Taking apart and putting back together...

 

During the first week of college, we had lots of introductory talks on different aspects of the course. One of the slides we were shown which struck me were these works by Rachel Whiteread, in which parts of buildings and whole buildings themselves have been 'tipp-exed' out. As I had begun to look at the clutter associated with moving home, I decided to experiment with the idea of erasing the clutter of my old room:

I felt that white chalk pastel was a quick was to 'erase' large areas of clutter (made up of photos, objects, bric-a-brac).

This lead me to think about how one room is broken down and taken apart when the things that make it home are removed. My empty room, once full with memories, now has a striking resemblance to my new room. (My new room which is in need of a personal touch!)

I began to toy with the idea of how certain objects and possessions hold significance and 'survive the move'. How they will put together the new space.

 

I cut up images of my old room and started sticking them on to grey scale photos of my new room at college. The photos and objects brought colour and life to the images.

Stuck on the idea of taking apart and putting back together, I thought I could create a quick stop-motion animation of the process of creating a new room. I made the short clip by taking a photo after adding each new thing to the black and white photo. I edited all the clips together using Windows Movie Maker:

 

Starting Off

Home

So, we are now going into week 4 of first year, now and we're all continuing to work on our project brief- Movement and Motion.
When we were first given the brief (which feels surprisingly long ago now, even if it has only been a few weeks!) I have to say I was pleased. Movement and Motion seemed to me to be quite a broad topic, which could be taken in many different ways. I wasn't thinking of any solid ideas yet- but as I sat in the hall with everyone and  we were told how to approach the beginning stages of the project, I started to get excited about working out how to make the project my own.

This first week (first few weeks,really!) of college was pretty tough for me; I was really  struggling with the big move to a new city and being away from my family and home in Galway. As I sat down to begin work on my project, I toyed with the idea of growth and movement of body parts e.g. Hair, teeth but everything kept bringing me back to taking the word Movement to be the actual act of moving home. It seemed more obvious once I admitted it to myself that this was the thing that was occupying nearly all of my thoughts. It meant something important to me, and I figured probably to most of the people around me too.
A few weeks ago, just before I had begun clearing out my room at home, getting ready for college, I had taken some photos in my bedroom. My room had always been my favourite place at home- somewhere that was completely mine, that I could make into whatever I wanted. I took these photos at night- the time when I loved my room the most. Something about the light, the quiet, the coziness.
I took these photos as a starting point and I have begun to explore the contrast between this home, so full of memories and personality with the stark and essentially empty space of my new room in Grove Island.

New Home