Had a good critique with the thesis group tonight...I've got a good idea of the space my work will have to show in the gallery and I'm excited to display my instillation and portrait works together as cohesive bodies of work. Looking at my work now, I'm really impressed at what I have accomplished as a photographer, pushing my work out of the two dimensional realm into space where my viewers can interact with them. Earlier in my blog I mentioned how I was inspired to create experiences that bring you in, makes a connection and leaves an impression, a residue...and more so, something that feels and makes you feel. I felt that I could do more with my photographs and that they themselves had more to offer. Taking the artistic steps and pushing and exploring boundaries between the photograph and an instillation has led me down successful paths where I am feeling like I am really creating something rather than capturing an image of a moment that happened someplace else.

Tonight, looking at images from my session with my brother, the group helped me to determine a more cohesive aesthetic among my photos that connects them together. I've been battling between images which focuses on facial expression and size versus compositional elements...All are important, but upon viewing the individual images in groups in relation to one another, I've realized that a focus on the emotion they hold and the size of the people within the photograph make for a smoother and more cohesive collection. This in turn has led to the thought of showing the images in groups instead of individually with a traditional amount of space in between them. My work this year has explored concepts of loss and isolation, but perhaps more importantly, been an exploration and a realization of processes of healing and a common desire for community and connectivity which threads us together.

I plan on having all my photography done by the end of next week so that I can use the rest of the weeks leading up to the show to plan out and build structures to present them in.