When I started the MA in Fine Arts a couple of years ago I had difficulty in thinking of a theme where I could bring my photography skills and knowledge into a Fine Arts setting. In the third week the tutors told me about the work of artists I could easily relate to and I was hooked, a scientist could dabble in the arts. I changed my mindset and tried to think of myself as an artist, but it’s a hard route.
I have always loved reading and in the ‘publish or perish’ academic life, I did a lot of writing. I also did an OU course on Creative Writing, since I found it a stress-relieving diversion.
I became interested in making a photobook last year and now I am tending to include photobooks in my MFA project. In the past I made a few photobooks, but they were without text and just good photos, mainly of a photographic trip, with no text. However I would like to try to do some versions of a photobook during the MFA. A dissertation, a memoir and several photobooks of the different themes in my work on the Wallet might be the starting point.
“The medium is the message”
as Marshall McLuhan said, so maybe the photobook is the work.
From Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan ©1964
