In my final semester I have continued working with the theme of rave culture but I have started to work in a different perspective, archive has become a recurring word thrown around since last semester and it hadn't gotten to me till after Christmas due to looking at the piece by artist Jeremy Deller ‘everybody in the place’ and my first crit back after Christmas I saw a new way of expressing my contexts. The theme of nostalgia still exists alongside the new theme of archive with more sub themes such as history, community, music, collections and observation.  

Throughout this semester I have been focusing on Imagery and sound, finding my feet with video/film making and through continuing with my video work it has awoken the new theme of archive. Using more secondary sources of old rave footage alongside my own gathered footage has given me more freedom to play around. Having endless amounts of footage to work with it also showed how much I could express my point more to the viewer.  I have become more comfortable with using the software after effects for my video work, it has become second nature through constant use for experimentation. Fortunately, it has positively become my software of choice for creating my pieces, I'm able to do such things as cutting, time stretching, layering, text work and blending overlays with effects to create my intended ideas. Artists such as Mark Leckey have been a constant influence on my work through the editing process. I've also had influences from music videos such as the prodigy's in the early 90s and Goldies inner city life, being drawn to the abstract and unique and nostalgic colour schemes. Watching a lot of documentaries on different genres has also helped me on my history of rave culture I have been continuing to grow my photography work, continuing to be heavily inspired by Tristan Oneil's photography and how he captures movement, I have been focusing on jungle raves as it is my go to choice of genre and I've been able to capture such amazing moments of human connection, movement and like peter Walsh I have them captured within some of Manchester's well known venues. I also started to extend my mark making piece, linking more with the theme of archive, I kept on making piece until they covered my studio walls which was overwhelming but also, I didn't want to take them down, visually I saw something different in each one.  

I'm driven by the act of paying homage to the past. My video work is a way of expressing that and the nostalgia that goes with it. It's what leads me to use sources of material such as old rave footage.  As I started to research deeper during the start of the semester, Jeremy dellers ‘everybody in the place’ documentary really inspired me, not only giving me a deeper lesson on the history of UK rave culture but a new form of presenting my video piece. I have taken risks with size and scale through different forms it helped solidify my position on how I see my work presented off a computer screen, especially my video work I'm glad I started using projections as my choice for crits and 1-1s it helped communicate my contexts and themes more. From that i have also learnt how to project on multiple channels which I had never done before which is something which i wanted to take towards the degree show. Ive tried taking a more personal approach to my work, adding in audio of myself and my family, keeping myself visually of camera but you can hear my perspective.  I have read more into how archives show community and that the people in the footage probably didn't realize they would be a part of something so historically important, something which is still holding onto today and in reading that it drove me to start using more found footage in my work to display the history and the different communities of different music genres.  

 

 

After a while of researching and analyzing past rave culture exhibits, this semester I was able to plan and curate my own solo screening and small exhibit at the local salutation bar on campus. I titled it rave archive intending to highlight multiple types of archives all around the theme of rave culture with the focus being my video screening. I wanted the screening to be a tester towards my degree show installation idea. I was able to install multiple scale photography prints, from A0 to A3 multiple A4 screenprints based off my photography, recreated rave T-shirts, displayed my ongoing mark making pieces and given away designed memorabilia i.e. flyers, and membership cards. My exhibit tested me on my time management skills, professional skills, organization and engagement. The screening was a tester to see how my video piece would feel projected in public and after gaining feedback from it, I wanted to expand it and take it on into this year's degree show.  

 

My work for the degree show is expressing nostalgia, history and aspects of rave culture through archival footage secondary and primary. I want the audience to feel  that nostalgia whether being an older raver, new raver or not a raver at all I want them to be there in the archive, learn, be open minded and find enjoyment through my piece, hear a familiar tune or two, maybe even hear something new, hear my side and how rave culture has impacted me but how it has also impacted people in the past and given them a sense of community. I want the audience walk in the space and see memories of the culture. I had a test of this at my own exhibit, but it was a one channel screening, and I wanted to expand and grow from it and that I did. I've expanded since then and my piece has become a whole immersive ‘rave’ a multi projection screening in a blackout space with my photography prints alongside show another aspect of my life outside of the studio in the rave scene.  

I realised through researching alongside making is what fuels my editing process for my videos for example, after gathering footage of jungle raves in the 90s I kept on seeing horns and whistles and it just reminded me of uk carnivals and how they always use horns and whistles and sound systems and that was something i wanted to highlight within my work is the similarities and influences from cultures. I had a very influential 1-1 talk with Hope Pearl Strickland after her artist talk, after she looked at my work, she told me to play around more with different elements of the footage and to not be scared to push further with it. That conversation stuck with me in such a good way. My final year has taught me a lot and it has helped me grow as an artist and in my chosen field and it has given me lessons towards how to approach the professional world and that I'm going to take with me into when I finish at MSOA.