daniellexsamantha-art-blog

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I HAVE FINISHED?!!!

Hello everyone, sadly this will be my last post. I have finished my final major project about culture and identity. I am so happy that I chose this topic and it has been an amazing journey. I have learnt a lot about myself and my work along the way and I am glad that I created this blog to update and share information with different people. My original aim for this project was to explore the relationship between culture and identity, whilst promoting that through fashion.

I won’t lie, there have been times in this project where I felt lost, I felt as though I had bitten off more then I could chew with such a big topic. At times I felt like I had done a lot of research and needed to pull it back and touch base with my original aims. But these little hiccups were very minor. I was able to concentrate and refocus on what needed to be done.

I have looked at previous and current trends, how culture and identity is presented in a range of areas and even researched ethnic cultures. I have have done the styling, photography, hair, makeup, planning and choreographing of multiple ‘shoots. I have made a magazine and a fashion film about this topic. I have worked so hard and am happy to say I have finished!

Thank you to those that shared any of my posts. I am so pleased with the outcome.

Many Thanks

- Danielle Samantha

#art foundation #art exhibition #fashion #fashion student #fashion communication #fashionproject #Final Major Project #hair and makeup #editorial makeup #photography #photoshoot #cultural appreciation #culture and society

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WHAT DO PEOPLE REALLY THINK ABOUT CULTURE AND IDENTITY?

Hello everyone, I wanted to share this video with you. It is a series of mini interviews where I asked a group of young people about their thoughts on culture and identity. 

#fashion communication #fashionproject #fashion film #interview

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SOME STILLS FROM MY FILM!!!!

Hello everyone, thought I would do a quick post showing you all some stills from my fashion film for FMP!!

In this film I explored the relationship between culture and identity, commenting on cultural appropriation and fashion.

#fashion student #fashion communication #fashionproject #Final Major Project #fashion film #makeup #hair and makeup #cultural appreciation #cultural appropriation

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FINAL ‘SHOOT OF FMP

Hello everyone, here is a look at my last photoshoot for my final major project. We all know by now that makeup and styling is my fave thing ever, so I wanted to go out with a bang on this last one!

My inspiration came from black culture. I chose a caucasian model because I don't think your culture should limit the ways in which and the styles in which you choose to express yourself. I also previously looked at tribal face paint and I deliberately chose to not recreate marks with meaning because I didn't want to offend. The hardships and struggles that the people go through should always be recognised and shallowly replicated. 

In terms of styling and choreography, my inspiration came from Gigi Hadid’s photoshoot by Henrique Gendre for Vogue Korea (September 2017). I loved the simple grey background and her many floor poses, so I used that influence when positioning my model. 

I am very pleased with the way the photoshoot turned out. I hope you will all be with me for my last post on here!

- Danielle Samantha 

references 

https://www.imgmodels.com/news/gigi-hadid-vogue-korea-september-2017

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-style/fashion-and-beauty/2016/11/26/African-tribal-make-up-What-s-behind-the-face-paint-.html

#fashion #fashion student #fashion communication #fashionproject #art foundation #fmp #Final Major Project #gigi hadid #model #modeling

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NEW PHOTOSHOOT 

Hello everyone. today I played around with a different location and some smoke bombs! I created this look inspired by the dark denim trend displayed at Spring/Summer 2018 Fashion Week. In this photoshoot I wanted to comment on culture and identity and how the girls are very similar but very different at the same time.

I chose to use a smoke bomb because they are are used in VooDoo festivals in Africa by the people of Benin and Togo. The bottom image has a overlay of an African Ankara fabric which is related to my own culture and identity. If you haven't seen that post, check it out!

- Danielle Samantha 

#Final Major Project #art foundation #fashion student #fashion communication #fashionproject #fashion #cultural appreciation

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AND THE RESULTS ARE IN...

Hello everyone, 

My ancestry DNA test results came in ahhh!!

Below is an image of the results and what this means for me and my project.

My intention at the beginning of the project was to explore the relationship between culture and identity, but to also find out about this within myself. I decided to do an ancestry DNA test to find out some potential origins within my family history.  I already knew that there would be a range of locations because my grandparents are from the Caribbean and there is a very sad and rich history behind that. But, after receiving my results I was quite surprised and shocked by the number of places and their variety.

I felt happy, intrigued, a bit confused and relieved when I saw the results. I felt like a I finally knew more about my ancestors and I felt happy at the fact that I had such a range of cultures. But, the results have also made me question how all these people came to form connections. Is this through slavery, or could it be through happy relationships? I am not sure. However, what I do know is that finding this information out hasn’t changed my personality. I have been more interested about the countries - looking at their traditions and the native people. But it hasn’t changed the things I like and the way I am. I can easily say that my ethnic origin does not affect my identity, but my ethnic culture does. The way I have been raised is in my opinion the biggest factor surrounding the grounds and basis of my identity.

Although, researching into the places on the ethnicity estimate has inspired me to make a print that combines all of these cultures with myself.

- Danielle Samantha 

#ancestry #dna test #art foundation #art exhibition #fashion student #fashion communication #fashionproject

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Exhibition, Plans and More

Hello everyone,

Sorry I have been gone a while AGAIN, but FMP is stealing all my time. I wanted to update this blog on whats been going on recently in my project and where I am going from here. I have planned a few new shoots for my final outcomes and I have also started thinking about my show/ exhibition for the end of the year. 

FINAL OUTCOMES 

I have really enjoyed the styling processes that I have gone through in my visual responses and experiments, so I have decided that I want to create a publication with a great emphasis on styling and photography.  Part 2 of my foundation course allowed us to experiment with different ways that fashion is promoted and I created a fashion film which I absolutely loved making. Because of this I want to make another one as part of my final outcome for this project. 

EXHIBITION IDEAS

To showcase our work to our peers and the public, we are having an end of year show which we are curating ourselves. We will be allocated a space and can create an installation or presentation of our work. At the moment I think I just want my exhibition to be sleek and simple, rather than creating overly complex frameworks and installations. I want my work to be the main focus, I want the images to speak for themselves, I don't really think gimmicks will work for this project.

Anyway I will keep you posted on whats going on!

- Danielle Samantha 

#Final Major Project #fashion #fashion student #fashion communication #fashionproject #art exhibition #art foundation

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RESEARCH REVIEW AND EXPLAINATION

Hello everyone, sorry I have even gone so long. But I am coming to the end of research and I have just gotten really stuck into it. I recently presented what I have found in a peer group assessment and I thought I should share my findings with you all, explaining my research and processes.

I began my researching by looking into how culture and identity are presented within fine art. I looked at work from artists such as Cathy Lu and Wifredo lam who both have a mixture of cultures that influence there work. I also thought about how identity is conveyed in art and I thought to look no further than at portraiture. I have always been intrigued by the reasoning behind the way that they make their sitters pose and what that says about their identity. 

I then moved onto looking at culture and I identity within visual communication. I found that when it came to identity art, collaging was a really popular technique. I was also inspired by a collaboration of work between graphic artists Aldolfo Felix, Ernesto Tanori and Ruben Encinas. They used illustration over photographs to create some really beautiful images that I took inspiration from for my ‘Daisy’ photoshoot (an earlier post).

After this I researched into how culture and identity are presented in fashion promotion and advertising. This is where the topic of cultural appropriation really kicked off and I ended up writing an essay piece on my thoughts haha. I looked into examples of cultural appropriation and in the text I explained what it is. This research was really helpful for me to understand the depth of my topic and see it from all angles.

At this point there was a moment in my research where I felt like I needed to narrow it down because the subject is quite large. From here I chose to focus on black culture in relation to identity. I looked at films such as “Black Panther” which comments on many issues in the black community.  This is what I am currently looking into and in the next few weeks I hope to show you all some more practical skills!

- Danielle Samantha

#research #Final Major Project #art foundation #fashion student #fashion communication #fashionproject #culture #identity

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NEW PHOTOSHOOT ALERT

Hello everyone, I know I haven't updated this blog in a little while, so I thought the best way would be for me to share some photos from my latest shoot. Inspired by the Masai and Zulu tribes, with a play on the model’s own culture, I created this simple look. 

Feel free to leave any notes!

- Danielle Samantha 

#photoshoot #fashion #fashion communication #fashion student #fashionproject #Final Major Project #art foundation #culture #tribal

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I’m doing a DNA test??!!

Hello everyone, this weeks post is going to be short and sweet. 

If you have my project rationale (one of my first posts) then you will know that during this project I wanted to find out more about my heritage and ancestry. So I took a leap of faith (and a dent to my debit card) and ordered an ancestry DNA test form Ancestry.com. 

I had to spit in a tube and send it to them a few weeks ago ahaha. The results will take around 6 weeks to come so hopefully I shall be seeing them soon! 

Will keep you all posted.

- Danielle Samantha 

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TBT INSPIRATION

Hello everyone, this week I have been a little bit stuck in terms of inspiration for my project. So I took a trip down memory lane and thought back to last summer. I visited an exhibition at the Saachi all about self expression and I wanted to revisit the images I took and the ideas behind it.

There was a constant theme of the line between self expression and surveillance, with rooms dedicated to mirrors and taking pictures and others where you were being watched. I thought this was really interesting because many use social media to express their likes, dislikes beliefs and values. But it is also an easy way for government powers to watch over us...

Anyway, this isn't really relevant to the culture aspect of my project, but certainly to identity. Although this isn't really the direction I want to go down, but I still thought I would mention it because it has made me thunk about the ways in which people express themselves.

- Danielle Samantha

#fashion student #fashion communication #Final Major Project #inspiration #chris pratt #saachi

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Hello everyone,

Yes the above images are mine :) !!! 

Here is a look at some of the images from my first visual response to my research. Inspired by the illustrations of Adolfo Felix and the work of Pierre Jean-Louis, I created this photoshoot around the model - Daisy and her identity. 

I did the hair, makeup, photography and styling myself and I am so pleased with how they turned out. All of the products I used on her face were pretty affordable, so this was really easy and inexpensive to create. I used yellow, gold white and silver to match the colours of a typical daisy flower and to play on the whole idea that she is a daisy.  I chose to keep the styling really minimal and sleek because I wanted it to be all about her face. To begin with she wore a white spaghetti strap vest and black jeans because I thought white would be more fitting with the colour scheme, however I restyled her to wear a black bandeau because it drew less attention away from her face.

PROBLEMS???

I only really had two issues with this photoshoot. The first being the availability of a studio. I couldn't book one for the day I wanted so I had to use the drop in studio available at my uni. Another minor issue was the lighting. I had to play around with the lighting a lot before I was happy with the look. These images were taken with only one studio light on the left-hand side of her face. 

TECHNIQUES

I used Photoshop to edit the images, I used mainly the spot healing tool and the blur tool -  to give her that airbrushed look. I also used the pencil tool to draw the outline of her face on the second and third images.

If you have any questions let me know!

- Danielle Samantha 

#fashion student #fashion #fashion communication #fashionproject #my edit #editorial #editorial makeup #makeup #hair and makeup #daisy #Final Major Project #project

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Hello everyone,

Above are some images that I have saved on Pinterest. I really like the collages because they comment on identity and the more editorial photographs are good in relation to styling and culture.

- Danielle Samantha

#culture #cultural #cultural appreciation #cultural appropriation #visual communication #photography #photoshoot #collage #editorial makeup #magazine #fashion communication #fashion student #art foundation

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MY RATIONALE

Hello everyone, below is my rationale explaining my intentions and reasoning behind the topic. I am so very excited to be starting this project and I hope to use this blog as a way of letting people keep updated with what I am doing! I you have any suggestions in terms of artists or resources, please feel free to leave me a note!

The human condition is an intriguing subject and looking at what makes us who we are is a part of that. Whether it is our ethnic culture that plays a vital role, or if it’s what we see around us, I want to understand the relationship between culture and identity. This topic has always played a key role in the creation and promotion of fashion. The clothes and accessories bought are there to communicate a message about the person wearing it. That is why there are so many style genres/ aesthetics that are popular. That is how trends are created.

Now, with the rise of global consumerism and the developments in technology, it has never been so easy to access influences from all around the world. Many countries are becoming multi-cultural and generations are changing. However, in recent years there has been a growing tension surrounding the movement of people and immigration – mixing cultures. With messages promoted during the ‘Brexit’ campaign and the US presidential election culture has been a hot topic. Culture and identity is a very current area at the moment that I want to explore.

 My initial inspiration for this project came from my grandparents. I found myself comparing my life to theirs and noticing many differences. It made me wonder about what shaped me, what made me the person I am today. This is an area of interest that I want to explore, relating this project to myself.

 My inspiration also came from the idea of cultural appropriation in Fashion. With the controversy surrounding the Marc Jacobs 2017 fashion show where the models wore colourful dreadlocks and the topic has only become more popular. Cultural appropriation is the borrowing (or stealing as some people call it) of cultural elements from a (usually minority) culture without understanding and appreciating the context of those people. With the rise of social media and changing attitudes towards different races, many trends such as ‘Boxer Braids’, ‘Baby Hairs’ and ‘Athleisure wear’ (symbols of Black and Latin American culture) are now being popularised in the West. These movements have inspired young influencers such as Amandla Steinberg to create messages about cultural appropriation and its harmful effects.

Another example are festivals such as Coachella and Burning Man are promoters of self-expression and vibrant clothing. Many use these events to wear tribal inspired makeup and clothing.

 In terms of outcomes for this project, I have been inspired by the creative process in part 2. Creating a publication and fashion film were exercises that I would like to continue. I also want to improve my photography and styling in this project as well as my practical skills on software such as Adobe Photoshop and InDesign.

 My aim overall is to explore the relationship between culture and identity, learning about myself and others along the way.

#Final Major Project #fashionproject #projectrationale #fashion student #fashion communication #artfoundation #art foundation #athleisure #cultural appreciation #cultural appropriation #culture and society #the human condition

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(beautiful collaboration between Polish artists to honour traditional slavic headdresses - photographer: Ula Kóska, makeup artist: Beata Bojda)

I N T R O D U C T I O N   T O   M Y   F I N A L   M A J O R    P R O J E C T

CULTURE + IDENTITY

Looking into the relationship between culture and identity, my final major project seeks to explore what makes us who we are and how identities are created. Coming from a culturally rich background, I hope to learn and discover what these things means to others and what influences shape the people we are. Is that mainly because of our culture? Or are we influenced more by other things?

- Danielle Samantha

#fashion #fashionproject #foundation #foundation diploma #final major project #art foundation #uca #fashion student #fashion communication #photography #styling #makeup #hair and makeup #costume