I began my week by going to the River Thames banks in London to try find evidence of water pollution. London does not house many, if any, textile factories, therefore my aim was to search for possible evidence of domestic waste pollution instead of chemical. Even this, however, was difficult as it was high tide and spots where waste was seen before had either disappeared or were covered. Initially I was disappointed by the lack of pollution but realised I could use the primary research as a comparison to the rivers in developing countries as to what rivers should look like. The River Thames is also an example of a river that was mistreated in the past and with time healed itself, showing that these biologically ‘dead’ rivers can become clean again if the textile factories stop polluting.
This weeks crit was focused on sharing project ideas and giving advice on how to develop ideas. During my feedback I was advised to annotate image, experiment with fabric and materials and experiment with 3D printing, among other things. This was really helpful as it meant I avoided ‘mind blanks’ in the future about how to develop my research and achieve the best possible outcomes. At this point I was working only in 2D, so the crit highlighted for me the importance of 3D work as well as 2D and now as I develop my work I always remind myself to use a material or media that is new to me. Feedback on my own work from others is always helpful but in this particular crit I also found that giving others ideas aided my own work. For example, I suggested for one of my peers to use marble inks to great bold colours and shapes, which also related to my work as I could do the same to reflect the deep purples of contaminated water.
Dani's Blog 