As I write this, I have received feedback from eight students which has grown. My first peer feedback had four responses and the last one, five responses. I think it worth commenting on the standard of the feedback. This has grown and developed and is more and more helpful to me and at the same time, more time consuming to absorb this. Whether this due to educational journies of my peers or is in part due to feeling more comfortable and aware of my work am less sure. Maybe a combination of these things.

My first responder commented about my initial image this month as being “quite powerful and not a little disturbing”. This is what I was aiming for as a work investigating liminal death space. I do wonder how much of the impact might be visual and how much because my peer group now know my back story to this project? Additional comments from this student about my ideas of texture and maybe of using layering up physical things which might bring another sense of texture. This seems similar to a previous tutor who commented that he enjoyed the tactile sense of my physical pieces. The student recommended the work of Miho Kajioka and her textured work created in darkroom so produce analogue prints which are regarded as not only images, but also as objects. I will investigate this work further. One final point here was perhaps arguing against placing too much value in feedback. My work relates my experiences and studies to my creative works but that the intensity and strength of the emotional depth is what should lie at the heart of my work.

Comment from another student; my initial image produced a sense of the liminal space which this student imagined as fading to nothingness. My image created a sense of “active disappearance” with its lack of colour, the roughness of the texture and the haziness of the presentation. The sense of the photograph itself as fading to nothing and being a “victim of demise”. The student commented that this is like memory. One suggestion was to consider exploring my imagery from the perspective of my daughter. I would have to think on this as it would strip out the photograph as a tool memory as the dead have no memories. One final comment was on construction of my image and in the layers and outlines of album images. I have been exploring this in many different ways. One idea was to use this outline on the raw plasterwork I use in many of my images. A final thought was that my best work seems to come hand in hand with periods of feeling lost and disconnected. I love this idea that only in the place and mood of the liminal space am I best placed to interact with it.

Another student commented that my theme seems well developed and clear. My ideas of layers of memory and loss seemed to him to work well with idea of liminality. He spoke of my ‘world view’ and of death as an end and that he didn’t agree. I felt that some of the comments here related to his own work rather than specifically to mine but was interesting all the same. I suppose that if death wasn’t an end, that would drastically change my sense of the liminal death space.

A fascinating comment next about whether the “infinitely depthless surface of our monitors with the electro-neural processing of the brain being mirrored by the internal process of our devices…”  This a very interesting comment. Is the starting point for liminal space our computer screen or the surface of our phones? A surface that is flat and shiny with finger prints. Do the smudges and finger prints hint at something beyond that which is contained and displayed on these screens? The student commented on difference between works with real texture and those with a digital texture. They also suggested trials with colour album photographs to see how that changed the feeling. Lastly they wondered about my graphical images of child perched on edge of a cliff and suggested the scale of this would be interesting maybe in a gallery setting making the cliff really big. I might further explore this idea with other high places such as buildings or maybe famous tourist spots such as the Eiffel Tower.

The next piece of feedback thanked me for my words expressing the challenges of home study. They raise issue of time and of art withing academic structure. I think I agree that the time limits of a course contain and shape our endeavours. I suppose they also help produce a way of working which in the future we can follow or reject as we please. Once again, the favoured image was first one I presented. Comment was that it reminded student of dreams with fragmented memories randomly (or seemingly randomly) fitted together. My work reminded student of early spiritualists and surrealists and of an auro left behind by the body. My idea of texture was interesting but how was this framed through use of words which made the idea more sensible. How would it have appeared with no words? Walter Benjamin and Lacon were mentioned along with “Liminal Landscapes” by Hazel Andrews and Lee Roberts.

Very interesting feedback from another student. They spoke of folk tales and the symbolism around the creation of the world – https://spiritsofthewestcoast.com/pages/native-american-symbols

Loose threads of memory and the survivors of war and Jan and Aleida Assman’s theory on cultural memory –

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_memory

And Kubler Ross abd research into grief –

https://www.ekrfoundation.org/5-stages-of-grief/change-curve/

I had a quick look at this. It seems to eb one of these ideas about the stages of grief which I am very wary of as many of these the end stage is where we “recover” or are “healed” from the state of grief. I do however love the colours within her charts tracking the emotions around grief. A very interesting idea could form from that.

An interesting outcome from looking at my work was sense that there was a disconnect for them and that they had difficulty connecting my images with liminal space and that the children in my images are lacking context. These too distanced from the ideas of life and death. One suggestion was around how my story is told whether in an old sense or a modern sense? Is this down to taste or a wider sense? I will think on this.

The next student’s comments were more emotional based around the feelings, empathy and friendship. They comment on the suffering of those who remain, “Memory supports the bridge which, however, crumbles underfoot, just as the sharpness of the images, which fade, overlap and blend.” A very thoughtful and emotional response worthy of thinking about. If my work capable of producing such a response then would feel very proud.

Interestingly, none of the comments from students picked up on my use of text so I wonder if this ineffective in communicating my ideas. Interesting too, that my idea of texture as a tool of the image rather than as an expression in words. Yet at same time many students commented on my words and how they took meaning from what I said. I wonder about a test piece exploring liminality is a creative sense using words in an image?

This has been a difficult period in my studies. My work was frustrating me and seemed slow and, in some regards, does still feel slow to me. I felt I was being pulled in different directions by the demands of learning and the mental stresses of my project. My collaborative work and trying to understand how specific strands within these projects interfaced with my research to date, thinking about this with respect to my dissertation and, of course, fitting in home life. At the same time as this, I acknowledge that my work in dealing with personal loss means that I sometimes feel low which is normal but that doesn’t make it easier to deal with. I felt as if I had locked myself away trying to figure out this puzzle and was beating my head against wall which isn’t always the best for mental health. I worried about why I was having such doubts at this period in my studies. Shouldn’t my thoughts be nailed down by now? I had periods when I wasn’t putting pen to paper, or camera to eye, and was instead thinking. I now feel that this dark period has had some positive outcomes as things are starting to coalesce and make more sense and I am coming back into the light. I am still busy but have found a different perspective and sense of direction.

I have been spending time writing my dissertation which has involved drafts and redrafts, corrections, replanning, doubting myself and scratching my head but also of progress and a sense that things are maybe starting to flow. I have also been working on collaborations for my external facing project. This has involved creative test pieces but also research, looking for joins between what I been working on so far and these external influences on my work. The collaborations have started to spark different ideas and at the same time made me revisit some of my own ideas around memory and loss and the space between life and death which encompasses grief.

I think, for my fellow students reading this, the message I would like to give, from my own experiences so far, is that none of our work exists in complete isolation. The lonely ride that is home study comes with opportunities for help whether from tutors or, as we are lucky enough to have, a good peer group with different experiences and ideas and the confidence to shout out and offer criticism and feedback while at the same time not being judgemental and to share a laugh, which I think is a neat trick.

I asked for peer feedback on my creative test pieces alongside which I have given some written thoughts on my work. I decided that posting my research or my dissertation to this peer group was too much of an ask. the feedback on my creative works came back from 10 different people which was really impressive but at the same time, was time consuming for me to unpick and try to make sense of what had been written and to think before I decided whether to accept or reject this feedback. As I worked on this feedback I decided that i had made the right choice not to trouble my peers with too much written work.

Link to latest creative works –

https://richarddalgleish.net/liminal-test-pieces-3/

In addition, I provide a link to the feedback received from my peers on my creative test pieces –

https://richarddalgleish.net/2023/09/05/feedback-6/

An update of my project plan this month shows more focus on the dissertation for coming months.

The change from tutor feedback to a mixed model of tutor and peer feedback is a new development for me which appears in the 3.2 unit.

I presented work to my peers using the Context and Audience Forum but also sent my work using the 3.1/3.2 group email. It is worth pointing out that the peer group consists mostly of students at different levels of the 3.1 unit. This is because there are currently very few of us working on the 3.2 unit so to only ask my 3.2 peer group would have limited potential responses. This means that the feedback is returned to me from students at very different levels in their own learning journies. I received feedback from four students. I write my notes on this feedback based upon the particular part of my work they wished to comment upon rather than who that student is.

Firstly, some comments on my research. A peer gave feedback saying of my research, “Very well written and your depths of research is astounding”. This is difficult to put into context. Is my research seen as well written and at good depth based on the place this fellow student is at in her own studies? I have just received limited feedback on my 3.1 submission from assessment and get little sense from assessors on the quality or otherwise of my research other than to say that I, “engaged very well with varied research, visual and academic”. Continuing with my peer feedback a helpful comment on my research was in terms of how I wrote it down, “cosmetically: I would probably work with some more paragraphs, thinking about reader friendliness” This is easier feedback for me to react to and to attempt to make changes to my work based upon such a comment. Another piece of feedback was that my research is “interesting and clearly relevant” and that my commentary included disagreements and uncertainties. This was good to think about. I do try and make my work accessible and readable. Lastly on research I received feedback on my ideas around ‘thin places’. This was interesting to me as student mentioned being trapped between two worlds and of need to mourn and of a possible reluctance to stop mourning.

My creative works received feedback. Some comment on my creative works exploring liminal space which I described as “stressful and uncomfortable” and an understanding of my idea of using red and white. My idea of the red was almost of a river of blood. Mt idea of the white was as empty space. Another student commented that the bench perched at the “edge of nothingness” and of the feeling of peering into the unknown. However, another student commented that the bench could be seen as something linked with idea of taking a rest and enjoying a view which was in contradiction to my thoughts of stressful and uncomfortable. More thoughts on the bench were that it very static. Does it fit as a symbol into that fluid and confusing liminal space? A view that the test pieces I showed here were “powerful” and needed very little narrative. One comment which was interesting was on the monotone images. These were described as reminding a student of dreams or nightmares, “I feel memories of death should not be in colour, even if they start that way, the colour will surely fade?” This is very interesting feedback. I wonder if we record memory in colour? Another comment on this work was of abstract image conveying emotional pain but that adding people to my images changes this pain to be more personal and mixes the therapeutic and photographic sides of grief and of photography.

Some works for me to look at, Richard Mosse’s work using infra-red, Burtynsky’s overhead shots of developmental edges for example where forest cut for palm oil plantations, Sally Mann’s proud Flesh, Stephen DiRado and his pictures of his father and his dementia journey. Lastly, there were a couple of links around liminal space a student looked out for me:

https://www.verywellmind.com/the-impact-of-liminal-space-on-your-mental-health-5204371

https://www.forbes.com/health/mind/what-is-liminal-space/

I received feedback on the practicalities of my studies. My dissertation outline plan included thoughts on the question and reasons behind my written work. A student asked if my reasoning behind my work should be as personal or should it be “impersonal, intellectual and learned?” There was also a query on how achievable the first 2,000 words of my dissertation by the end of May. More feedback on my dissertation was on whether photography a tool to forget or to remember and maybe answer that it a tool to aid understanding? “A lens with which to examine the situation, perhaps a way of achieving comprehension from behind an emotional shield.” Am not sure I accept that the camera is a shield not idea raised in this feedback that “time heals”.

In summary, very useful feedback but at the same time it took me a long time to try and make sense of it and to write this summary. I booked a small meeting with my tutor to supplement the peer feedback which helped me a lot and firmed up my understanding. That idea is something I think I will repeat in future months where I receive peer feedback.