Report

Here is my 1000 word report identifying my project intentions and outcomes, this as also been submitted in an folder on my submissions CD.



Body Reconstruction: Body Deconstruction


      When doing the advanced research strategies module I did a proposal that was intended from the NMP. In this proposal I wrote about being interested in doing portraits and wasn’t quite sure of the exact kind I wanted to do. I then developed my proposal by deciding that body image was something I was the most interested in and wanted to pursue for my NMP. I felt like it was good for me at the beginning to not have one set idea so I could research into multiple things I found interesting and work out which would be the best for me to use. After researching artists, photographers, books and experimenting with ideas, I was able to narrow down things that weren’t working well for my NMP and areas which did. This helped me improve my NMP over time.
      My initial proposal was quite vague even though I did have an idea that I was quite set on it wasn’t fully developed enough. I decided to look back at previous projects that I had enjoyed doing and one stood out to me which also had the theme of body image and the media. That helped me decide fully that the cosmetic surgery journey I proposed was going to be the route I was going to take. My project would involve following a friends journey whilst she was going to undergo a breast augmentation, but showing the side we don’t usually get to see, the non-glamourised side of it.

      I was told that this idea of cosmetic surgery and seeing the other side to what we usually see would be a good project to use. I decided to document Sarah’s whole journey as I would be with her the whole time as it was, looking after her. My idea was to document everything from appointments, shopping, right after the surgery itself to scars and showing the struggle she would have after the surgery as it is a medical procedure and I think people forget this. I did some test shots of Sarah for advanced research strategies module to show how she was before the surgery. I planned to do all my images like I did with these test shots, mostly being in a set environment, full body shots so you could see everything but her face. After taking these images I decided this wasn’t the route to go down and went back to research more photographers who’s work I thought might influence my ideas as I was quite disappointed with the result I had. They just didn’t seem right and wasn’t how I had imagined them to look. On there own they looked alright but they weren’t flowing well as a series would have to.

      After having feedback from Moria and her giving me a list of things I could look into for research  I found inspiration from multiple sources. My main inspiration was a photographer named Lydia Goldblatt and her series called ‘Keeping Time’. Looking at her images from this series gave me the inspiration I needed and I knew what direction I wanted my project to go in. I really liked the way her images were making you want to see more and I loved how her subjects were positioned in her images. The framing of the image captured was exactly what I wanted my images to be like. I also liked how on nearly all the images you couldn’t see anyones face, this is something I had decided on right at the beginning of my project. I was never going to show Sarah’s face.

      I then started to take my images as Sarah started her cosmetic journey. At first it was quite hard for us both to act like the camera wasn’t there. I was documenting her journey so didn’t want my images to be staged. After the first couple of weeks though we both got used to the camera being there and didn’t even notice it hardly anymore.

      I started off from the beginning with her, taking images before the surgery, leading up to it. My main images were after her surgery showing the side where there is pain, the violent side to this kind of surgery. I wanted my images to have a feel where people weren’t sure what they were looking at, at first glance. I decided to take some of my images mainly the images of the scars in a very abstract way I feel like this gave them a very beautiful feel to them, where you wasn't quite sure what it was you were looking at but the curves and shapes were shown off perfectly.

      After taking multiple images following her journey it then came to editing and I decided that my images worked best in black and white, my inspiration for this was from the photographer Edward Weston. He also took very abstract images all in black and white which made them stand out even more and you were able to see all the detail within the images. I felt like the black and white created the perfect contrast for my images.

      At this point in my project I felt like everything was coming together how I wanted it to I had decided on a main focus for my project and started taking images that I really liked and thought worked well with what I wanted to achieve.

       My final images show Sarah’s journey from beginning to end and show the changes that have been made to her body though out this time and the emotions that she has been through. Also the changes that have happened to her without her maybe realising or wanting them to. My series shows the struggle and violence behind these cosmetic procedures that we see in the media everyday as being easy and glamorous. I feel like my series will help people see what it is really like behind the closed doors after having such procedures, when we are trying to conform to society for ourselves or for others.

Exhibition Statement

Body Reconstruction: Body Deconstruction is a series which follows a friend's journey through the experience and unseen, non-glamourised version of plastic surgery. This series shows the emotions and violence that's really behind the glamorous version we usually see. In this series it shows how people change themselves and their bodies to conform to society or for more personal reasons, but it shows the side we don't get to see. 

For this series I want to show it in a scattered form so your eye can follow the images through the journey that has been made.

Exhibition Plan

To give an idea of how I wanted my exhibition to look I decided to use a program called exhibbit.

I couldn't put my images into the program how I wanted to so ended up doing it on photoshop and putting this into the software. However this meant I ended up with all my images on a white background instead of separate individual images. Even though this happened I did take pictures of my own images when I put them up for feedback and this is how I would like them to be in the exhibition. I want them in a scattered effect and A5 size. 

The below images are more like how I would want my series to look in the exhibition. All scattered in a certain order and with a white boarder around them. As the exhibition has yet not been agreed on these are some mock ups of what I would want it to look like. 

Overall Experience

Doing this project has defiantly made be view surgery in a different way. At the beginning I had never had first hand experience with anything like this and I had only seen things in the media about it. I had never known anybody who had any cosmetic procedures done. 

It has made me see a side you don't usually get to see, a side of pain and violence but for Sarah the end result was a good one. This being the case I think it would be something I would consider in the future. I have never been against surgery just the way it is shown to us on TV or in magazines. I feel like they should show the real side of it! 

Whilst coming to the end of the journey with Sarah I had been thinking about having a non-cosmetic procedure for a very long time. Lip augmentation. I have never been happy with the way my lips looked and felt like now was the perfect opportunity to go for it. 

I went to Transform a professional company where a nurse carried out the procedure. 

Seeing Sarah having her surgery gave me a confidence in thinking I can do this, and I did. 

As you can see I went for a very natural look, in these images they are still quite swollen. 

This image above was the same day but later on when the swelling had gone down.

There two images above are from the day after. They said it can take up to a week for the swelling to go down completely.

Looking back at it now I as well have become someone who has given in to the cosmetic industry. It has been something I have been thinking about for years but now I do wonder how many people get this done for all the wrong reasons. I got this done for myself and myself alone but these non-cosmetic procedures aren't took as seriously as cosmetic ones. I got told that they get at least 30 people a week getting this done to there lips which did shock me... how many people are getting things done these days that we can't even tell anymore? 

This project has made me see plastic, cosmetic, non-cosmetic surgery in a very different light. I have never not agreed with it, just the way it is portrayed but it is something I still feel very strongly about and would defiantly like to carry this project on further in the future. 

Reasons

I have decided to display my images in a scattered format as I feel like this way your eyes follow the journey along and my images being only an A5 size this format works really well and helps connect the sequence. 

My images are also going to be in black and white I love the contrast it makes within my images and it makes you able to see all the detail better within my images. 

My title Body Reconstruction: Body Deconstruction I feel works really well as it shows that doing things such as this to your bodies can have a negative and positive impact. 

From my feedback I got told that having the white boarder around my images worked really well as it gave them a clinical look so I think I am going to keep this as it also draws your eye right into the middle of the images and thats what I wanted the viewer to do. 

I think the A5 size of my images works well as there are 26 of them and they all need to be shown together side by side so this will take up a lot of space. I feel making the images any bigger would make the series not as intimate for the viewer and I wanted the viewer to get up close to my work and look at all the details it contains. 

Final Images

These are the images I have chosen as my final 26. This is a big number of images to have but I feel like it is the right amount to show the journey she's gone through. It shows everything from beginning to end little parts of what went on in that time and I am really happy with the outcome. 

This is the order my images will be in from beginning to end of the journey. As you can see not only has she been through a lot after the surgery and had changes that she knew was going to happen. Her body has changed in other ways also loosing her muscle tone as sports was a very big part of her life that she had to sacrifice for the breast augmentation. You can see from my first couple of images and my last how not doing this exercise has made her loose the muscle she once had before. She will get this back eventually but it was a risk and sacrifice she had to take.

Feedback

We had a feedback session that I found really helpful. It was like a mini exhibition where we all put our work up on display how we would like it to look and got written feedback off everyone. I found this really helpful and thought it was a really good idea to do.

These are my feedback sheets I got...

I found everyones comments really helpful and it made me more confident in what I was trying a achieve. 

This is how I displayed my work and I plan do display it like this for the exhibition using the same size prints also.