NONNO OSVALDO - 27.02.2014.

Taking what I had learnt from my previous images with highlighting certain aspects, I chose to work on this photograph of me and my grandfather. I've always loved this photo since I don't have many of me and my grandfather together. I decided to keep his face partially hidden to represent the fact that he is no longer alive anymore but I wanted to balance that by highlighting my hand resting on his knee, it's quite a sweet and tender moment. I prefer the 1st and 3rd images because I feel they work better in terms of the colours and the opacity used. I don't like the circle being completely opaque when using the teal colour. I also think the cream circle doesn't work as well being slightly see-through compared to the top image when it's a block of colour. 

NONNA MAURA - 27.02.2014.

I had scanned in some old photographs of my grandmother and wanted to see what I could make by experimenting with adding colour to specific sections. I began by highlighting any section with the colour pink and played around with the shape I used, if any, and also adding  text from a scan of my grandmother's wedding certificate, I particularly like the 6th image down. I decided to hid her face with the pink circle as just a test of colour/shape placement but it also ties in with her orphan background and having a loss of identity. I'm going to try highlighting different areas of my photographs to draw the viewer to the part I'd like them to focus on. 

EXPERIMENTATION - 23.02.2014.

I made this really quickly when I didn't have a lot of time but I'm pleased with how it came out! I've been concentrating on making a lot of imagery that will then slot into certain smaller themes that will link with the work. This was in relation to walking round Rome and is a close up of a photo I had taken of a building. I then layered a film of colour to the top section as well as creating the celestial light spots by taking sun reflections from a photo I'd taken of the sea. Overall I wanted to create an image that reflected a happy, relaxed mood that allows the viewer to feel the same. I'd like to see what this would like printed out on a bigger scale. 

EXPERIMENTATION - 23.02.2014.

I enjoyed working with the close up image I'd made of the statue and wanted to see what I could create with just using that. I applied the layering technique with the block of colour over the top and played around with the saturation, density and contrast to see what would happen. Some of the effects didn't work out as well as I thought they would, for example the 4th and 6th down, but I've been finding it useful to just crop into a particular section of a photograph to concentrate on creating a balance between the textures and colours used. It would be interesting to see what I could create when layering two different cropped sections together. 

EXPERIMENTATION - 23.02.2014.

These are just some quick experiments I made by playing around with the scale and placement of images. I'm really into using a solid block of colour and then applying it a section of the image and then testing out different opacities to let the other photos show through. I'd like to test this out on other imagery to see how it works out. 

EXPERIMENTATION - 23.02.2014.

Apologies for the lack of posts in relation to my own work but I have found these past 2 weeks extremely hard in creating work and I think that is partly due to having so many thoughts and ideas for this project. In one of my earlier crits I was told to create mini 'themes' to then create work for so that my images had more meaning and would be easily read by other people. I have created mini themes but they are more suited around the culture of Italy and so I will only be able to respond to those after I get back from Italy in April. So until then I will be focusing on creating images that relate to specific memories of some of my favourite places whether they are monuments, buildings, beaches or villages I've visited. Since this is such a personal project I feel a bit overwhelmed with everything that I could focus on and by slowly narrowing thoughts down things are getting clearer. 

I had a look back at my previous collages which I am still very happy with but I wanted to see how else I could play about with colour, shape and composition. I've been enjoying being more abstract with my choice of placement and also the sizes of images as well. I want to try to not default to placing images straight in the middle, unless it works for the better, and also how colour doesn't have to be contained to certain areas. I think these two images worked well as a step forwards with my work but I can still see points for development. I'd like to see what they'd look like if I filled the entire page with an image and then worked over the top with colour or cropping into particular bits to then work with.

JACOB HOLDT: 20.02.2014.

SIREN CITY: 20.02.2014.

FAUSTO PODAVINI - 20.02.2014.

ERNESTO BAZAN - 20.02.2014.

ITALIANAMERICAN (1974): 13.02.2014.

"Italianamerican" is a short film produced by Martin Scorsese in 1974. It focuses on his parents stories of immigration to New York and their early life and is a charming insight into what a lot of Italians had been through but also the topics discussed are an interesting view of what life was like back then. Topics such as religion, ancestors, their origins, and life in Italy after the war are all brought up and spoken about in a way that only Scorsese's parents could have. The film also includes his mothers meatball recipe featured during the credits of the film. 

The whole setting and the way they spoke about their lives reminded me a lot about my own grandparents and stories they have told me. I'm planning a trip to Italy during April so that I am able to take more photos but after watching this maybe a film might be something interesting to play around with. Even if I just use stills from it to work with could add something different to my collages. 

SPEAK ITALIAN: THE FINE ART OF THE GESTURE: 13.02.2014.

This book was recommended to me by one of my tutors, Peter, during one of my crits. I'd never come across it before but I'm glad I was told about this! It was written and put together by Italian artist and designer, Bruno Munari and essentially it is a visual diary of well known Italian hand gestures accompanied by their meaning. 

There are plenty of stereotypes that revolve around Italy but I feel that these (sometimes) lighthearted jokes and jests are about certain aspects which play a fundamental part within our culture. Yes we love food, yes are hands never stop moving and yes we're loud! But these traits are something that Italians, including myself, feel very proud of. What I really enjoyed about this book is that it highlights something which embodies Italian vigour so well through the simplicity of hand gestures. This has made me think about what I would like to show through my work for this project because I feel that there are so many things that are personal and part of who I am and its all very overwhelming. My next step will be to make a list of everything that I think represents Italy for me alongside what it may represent for other people. This should help me create small headings/themes to work towards so that my work makes more sense visually to others viewing it.