Case Studies
I was hard pushed to make a choice between Peter Mansell’s work and Dewald Botha’s. I’m not being dismissive of Jodie Taylor’s project, I just have a familiarity with it in the form of my own assignment; The Square Mile, the first assignment completed for OCA. In the end I developed the greatest connection to Dewald Botha’s project; The Ring Road.
I guess I have a greater empathy with Botha’s notion of self-reflection, whilst searching for calm in a busy metropolis, of trying to find your feet in a new environment, where language and culture can stir up tumult of unsettling emotions. From my own experience there is solace to be gained from walking in new environs and calming down the thinking processes by seeking quiet. Walks of discovery can become a reflective process of self-discovery.
Regarding the idea of loss of authorial control when a viewer projects their own emotions and experiences on to our created work, I would argue that we don’t really lose control. We create work with our own views and ideas in place at the onset and this is where we take our meaning from whilst the work is being developed. On completion we may ourselves have evolved a different meaning from its creation. There is fluidity in the process as much as there is fluidity in other’s perceptions of the work. A viewer is entitled to their own ideas relating to work, as much as I am in its creation.
Bibliography
Dewald. (2019). Ring Road. [online] Available at: https://www.dewaldbotha.net/ring-road.html# [Accessed 26 Nov. 2019].
Context and Narrative 