Part of your submission for assessment will be a reflective presentation or evaluation. It can be either 750 words or 6 minutes in length, that traces the approaches you have undertaken that have resulted in your final body of work.
I cannot simply reflect on this unit in isolation without reference to the wider degree and my time with the OCA. A tutor was joking with me recently about the fact that I had been with the OCA longer than they have. It is very true. My study for this degree has taken a long time but has been broken by periods when my children were very ill. These traumatic things I have learned are a part of me. I have used them as inspiration in my studies. I have dipped into a black well at my core, bringing parts of my essence into the light. This is not a process which I will end as my time at the OCA ends. My study, the thought which goes into creative works, and the research which underpins my efforts build my practice and will lead to an improved sense of myself, my work and my place in the field of death studies. The final four years of study have been the most impactful for me. Here I was helped by two brilliant and insightful tutors who have helped me no end with my learning and finding trees in amongst the woods. Before that point the course units felt shallow and were a bit of a slow drag. Having said that, each step builds upon the last so perhaps those early units served a purpose. I am now getting ready for my final assessment which is always a time of worry and stress for me in case I have missed crucial points or misunderstood questions.
Key to my approach to my final body of work has been to understand what I was trying to say and, having understood the narrative and the emotional impact of what I wanted, to be clear on how to approach delivery. These things didn’t come into being at the beginning of this unit but slowly seeped into my consciousness as I continued my research through trial and error and with feedback. This had a similar feeling to when I was writing my dissertation. I tried to refine my argument and reject that which wasn’t necessary, resist the temptation to look at a topic too broad because of limitations on size and lessen the depth to which I could explore my subject. Artistic work has the same feeling and the recognition around keeping my narrative tight and avoiding muddled or fluffy and unnecessary complications when presenting visual works. An example of muddled thinking was one of my concerns about my audience’s reaction and whether my work might be too challenging or upsetting. I realised that I should present my work and be faithful to the story I wanted to tell, and if the audience felt my project was too much of an emotional trigger, that was for them rather than for me. I looked at other artists and theorists working in a field similar to mine, looking at their arguments and art. This helped expand my contextual knowledge to understand my project’s boundaries better. In my head, I imagine these cultural and historical boundaries as being like a burial ground beyond the city walls. Beyond my research, experimentation and feedback have been hugely important, allowing me to test different ideas and measure the response against my expectations and hopes. Recognising my preferences in how I like to work was necessary, as I was learning from test pieces which haven’t worked out whether such ideas were to be abandoned or can come to light in future projects. Having a flexible, clear plan that isn’t set in stone helped me, too. I have not held my exhibition yet so there might well be further learning opportunities which will alter my approach. These final steps will impact when I reflect on the outcomes of this unit and reflect on outcomes: what worked, what didn’t, and what could be improved so things become easier next time.
When my undergraduate study is complete, my current plan is to consider looking at some Open Calls and Artist Residencies which would focus on my creative energies while a potential Masters in Art Therapy, which would be a good use of my skills and experiences, would focus more on my academic side. I mention these things here, and although these are not part of the approach I have taken which resulted in my final body of work, they represent my next chapter after the OCA and show the lasting impact my final body or work has outwith the strict university walls.
Use the Assessment Guidance, and the feedback you have received from your tutor to select work that meets this course’s Learning Outcomes.
For the document detailing my work towards the learning outcomes that is shown below, I have tried a different approach from previous years. Previously, I felt that my learning outcomes submission is clumsy. I tried to link individual posts with learning outcomes but often hit on the fact that items of work crossed boundaries and ticked the box for more than one learning outcome which made my submission messy. Based on that, for this final submission I will attempt a different approach. I have highlighted a range of posts selected by date or by project. These have a broad content which shows progress towards multiple learning outcomes. Where necessary, I supplement them with individual posts, for example, showing my research or creative test pieces. I have found that using this new approach seems to result in more reflective comments, which may sit aside from the purpose of providing evidence. I would appreciate feedback on my new approach. From an assessment point of view does this approach feel “light”? It seems to me that using this new approach, I ask more of the assessor rather than trying to fit a post from my blog into a learning outcome when there is often no exact match. I recognise that it is possible I ask too much.
I have also found myself leaning towards using posts I started in previous years’ study but which still feel relevant for my 3.3 assessment. Where I have used such posts, I have revisited and expanded upon my original research.
I have asked for feedback on my submission and on my chosen approach so, based on how my tutor responds, I might yet do another edit of this document.
I embed a PDF document showing my learning outcomes submission for project 10:
Produce a final work statement for your Major Project.
Work Statement/Introduction
My statement to introduce my major project which the coursework calls a final work statement is as follows:
Scatter by Richard Dalgleish is a deeply personal and emotional exploration of the spaces between life and death. Inspired by my daughter’s eighteen-month journey through cancer to her death and by my own parallel journey as I watched her die and was compelled to embark on a period of learning and self-reflection in an attempt to comprehend loss. The richness of my memory of my daughter, my engagement with her death and my gradual acceptance and understanding of grief means that my work is emotionally charged but with a palette which has relevance for the wider society. My daughter Rebecca does not feature directly in this exhibition but her being runs like a thread through this project.
Project Title
I have changed the title of my project, making it less literal and more abstract and conceptual with more room for my audience to engage with my work. I can easily imagine that this title might change several times before the exhibition as I live with the current title and get used to it. I used work on a poster for my exhibition to test what different words looked and felt like. Some of my choices are shown below:
I have produced a few different versions of my artist statement throughout my Photography 3.3 study. I used one of these versions to introduce myself, my motivations and my work when I applied for an artist residency in Italy. It seems to me that the artist’s statement, therefore is not one thing which is set in stone and cannot change. I can shape this document depending on what I need it to reflect on my changing experiences.
When my daughter Rebecca died from cancer, I went through an extended period of traumatic grief which I experienced as if I was on a dark path, shrouded in shadow, in a never-ending half-light. Locked within my thoughts, with whispered secrets, fading memories and regrets. I thought all grief looked and felt like this.
I used my learning experience through photography as a curative journey which opened up new paths with enlightenment and different perspectives which came through learning, knowledge and creative expression. I was inspired to explore the cultural, social, anthropological and politics of loss and to express myself through art.
My description of paths is key to my creative process. My work begins with quiet observation, introspection and research. These steps lead me to a deep connection with my subject, to recognise what it is that attracts me to a particular project and to connect with that project both visually and emotionally. My art practice is rooted in the photographic image, and I work across different genres of photography, experimenting with digital and traditional photography as well as video and physical installations. I am interested in the idea behind an artwork as my central focus. Through my art, I seek to understand and capture a sense of that loss and to unravel our use of memory close to the universal constant at the end of life.
Produce a document of the promotional strategy you have undertaken and the results of it.
Promotion of my Exhibition
In my circumstance with my exhibition in the future, this request to list promotional strategies I have already undertaken and the results feels too early in my process. As my exhibition gets closer, my thoughts around promotion continue to crystallise for me. Many things occurred to me late in the process. In my planning, I have allowed contingency for last-minute challenges whether these involve having to change or abandon some approaches.
When writing this document, it immediately became clear that the design of my exhibition and the promotion are linked and are not easy to divide. There are some items which I list both in this document and in my project looking at finalising my major project.
Shirley Read tells us that some promotional tools, “have application beyond the gallery system and are useful ways for photographers both to keep a record of their ongoing work and to reach a wider audience”. Read suggests different tools which can be used and describes a range of benefits as well as downsides to some of these (Read, 2014, pp. 19–32) Based on what Read says, I have decided to divide my promotional strategy into things directly linked to my exhibition and the space in which it sits, which I will term internal considerations. I show these in my document at exercise 1- Finalise the Major Project for Public Output.The items which relate to my promotion with a wider reach in mind, I list below and will term external considerations.
Internal Considerations
While considerations around the internal space do not always link to the choices I make for my promotional strategies, they do impact and direct that strategy. I have gathered some thoughts about the exhibition space.
My exhibition isn’t huge, it will not be in a gallery of national or international standing. I won’t attract a huge number of visitors. The works I show are tailored to that space and my promotional efforts are scaled to reflect this.
Thinking of those who don’t live nearby, I will make a video walkthrough of my exhibition and will post a link to this video for those unable to attend in person. This video will not capture the atmosphere of the space and my works will be seen second hand which will lessen the impact but I feel there will be interest in such a video.
I see this as the public-facing side of my exhibition.
I have produced an exhibition poster which doubles as the front page of my newspaper/zine. This allows me to play around with fonts and layout and see how different titles change the feeling I have for this major project. I show this below:
From Read’s book, there is a list of promotional tools. Some of these I think are good ideas, some I feel aren’t suitable for me and some are of interest but I have not found the time to pursue these. This last group include things I will carry forward in my journey beyond the OCA.
As I worked on my project, I looked at what other artists had done to promote their work, sales, books and if they held an exhibition, what did it look and feel like? Artists such as fellow student Mirjam Lorek as well as students who finished their degrees before me and whose work I found from the Degree Showcase such as Judith Bach, Nuala Mahon and Anna Sellen.
My exhibition isn’t huge, it will not be in a gallery of national or international standing. I won’t attract a huge number of visitors. My promotional efforts are scaled to reflect this.
The gallery in which I place my exhibition serves as a vehicle for publicity. The gallery will publicise my work on their website and on social media. Their social media posts provide a sense of a countdown to what is coming in their gallery and continue while the exhibition is in progress.
I will replicate the gallery’s social media posts using my social media accounts and my personal website. Starting long before my exhibition, I have been posting regularly to Instagram to build a sense of my work, to grow an audience and build my network.
I have designed a small logo which I will use on all my promotional material. This provides a simple visual identifier which links me with my work. I show this on business card at bottom of post.
I have spent time updating my personal website, incorporating my logo and getting my email contact form working to allow potential customers and interested parties to contact. I signed up with an email marketing firm, MailJet, to help with the automation element to filter out spam and bots.
MailJet also allows me to build and manage a contact list for promotional emails and newsletters. Such a list would currently include students, educational staff, staff who work at the hospice where I attended a symposium on loss, staff at the hospice, staff at Pfizer and CRUK I worked with on cancer projects, family, friends, old work colleagues etc. I am not 100% convinced that I need this tool right now as I can inform my small group of contacts without such a tool and am reluctant to send out emails which might be considered spam. This tool might be something to consider in the future should another exhibition have a different (bigger) scale.
Business cards. Read says these are a good way of introducing myself and my work to new contacts. I have designed a card which uses my logo.This is shown at bottom of post.
I have produced a newspaper/zine I will have printed to accompany the exhibition. It provides my audience with something tangible to take away from the exhibition. I plan that this publication will be free.to visitors. This is tabloid size, 289 x 380mm and contains 4 pages; front cover, two internal pages facing one another and the back page. I have decided to have these printed on 80gsm white paper. The front page of this is shown in the section above under the exhibition poster.
Thinking of those who don’t live nearby, I will post them a copy of my zine.
Again thinking of those who don’t live locally, I will make a video walkthrough of my exhibition and will post a link to this video for those unable to attend in person. This video will not capture the atmosphere of the space and my works will be seen second hand which will lessen the impact but I feel there will be interest in such a video.
Postcards. Read says that these are useful “as a record of the work, they can be a reminder for potential clients and curators” (Read, 2014, pp. 20–21). I have not planned on producing postcards as the newspaper/zine I have designed serves the purpose of a reminder of my work. Maybe the postcard is simpler and smaller. I will consider the benefits against the cost of making postcards and will discuss with the gallery curator.
CDs. Read says that CDs should contain a sequenced set of images. I do not feel there is any need to produce CDs. This is not something I plan for my exhibition.
Portfolio Reviews. This is an area I wish I had more time to explore as I worked through this unit. In truth, the artist’s residency swallowed a lot of time and while the feedback I got on my work at the residency was invaluable, I would have liked to have taken a step further and presented my work to a wider body for critique. Read suggests that portfolios are helpful to consider the order of a project and to see how works look at size and with different papers and print quality. I will print my work for the exhibition and show the curator at the gallery in advance of my exhibition. This will perhaps be a small-scale portfolio review relevant to the specifics of my project.
On the printer’s site where I ordered the business cards, I looked at what other promotional materials I could order. There is everything from mugs to pens to postcards to gift vouchers. I do not see these as adding value to my exhibition. One thing which did catch my eye were small stickers with my logo which I could have printed and these could be used to seal any small works with tissue paper. This idea depends on whether I want any smaller versions of my work for sale. On one hand, this perhaps makes my work more accessible for ownership but on the other hand, might it dilute the impact of my major project? Are these stickers more bother than they are worth?
I will contact OCA and Visual Arts Scotland as each publicises degree shows.
My printing and mounting are expensive so I wonder whether the print shop I use would like some publicity shots of my work, this would help publicise my work and at the same time, they would receive publicity. There might be a financial benefit to this.
It seems easy to imagine that the first time of putting together an exhibition has an element of trial and error. I have tried to think of different ways to promote my work but recognise that the next time I was to build an exhibition this would be an easier experience as I would be able to rely on my experiences good and bad.
If I consider that the art gallery space has an inward gaze. Many have no windows, with plain walls and ceilings and the hushed voices of visitors who shuffle from one artwork to the next. It seems that art galleries are like libraries where the artworks and books are the windows. These virtual windows don’t let us see the outside in a direct way but they permit the mind to leave the shell of the room and to roam free. Brian O’Doherty writes about how we see the building or room which houses the gallery space before we see the art. Ideally, “The ideal gallery subtracts from the artwork all cues that interfere with the fact that it is ‘art.’ The work is isolated from everything that would detract from its own evaluation of itself.” (O’Doherty, 1986, p. 14)I think it is impossible to completely divorce an artwork from the space where it is placed. O’Doherty goes on to speak of the gallery space and how it interacts with the artworks placed there, is the empty gallery filled with “elastic space” by which I take the meaning of potential? “[The gallery’s] content leads in two directions. It comments on the ‘art’ within, to which it is contextual. And It comments on the wider context- street, city, money, business – that contains it.” (O’Doherty, 1996, p. 322). These thoughts around art and space are not necessarily things which I can change but it adds importance to the comment made to me by my tutor that I should not allow the practicalities of space to dictate my narrative. Bruce Barnbaum tells us that photographs deserve “appropriate presentation” He expands on what appropriate might mean, saying, “The presentation should enhance the photograph without overwhelming or detracting from it. The best presentation is understated, simple and conservative.” (Barnbaum, 2013, pp. 241–242) Barnbaum writes about the choice of mount rather than the exhibition space, but his comments apply to both points.
Another thing which at first sight might seem of little importance concerns the text which is attached to the image and which introduces the project. John Berger writes of the inability of words to adequately capture the essence of photographs by André Kertész. “…each image is indescribable in words. Appearances have their own language.” The photograph Berger tells us is “weak in intentionality. (Berger, 2013, pp. 65, 137). Terry Barrett agrees, writing about the “cultural myth” that photographs can be seen as a “Universal language”. Instead, he says that “photographs, despite their usually great specificity of information, are relatively indeterminate in meaning.” (Barrett, 1997, p. 114)This point is crucial to designing my exhibition, how I position my work and form a sequence, how I introduce my project and how I title each work. The words have a special place, as the wrong choice can change the context of my art. Berger tells us of images of book burning and says that the captions are needed to understand the photograph’s significance. (Berger, 2013, p. 65)This idea of fixing the significance or context is of vital importance, as I saw when I experimented with the medical scan, transferring it to the art gallery wall. The words, or indeed the lack of words, which can help guide the audience to a certain place or the lack of words providing no guidance, clearly have a pivotal role. This reminds me of work I researched earlier in my degree about Alfred Stieglitz and his photographs of clouds. These works were seen as being less representational than pictures of landscapes and of static things and were much more anchored in the emotional state of the photographer and the audience. The images of clouds “could express pure emotion, paralleling the artist’s own inner state”. There is an element to my work which exists in this emotional state. How the images aided by my words combine to make one is part of my project, but it is interesting to consider Stieglitz’s Equivalents and to see how my work measures up in terms of visual art assuming nonrepresentational, emotionally evocative qualities. (The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 2016) I am stuck by how Stieglitz chose to title these works. The first series of photographs was titled “Music: A Sequence of Ten Cloud Photographs”. Getty Museum tells us that “brooding black skies evokes the personal, familial tumult then occurring in Stieglitz’s life.” (Getty Museum Collection, 2024), and yet there is nothing in the title of these works to hint at this turmoil. Instead, the audience must decipher this from the shade of the clouds, the land and the mood of the photographs. There is a mismatch I see between the titles and the artist’s emotional state. There is a lesson for me when I attach words to my own artworks. Berger writes of the choice of the photographer in whether to explain the message behind their work through the photograph itself to explain the meaning of its recording. “Photography is the process of rendering observation self-conscious.” (Berger, 2013, p. 19) An extension of the explanation of the artist’s meaning is to add words. The choice then of which words, how many words, the order of words and even the font used and the size of the words requires much thought.
References
Barnbaum, B. (2013) The Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression. 1st edition. Santa Barbara, CA: Rocky Nook Inc.
edition. Santa Barbara, CA: Rocky Nook Inc.
Barrett, T. (1997) ‘Photographs and Contexts’, in Goldblatt, D. and Brown, L. (eds) Aesthetics: A Reader in Philosophy of the Arts. Prentice-Hall, pp. 110–116.
Berger, J. (2013) Understanding a Photograph. Edited by G. Dyer. London: Penguin Classics.
O’Doherty, B. (1986) Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space. Lapis Press.
O’Doherty, B. (1996) ‘The Gallery as a Gesture’, in Greenberg, R., Ferguson, B. W., and Nairne, S. (eds) Thinking About Exhibitions. London: Routledge, pp. 321–340.
Getty Museum Collection, (2024) Stieglitz, A. (1922) Music: A Sequence of Ten Cloud Photographs, Getty Museum Collection, Available at: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/104JCV (Accessed: 27 December 2024).
The Alfred Stieglitz Collection (2016) The Alfred Stieglitz Collection: Equivalents, Art Institute of Chicago. Available at: https://archive.artic.edu/stieglitz/equivalents/ (Accessed: 23 December 2024).
Part 2 – Layout
As part of my planning, I visited the gallery a few times, I have spoken to artists holding exhibitions and to the curator. I have a plan of the gallery space and have taken photographs showing the space.
I have gathered some thoughts about the exhibition space.
My planning and execution of the exhibition will have a huge impact on how successful it is and how my audience views my works in the gallery space. With that in mind, I have contacted the gallery to provisionally book two weeks from the 9th April 2025 and ask about their specific rules and guides for setting up the exhibition.
A CSV inventory is required for all the works in my exhibition including any smaller prints should I decide to produce these. Each item needs to be individually coded and priced and these details added to the CSV inventory.
A Word document listing all of my items. The document is to be used to colour dot all sold items for collection at the end of the exhibition.
Thinking of the opening night, the gallery needs to know if I require contacts for local wine/beer merchants and catering.
Opening hours and days. The gallery opens from Wednesday to Sunday, 11.00 am to 5.30 pm.
A deposit of 50% of cost is required in advance of the booking. The gallery charges £200 per week plus a 15% commission on sales.
Setup of exhibition. Gallery staff would meet me the day before the start of the exhibition to help set it up. This is normally done between 9.00 am and 5.00 pm.
Exhibition description for use on their website and social media posts.
Pre-exhibition requirements are that an A1 poster, project description and deposit are required 3 weeks before the start date. The CSV file and list of stock is required before the exhibition setup and before the delivery of my exhibits. While the exhibition description sits within the gallery space, it, like the exhibition poster, also has an external outward-looking element and is used to speak to the wider audience to try and draw them to the gallery.
Layout, Order and WordPlacement
Along with my choice of the order of my work, the titles I will assign to each image and how the introductory text sits within my exhibition are things I have spent time on over the past few months.
Labels – My artworks will use labels which I will print at home and mount on foam core. To attach on to the gallery wall I will use double-sided foam tape.
Project Introduction – The introduction will match the font used on my labels and will be printed at home and mounted onto foam core board. I will attach to the gallery walls either by using double-sided foam tape or Velcro fastening.
The introduction will be the first element the audience encounters as they come up the stairs into the exhibition space.
“Scatter by Richard Dalgleish is a deeply personal and emotional exploration of the spaces between life and death. Inspired by my daughter’s eighteen-month journey through cancer to her death and by my parallel journey as I watched her die and was compelled to embark on a period of learning and self-reflection in an attempt to comprehend loss. The richness of my memory of my daughter, my engagement with her death and my gradual acceptance and understanding of grief means that my work is emotionally charged but with a palette which has relevance for the wider society. My daughter Rebecca does not feature directly in this exhibition but her being runs like a thread through this project.”
Plan for artwork layout.
The main wall space in the gallery is to the right and left of the fireplace. There is room for one artwork to the left of the fireplace and up to six artworks to the right of the fireplace, depending on size and space I give around each work. I have shown a photograph of another exhibition on page 4 of this document where the artist has placed six images to right of the fireplace.
I attach a list of my artworks showing order and title.
