Final Integrated Assignment

Exhibition of FIA at Free Space

www.freespacegallery.org 

Melissa Hardwick, Arts Manager and Curator, considered a number of my photographic projects and decided "Internationsl Students - We Want You!" would work as an exhibition in the NHS clinics and hospitals in London that she curated.  My work was exhibited from early September, having been delivered on 26th August 2014, and was exhibited at an NHS clinic at 76 Queen's Crescent, London, NW5 4EB.  The intention was that it would be exhibited for two months, September and October.  However, Melissa emailed me to request that they keep it until after Christmas, as it had been well received by the viewers and the staff at the clinic, who enjoyed the atmosphere the work created.  It will be taken down on 30th December 2014.

"exhibition details

Melissa Hardwick Add to contacts 17/11/2014

To: Myra Boyle

Hey Myra

I am still getting positive feedback from the staff about your exhibition. And it seems that everyone is enjoying having your photos on site. 

I wondered if we could have your photos until the end of December?

Please let me know if this is possible.

Best wishes, Melissa"

Exhibition at Queen's Crescent, London (taken with iPhone)

REFLECTION AND EVALUATION OF FIA

Artist's Statement

International Students - We Want You !!!

This documentary project was inspired by working with a group of seven students from the Bethany Family, from Tanzania, who were studying at Blackburn College.  The project expanded to include other students from Blackburn College and the University of Lancaster. 

I want to raise awareness of the plight of International Students who bring billions of pounds into the British Economy every year.  And yet D. Green (Immigration Minister) has suggested that we reduce illegal immigration by refusing to award visas to any student studying at sub-degree level.  

International Students are not only a valuable source of income for the country, they bring a wide range of cultural experiences and knowledge with them, and help us to foster good relationships with many countries across the globe.  

My initial proposal of doing the whole project with The Bethany Students was ambitious, but I was unable to achieve it.   

Problem

The Bethany Students withdrew for reasons of pressure of work so I needed access to other students to extend my project.

Solution

Blackburn College helped me make contact with three Russian students and a friend met me at Lancaster to encounter students at the university

Problem

Consistency of location and lighting with the extended number of subjects: two shoots were done in the studio under different lighting conditions and the other were done on location, one indoors and the other outdoors, making it difficult to provide a cohesive study.

Solution

A tutor suggested that I could achieve cohesion if I cropped tightly right into the face of my subjects, giving great impact in printed very large.  I chose three images to form a triptych. However, during a critique concern was expressed about how much of the original images would be lost.

Problem

I had difficulty in editing my images where I normally work, at home.  The problem was that I had colour calibrated the screen of my MacBook Pro in college, under different.

Solution

I engaged an online photo editing company to colour balance my images.  

Personal Artefact/Portfolio

A book wFas created in Photobox with sixteen images and some biographical or autobiographical information with sixteen carefully chosen and edited images.  

I enjoy photographing people - doing portraits, and I feel as Andrew Greer says,  

"It is probably as ultimate a relationship as you can hove without touching someone, and it can still be quite terrifying at times in the 'first date' kind of way," 

and this is particularly true of photographing people you have never met before.

Exhibition Plan

My tutor suggested a plan to achieve cohesion in my final images, i.e. printing the images in different sizes, and that would separate the two studio shoots by placing the outdoor shoot images between, which works as it presents the diversity of nationalities and students, and what ties it together is the autobiographies where the students introduce themselves.   

Plan

From left to right and top to bottom: 

Debora and Rehema, Hasifah, Florian, Winsy, Tomi, Sofiya and Daria, with autobiographies below, and the artist's statement to the left.

Parr describes in his work:

           

“A photograph has its own language, it has its own ability to communicate, and it’s a magic thing.  When it works it’s very endearing, and very strange and weird and ambiguous. … You might be interested in capturing the spirit of the time, but not the soul of a person.”

I am hoping that viewers feel that my individual portrait images communicate a sense of all the youth and promise, and experience the zeitgeist of international students studying in UK, during a brief sojourn in their lives. 

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