“Story… Message… Feeling… Connection’ ( Platon, Abstract, 2017)

(Merendino, 2013)

The first image that I chose was a photograph from a series titled ‘The Battle We Didn’t Choose’ by Angelo Merendino. It documents and presents the “intimate moments of his wife’s fight with breast cancer” (Murray, 2013) to tell her story and make a connection with the audience. He felt that family and friends weren’t understanding the truth of everything they were going through, the reality of her experience, and thought that realistic and almost intrusive photography could be a way to battle this. The images feel uncomfortable, as if they are moments we should not be seeing, giving us a real feeling of the uncomfort in their situation even if we may not have experienced anything like it ourselves. The black and white tones of the images really help to highlight the fact that these were moments in history made even more poignant by the final image consisting of her gravestone as a finality to her story and battle.

(Dovnorovics, 2008)

The second image that I chose was an illustration by Karlis Dovnorovics showing and representing how little time we have left when it comes to preserving the animals on our planet. It gives you an impending feeling, as if they are slipping right through our fingertips as well as the hourglass, compelling us to make any sort of action that we can so we don’t feel as though we have contributed directly to the pile of bones gathering at the bottom of the illustration. The scratchy scribbles that have been used to create this also give you that sense of urgency which allows the piece to be so straight to the point, not trying to be clever or side-step the focus, but telling you it straight with the fact at the bottom.

(Evans, 2014)

The final picture I chose is a piece of physical typography created by Danielle Evans for the School of Advertising Art. It is created with pieces of cut and curled paper arranged to create a type reminiscent of a more modern blackletter. Once finished, it has been presented together with other tools and instruments that are typically used within the graphic design course, trying to connect with the studio environment of university whilst also giving a message to potential students that they should live out and follow the dreams they wish to become a reality.

Bibliography

Merendino, A. (2013). Jennifer Merendino waits to speak to a radiologist about treatment of her cancer. [image] Available at: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/husband-photos-wife-breast-cancer-battle-article-1.1315041 [Accessed 25 Nov. 2017].

Murray, R. (2013). Husband documents wife’s battle with breast cancer through photo series. [Blog] NY Daily News. Available at: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/husband-photos-wife-breast-cancer-battle-article-1.1315041 [Accessed 25 Nov. 2017].

Dovnorovics, K. (2008). Global Warming Illustration. [image] Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/103980/Global-warming [Accessed 25 Nov. 2017].

Evans, D. (2014). Live Your Dream Paper Type. [image] Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/18902107/Live-Your-Dream-Paper-Type [Accessed 25 Nov. 2017].

Abstract. (2017). (Documentary) Directed by M. Neville. Netflix.