the colours felt quite modern and the layout was minimalistic. The large collage included more buildings I captured which fit better with my focus on the futuristic aspects of Dubai’s architecture. The buildings I photographed were in City Walk and the top building is an art gallery I visited. Much of the photography used in this particular project was based in City Walk because I found that it was a hotspot for futuristic and modern architecture. After selecting my desired buildings, I cut them out and placed them in different areas above a collage of different blue shades, similar to my original collage. I eventually drew this over acrylic paint which I used for the blue background. This collage was most representative of my work throughout this particular project due to my focus on the futuristic aspects of the city.
These are a collection of small acrylic and pen studies of buildings from City Walk. Robert Delauney, a prominent figure in the Orphism art movement, was an artist I took inspiration from, particulary in my choice of bright colours. I wanted to experiment using vibrant colours which I observed in Delauney’s work. The small studies were based of zoomed in pictures of the architecture. I found the shapes and designs of these particular buildings quite unique, and they demonstrated futurism with both their dynamic lines and repetitive shapes. I thought the use of repetitive, simple shapes in combination with the bold colours, achieved quite a futuristic appeal, especially when put side to side.
This is a sustained drawing of a sculpture I found in an Al Serkal gallery because I thought the sculpture shared many characteristics with futuristic architecture such as the strong curved lines which initially reminded me of Richard Sera’s huge structure and the Guggenheim Bilbao created by Frank Gehry, two figures I investigated during this project. Although I admire the strong dynamic lines we see in most classical architecture, I find that the curves create a sense of fluidity which stand out more in my eyes. I used different pencils to create depth in my drawing, using a simple shading technique to create tones.
These are pictures from my sketchbook of buildings I investigated during my project. The first is a drawing of one of Frank Gehry’s buildings and the second is a quick sketch of a structure from Expo 2020. I investigated Antonio Sant’elia, a well-known member of the futurist movement who produced bold sketches of futuristic architecture. I thought his work was quite fitting with my focus in this project, so I took inspiration from his style when investigating architecture, I had photographed. The last two are sketches of old buildings I found in Satwa. These were a combination of pencil and pen. Pen is usually my preferred medium for drawing and sketching, however I attempted to use mostly pencil in these sketches.
This is a Lino print I created. I took pictures of a building and repeated part of the building twice to create an interesting lino print. The building which was pasted on top was slanted to create a more unorderly appearance. Valenti Angelo’s prints greatly appealed to me because of his scratchy and unorderly lines which he incorporated to create tone. In my own linocut I attempted to use a similar technique and I thought the outcome was quite interesting.
This is work from my small project, “Wasteland”. The extract is from T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ a poem written in 1922 after WWI. It is concerned with regeneration, lack of life and destruction. I zoomed into the imagery of the water because it represents life and also carries death. The images of the hose were inspired by William Eggleston as I found he brought objects to life through his photography which is something I aimed to achieve through this project. The editing and typography was inspired by David Carson as I admire the abstract typography involved in his work. I overlaid three images of the hose, stretching them in different directions in order to show different flows of water to imitate the onomatopoeia of the water in the poem. The red tint in my edits were symbolic of death and blood, portraying a theme of lack of life which is prominent throughout the poem. In the second version of the edit, the text (which was extracted from the poem) begins to grow smaller because the poem made it apparent that the flow of water was coming to a stop. The font, Trebuchet MS, was simple and fitting for the words portraying the dripping of water and it emphasises the contrast with the connotations of blood and death.
This work is from my project, "Memorabilia". Throughout this project, I incorporated many old pictures my grandfather captured throughout the years and made many edits with inspiration from artists such as Hockney Joiner, John Baldessari and Hayley Warnham. All the images I collected fit well with the title as they had a vintage look to them, and the photos I selected were inspired by William Eggleston’s photography, as his photos all claimed this vintage look. This particular collage was inspired by Hockney Joiner’s work. I cut out parts of the image and moved them around in different areas until I felt it looked best. Later, I created some continuous pen drawings from this edit. Using different coloured pens, I wanted to make it clear that there were extra features. In the first sketch I made it clear with the boxes surrounding the cut-out areas. In the second, I completely relied on the use of red pen to imitate this. Although these were brief and fast sketches, I thought it was quite a nice small investigation
This work is also from my Memorabilia project, however here, I employed a different approach. This work was inspired by Warnham and Baldessari as I admired their style of introducing bold colours to old pictures. In this particular picture, I removed the sea surrounding the child in the floaty and added an ombre blue. I particularly liked this edit because the colour I used still imitated the colour of the sea, yet it was quite playful, and it brought life to the image.
These are more old picture of my grandads. The first one was a different edit to my usual as instead of using solid colour, I cut out the bathing suits of the men and replaced it with animal print. I enjoyed creating this edit because the outcome was quite comedic and their playful bathing suits contrast with their serious facial expressions. The second was an edit of my grandma performing ballet. Once again, I used a different approach, where instead of blocking out an entire area, I blocked out parts of her costume. This style of editing reminded me more of Warnham’s style as he usually blocks out certain areas of an object, rather than an entire section. I thought the outcome emphasised the delicate, flowy nature of her costume and I quite liked it. The colours I used were shades of pink and beige and I thought the gentle, soft colours further emphasised this.
This is one of my collages which involves three of my edits. I kept the grey outer area to create the illusion of the legs hanging out of the collage. I added the collage of the child in the floaty as I thought it was fitting with the environment being a pool. I eventually turned this into a painting using both water colour and acrylic paint. Although the painting lacked detail in certain areas, I thought there was improvement in my use of tone with the water colour. Overall my project, “Memorabilia” portrayed the renewal of old memories. I enjoyed this project because I created all my edits digitally, which I found quite fun and I made sure to work from my edits using paint, pen and pencil. The unique twists to the memories, which were in the form of photos, brought these images to life.
This is a sample of some of my photography from the beginning of my personal project which I decided to base around Child Labour. The issue of child labour is one that has not been dealt with, especially due to currently trending brands using child labour for the production of their cheap items. I wanted to put some focus onto this issue in order to educate and draw sympathy from viewers. The images portray a loss of childhood due to completely contrasting ideas which can be identified in the image. The boy is wearing a tie, a symbol of work and adulthood, yet he holds a teddy which is symbolic of innocence and youth. The stark contrast between the two as well as the unfriendly environment of the construction site the boy is stands in, portrays a loss of innocence and childhood. Throughout my projects, I aim to take pictures that are symbolic of deeper meanings, rather than pictures being too obvious with their intentions.
These are pictures of my sketchbook. The first image consists of some rough sketches I created at the start of my personal project. I only used pencil in these sketches, despite the fact that this is my weakness. The top drawing was very faint, and needs more depth, whilst the rest were just fast studies, some with exaggerated features. The second image is another page of my sketchbook which are still quite rough sketches, although I put more effort into these. I made these sketches from observing the same model as shown before. Although the top is less accurate proportionally, I enjoyed cross hatching to create tone and depth in my drawings.
These are some more images from my sketchbook. The first is an oil pastel drawing, where I gained inspiration from Amedeo Modigliani through his use of elongated necks. This drawing was also in his style which I found quite interesting. Elongated necks are something I really enjoy involving in many of my sketches and it is also seen in the second image attached which shows a water colour painting of the same model, yet in my own style.
The first image shows one of my initial paintings in this project. I captured a picture of shoes outside a shop in Satwa. I thought it was quite fitting with my focus on child labour. I gained inspiration from Georg Baselitz as I quite enjoy his style of painting. Using the same picture of the shoes, I decided to edit in a cut-out of one of my grandad’s pictures. The bright shoes contrast with the black and white image of a young boy, portraying the true darkness behind the production of what we see to be colourful and fun clothes or shoes. My aim through creating this edit was to show the harsh truth behind the production of many clothes and shoes that we find in many stores. I quite liked the edit because there are no explicit connotations and it seems quite funky, however it’s meaning is quite sad and dark.
Here, I used another one of my grandfather’s pictures, where I replaced the dresses of ballet dancers, with piles of clothing found in a shop in Satwa. I thought the pile of clothes was symbolic of child labourers work due to the mass production of clothes. There is a stark contrast between the innocence of the ballerinas and the piles of clothes which represent their dresses. It is once again symbolic of the dark truth behind many of the clothes we see on others, when we are completely unaware of how or where these clothes come from. It is our ignorance and a lack of questioning which is why child labourers are still being exploited and this is why this edit holds significance.
Here is a piece from the same project where after I screen printed different colours on a page, I drew over it, creating a face. I used pen and cross hatched to create this sketch which followed the same shapes on the page. This was a starting point to much of my work which was more focused on my own personal style.
These are two of my paintings from my personal project based around child labour. This is most representative of my “style” as I personally enjoy creating abstract and slightly disturbing drawings. Jean-Michel Basquiat had a great influence on my work as I love Neo-expressionism and his work was full of symbols and deeper meanings, which I aspired to achieve in my work. In each of these I use acrylic paints, oil pastels and pencil. Each of the characters I draw are representative of both human emotion and human flaws in the context of child labour. The first piece depicts a child crying in despair. The red tears falling from its eyes are found in other pieces of my work as the red is symbolic of the pain child laborers experience. Furthermore, there is contrast between the colourful and playful background and the emotion portrayed by the character, conveying a loss of childhood. In the second image, similar to the previous painting, we can observe the pain of the character on the right side of the painting, with the tears of blood making an appearance again. The large character placed on the left represents one of our human flaws, greed. This is because greed is the root of the issue of child labour.
These are more of my characters linking to our human flaws, the anger presented in this character links to that of the of the previous painting. In the first image, I created a bloodshot eye to portray his greed and hunger whilst the three white eggs in front of the character are a symbols of innocence; this piece demonstrates the extent of our greed and how we steal the innocence from these children. Linking to the previous piece, the second painting is also representative of human greed with symbols embedded in the piece such as a laugh, similar to a hyenas, a symbol of greed. In fact, the flick of his hair was inspired by the greedy Horrid Henry character, Stuck-Up Steve. Furthermore, there is a dark green aura which surrounds him, a colour representing greed.
This is one of my favourite drawings within my personal project. This one is symbolic of the pain and suffering of a child labourer, similar to the pieces presented previously, it incorporates the tears of blood pouring from its eyes. I took this particular piece into a lino cut so I could make prints. I scanned these images and after sketching out ideas on Procreate, I decided to create this lino cut which I eventually printed many times, experimenting with different colours and I was quite pleased with the outcomes.
This is another one of my favourites. This piece is symbolic of greed and the smile/laugh, similar to a hyenas, is apparent once again. These paintings have a “cause and effect” relationship as the pain and suffering portrayed in the first piece is the cause of the greed demonstrated in the second. Once again, I created a lino cut from this painting using the same process and experimented with different colours.
This is an edit I created digitally, combining two of my pieces which are symbols of greed. I made two copies of the second piece and placed it so that its bloodshot eyes fit into place, creating quite a psychotic and disturbing outcome. I manipulated the colours, making it appear almost psychedelic, which was quite interesting. The outcome was not perfect; however I liked the placement of the eyes.
These are little faces I made using plaster. I wanted to experiment using different mediums, so I created these shapes, carved different holes into them and used acrylic paints to create faces. The whole idea was to create faces which follow the same idea as the paintings I made previously. As you can see, most of the characters are shedding tears, which is symbolic of the pain experienced by the child labourers. Whilst others laugh hysterically, imitating a hyena, a symbol of greed.
This is a sculpture I started. Once again, I attempted to incorporate ideas from my artwork in this piece. His face is quite crooked and starved, and his mouth is placed strangely. I wanted to make him a symbol of greed as I thought his disgusted expression made this link well to my previous symbols of greed which are either laughing or angry. After it is completed, I plan on painting it using similar colours to my paintings to make the link more obvious and I think it would look quite unique.
These are some small clay sculptures I created recently. I quite like the outcome and I started to experiment with different shapes and different techniques to create the facial features. I also plan on painting it using similar colours to my paintings.
The first image shows a lino print I created from a picture of my sculpture. I took a picture of my sculpture at a different angles and uploaded it on Procreate so I could make a minimalist line drawing. From this I made the lino cut which I eventually took into prints. Although the lino cut was not perfect, I quite liked the outcome. The second image shows how I developed the minimalist line drawing I created previously. I did this by combining this with another line drawing of the sculpture at a different angle. I added colours to this, blocking out parts of the other line drawing and I thought the outcome was very simplistic
This is a picture of my work space in the studio. This is where I produce all my work and where I spend most of my time. I thought this would give you a better idea of how I work and tell you a little bit more about me.
