Initial research and inspiration: Object and Body

To know where to start when beginning the Object and Body project, I read through the entire obect section in the brief; highlighting and underlining key points while I went along to make it easier to follow when I went back to it. One still life image which interested me instantly from the brief paper was Edward Collier's 'Still Life with a Volume of Withers' Emblemes' (1969).

I was drawn to it due to the musical instruments which I can relate to but also by the colours and style which depict (to me at least) an older time. This attracted me because I like to imagine how people lived hundreds of years ago and what it was like and this still life image - although a painting and not a photograph - portrays an idea of history. However, the subject of the still life seems to revolve around the arts and unless there is a current social issue of the same, it was not much help to me. I decided to bear this in mind but move on.

My next move was to look into the other photographs accompanying the briefing notes as they are examples of still life images and I assumed they were put there for a good reason. I thought Edward Western's sculptures were interesting in shape and idea but could not relate to my brief very well if I were to persue him as a source of inspiration. I found Laura Letinsky's work interesting as it seemed very conceptual to me - like each photograph was telling a story and you could come to your own conclusions about what that story was. But again, I found this a lost cause to draw inspiration from as her specific subjects would be difficult to relate to my project. Keith Arnatt's series of 'Pictures from a Rubbish Tip' could possibly tie in with the current social aspect of my project.

After this, I read up on some social issues that have been circulating recently which caught my attention through news websites (as I will admit I'm not very up to date on my current affairs and had to look these up). The next place I went to for inspiration was the BBC News website which I thought would potentially lead me right to where I wanted to be. After having a short look around and not finding anything I could imagine easily portraying in a still life I decided to explore my original idea of the issue of Global Warming since it is always a current social issue and a pressing one at that.

To try my luck, I did a quick search in Google for "global warming still life" but received nothing to really work on and gave up for now having a basic idea formed. I think with more exploration on this topic I could develop a stronger opinion than the one I already have and portray it powerfully while even evoking something within the viewer of my image.