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In our Feb. 28 issue, the Advocate ran the first installment in a three-part series tracking a trio of art majors as they work toward completing their senior thesis projects and earning their BFA degrees. For our second article we asked the students - all of whom happen to be photographers - to update us on how their projects have changed, what they find difficult, and whether they're on track to complete their projects in time. The spring BFA Exhibition begins April 30 at the Emmanuel Gallery, and before then the students must complete their projects and write a four-page thesis describing their artwork, along with producing an artist dossier and creating postcards that will double as invitations to the big event. The stakes are high, but they all seem to be bearing up well under the pressure. Here they tell us, in their own words, how they're faring:
Laura Hamilton
"My project hasn't changed much, it has become more concise and to the point of what I am looking for. I am done shooting now, and starting the final printing process. The most difficult thing at this point is the thesis paper; it's not that bad, it's just hard to talk about your work and start to realize the things you suppress when you're younger or older. I recently was accepted into Rutgers' Graduate program, so that is pretty stressful for me. It has taken my mind off of the photography and more on how I'm going to move, am I gonna fit in, will I make art that says something? 'If you don't have ambiguity why bother?' Kiki Smith said this once in an interview and I think it's a great statement to always keep in the back of your mind, especially when you're in that creative moment of making art.
"I think the title of my work may be 'Our Space;' it just seems right, but that may all change. I am more than on schedule, [on March 12] we had our second-to-last critique and it went really well for Theo, Carly and me. So all I have to do is focus on the printing and I should be on my way."
Carly Moser
"In regards to the direction that my work has gone and the progress at this midway point, I would have to say that I am just building on the more psychological aspects that hinder those that suffer from body dysmorphic disorder. In addition to that I have also dealt with aspects of point of view and have gone in the direction of having multiple viewpoints within the body of work. Within one image an individual may be placed in the shoes of the individual suffering with the disorder and another image will place the viewer in a more voyeuristic position.
"I have shot more to capture the different point of views and also deal with the more psychological aspects of the disorder. I plan to only shoot about two more times and to begin my rough edits for the final show. I also am dealing with the method in which I will be displaying the work; one method in which I am currently exploring is diptychs and triptychs, which is displaying either two or three images together to create one piece. In doing so I hope to give the viewer these multiple perspectives that are crucial to the body of work and how the viewer reads the imagery and the development of the concept behind the piece.
"The most difficult part for me was at the beginning of this semester; I had a moment that I lost my confidence within the work I was producing. I decided to change the content and concept of my thesis that I had begun working on the previous semester. After doing so I went back and forth on what I should do for my thesis and pretty much went into a panic. I think it was a moment that actually aided me in the realization that I should revert back to the original idea, which I believe made the content and concept of my work stronger, oddly enough. I buckled down and researched the disorder and began working on it once again with confidence.
"I am on track as far as I can tell. I am worried about the method that I will be displaying the imagery and how I will be printing the final product at this point, but some way, somehow, I will get it done - I just have to."
Theo Mullen
"Although I have not made any more photographs, I have been able to formulate what I am interested in saying about what I am making. Essentially I will show a grouping of photographs that will be displayed in a design. The design is not necessarily anything graphic, such as a symbol that we see in everyday life. It will move from left to right or right to left, thinner on the sides and rising in the center…I am still using images that are from many different places in the world and from many different views. The content of the images varies quite a bit but this is hopefully used to my advantage.
"What I am thinking about is a way in which we elevate objects or places when we photograph them. In turn I want to create a quality of myth about the images when I make them, by using a system of image making that focuses on the phenomenal as a way of seeing relationships within the grouping of images. When I make a group of images I'm looking for likenesses of some kind; the unifying principles can be as simple as context or the way an image feels. Rather than position the images based solely on their formal elements, I will arrange them according to how they feel to create a system of dialog…in hopes a different state of visual language emerges. Because we are never looking at images or art based on just themselves but based on what the viewer brings to them and in what context they are viewed. I want to investigate the system of observation and discourse.
"The most difficult thing for me has been deciding which images to print and…the theme is not a totally easy thing to decide. I'm thinking about a title like 'Mythologies' or 'Systems/Layers,' not sure of which yet. I have been slowly figuring out which images [to use] and how, and this should be the final. The [montage] is rough; all the images are not straight and in line but the final product will be, with precision.
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