Emily Knight | Contextual Studies

Here you will find my final outcome for this project based on 'Identity' where I focus on the topic of masculinity and femininity. I chose to do a claymation as it allowed be to take a much more abstract approach to the project whilst still being able to depict a message to the view. I titled this piece 'TRAITS'. I began this animation with two balls of clay rolling towards each-other and then combining and molding into a larger piece of clay. They both represent the traits of someone who is masculine or feminine which then combine together to represent both set of traits not being categorized. A hand then comes in a grabs the ball of clay and takes it away, only to bring back two clay heads. I did this in order to represent the actions of society and stereotypes, the hand represents society and its need to conform people into categories. It molds people into thinking they need to be defined by one of two things, you are either masculine or feminine and that can only b...

Queer - A Graphic History discusses everything from gender roles to sexuality and our understanding of everything around our sexual identity. However, what first makes this piece of writing different from others I have read is the use of imagery and illustrations, they enable the message to brought across much clearer and gives makes the statements more personal as you are able to relate them to people.  It begins by discussing the history of the word Queer and what its meanings were and are to this day. I found quite a few interesting things out from this piece as it relates a lot to my own focus for this project. This history of the word was one example, it was originally refereed to as an insult, meaning something 'strange and illegitimate' (this was in the 16th century). In addition, another interesting fact I discovered was the earliest recorded use of 'queer' as a form of homophobic abuse was in 1894. It became derogatory term for same-sex sex, or for people with ...

Barbra Kruger is an American conceptual artist and the majority of her work consists of black-and-white photographs collages together or on there own, with the addition of a selective and interesting captions. The subjects she most often covers are identity, and more specifically feminism and female identity, power and sexuality.What makes her work so powerful and striking is not only the use of black-and-white photos against the the bold and sometimes red typography, it is also how recognizable it is. Some of her slogans are very well known such as; "Your body is a battleground" with an addition of her consistent use of the same font, making her work easier to recognize if seen out in public on a billboard as an example. One of Kruger's pieces of work I took a liking to was her You Are Not Yourself image. I like this image as it really captures a deep perspective of someones inner emotions and how they may be feeling about they're own identity. You get the feeling th...

The theme of masculinity and femininity has always been a silent theme in my life and I am sure for many others too. Many of us are told that a man is expected to be masculine and a woman expected to be feminine. However these traits actually do not relate to someones gender, this is just something that has been taught and now is expected of from society. I continued with some research and came across a website called 'Voices of Youth' that had a blog discussing the traits of being either masculine or feminine, here is a diagram they used to explain this; There is first a discussion about what each is defined as. Someone who is masculine is described as being Powerful, Confident, Active, Courageous, as well as Dominant, Aggressive, Controlling and Competitive. To be feminine is to be Creative, Kind, Emotional, Intuitive, as well as Over-sensitive, Weaker and Needy. Here they are just described as traits rather than a description of a specific gender, which I like because it all...

Judith Pamela Butler is an American philosopher and gender theorist and their work has had a lot of influence in feminist, queer and literacy theory. She believes that there are certain gendered behaviors that are natural, however the way we learn performances of gendered behavior (meaning masculinity and femininity) is imposed upon us by 'normative heterosexuality'. She believes we speak and act in ways that consolidate impressions of being a man or a woman. A large part of her work and telling people about her beliefs is discussing her own personal experiences in order to explain the things that a lot of other people go through almost every day. Butler is openly gay and discusses how her appearance opens up possibilities for people to make judgments and negative comments about her, even in public situations. Another thing she has discussed that I found quite interesting is how we act being of a man or being a women is the defined fact about us and something th...

Another Jan Svankmajer video I knew and watch is 'Dimensions of Dialogue' which does relate and have similar qualities to his other animation 'Food' that I watched and discussed before. It is once again a stop-motion animation using clay but this time focuses on how we as a species communicate with one another and presents the failings of the human race in an disturbing yet capturing way. Therefore I feel this animation especially relates to Identity and how each of us have different approaches as to how we communicate with each other, and how different outcomes can be depending on someones personality. The film is divided into three sections; 'Eternal conversations' which presents three faces made up of a mixture of random objects, each representing a different theme (agriculture, industry and culture) of which the three characters proceed to reduce one another to to bland copies (clay). They represent that when people of different cultures, background and opin...

I have decided as this is an animation project and my final outcome has to be an animation based on Identity, I am going to explore Claymation. It should allow me to create an interesting and abstract take on Identity and what it means to me. The art of claymation dates back to 1897 and is probably the most laboring form of animation. However I find it to give the figures a lot more character, making the audience more captivated by the story and what will happen. Below you will find a short clip of my own experimentation using clay, and my first time using it in a stop-motion form. Before I began I found myself stuck and confused on how to start and how I could make the clay move and form without it looking strange. However, I decided to start with a random shape of clay and see where it would take me and what it would look like. I chose a simple background that I had on hand as I knew this would only be an experimentation, so I was not too interested in thinking about that pa...

Jan Svankmajer is a Czech is a filmmaker and artist who's body of work spans over a variety of media. One of his short films he made in 1992 called 'Food' is an example of a stop-motion animation using claymation and pixilation. Which is inspiration for my own animated outcome. I am going to focus more one the section titled 'Lunch' and the effects he used in order to create such an impressive piece of animation. This section of the film depicts two gentlemen sitting down to eat in a restaurant. It follows with a compilation of each man eating anything and everything around them, from the flowers to their shoes, the plates, even the table. It is meant to represent mans relationship with food and the routines we go through. Below you will find this particular animation; I have taken much inspiration from this short film and the way Svankmajer uses a mixture of claymation and pixilation to get the correct effect. You are able to see the clay parts more when the charac...

 Moving on from our 'Walking' project, our next project focuses on the subject of 'Identity'. We were asked to pick an object that best describes or represents our own identity and be able to explain why.  I chose to discuss a denim jacket that I have had for a couple of years now, whilst also collecting and pinning badges onto it. These badges can be of anything from places, interests or frankly random. The ones I have currently are mostly of places I have been. I chose this object as I not only enjoy collecting things but also reflecting on good memories and places I have been with friends and family. I not only count it as a part of my identity myself, but it also has become something others identity me with. As I have been given badges and pins as gifts from family and friends, from places and days I have spent with them. These badges allow me to remember moments of my life I wished to not forget at the time, which I think is an important thing to hold onto. I have ...