British Myths

This series of photographs was inspired in part by the work of Judith Golden. My intention at the start of this endeavor was to create composite, mixed media pieces exploring the narratives of British folk legends and myths. Staying true to my conceptual intentions, I completed a series of photographs, each illustrating a story from British culture.

The work evolved into more experimentation with media than I had originally anticipated. I had intended to keep my work more photographic in nature, contrasting with Golden’s photographs, which at a glace could be perceived as drawn illustrations. The conclusion of this piece shows parts of my images, which are purely photographic, and parts, which are solely created with different coloring mediums. I also played with the use of words in the form of titles to aid in conveying the main idea. For this part of the images I used ink and parchment paper. Overall the work is different than first envisioned.

The feel of the work is very bright., continuing the trend in most of my artwork that is made in color. I worked to match specific colors to identifiable emotions and use it in a way to give clues to story lines. The style of drawing is intended to support the idea of a myth, something that is not true, and yet holds a grain of truth that can be seen in traditions. Additionally, in my research I noted the overall themes and lessons in each legend. Many of them were religious, and I feel aimed towards children, in order to teach a social norm. I kept that concept in mind when choosing the drawing style.

In all, I feel that making this series of photographs was very beneficial for me. It showed me a new way to approach work, in which I needed to control my settings much more rigidly. This allowed me to hone my editing skills and experiment with my style of work. I definitely want to expand on the conceptual idea of folk narratives and the mixed media aspect of my work. I feel that both areas can be pushed to further improve my photographs.