Phase 4: Weeks 19-24
Define, Test and Prepare
Actual development…
Weekly learning objectives
Critical review ✅
Work out the format of the chosen rooms, which to visualise in a 3D format; the others will be visualised in 2D.
Work up the style to tie the rooms together.
Hurry up
Chase the outstanding content promised by outside sources
What to do about the mentor slot, who to run it past for feedback?
Where we’re at…
Essay is done, being checked over before submitting but I ain’t going to do much in the way of changes (unless the feedback says no…).
Initial ideas for some of the rooms are ok so am planning to start working those up. I’ll be pulling things together into sections for the rooms; keywords to show thoughts on themes will help focus what’s happening in each.
Bring together references per-room rather than moodboards from previous weeks.
Chase Izzie Compton from the journalism course for the Kindermoord article
JJ from The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination isn’t available for a chat until May 6th…
…and there’s only four weeks left to design it all…
????
Bits and bobs of notes (leftovers from the essay)
Tearing down barriers
Stepping through
civil disobedience
Noises: bike freewheel clicking
crowds
traffic
birdsong – (those in the hedges on old A5) hedge sparrows?
Call to prayer whilst climbing through hijabs?
Smells:
countryside
summer rain
traffic
bike oil (WD-40)
Senses:
Heat
Cold
Trapped
free
tense
relaxed
being watched – cameras show your image as you walked in through the entrance
To define the people who do what they do, not just what the have to deal with in order to do it
Keep the human element at the centre, anthropological
Shock and inspire
going into the rooms gives the cause, in the room shows the effect?
Show real-life stories from room to room (corridors leading into the next room start the visitor off slowly experiencing what’s coming next.) Climb through a corridor of hijabs to get into the room, a large room as a sense of relief – show the real life messages/clips/photos
Type-led as much as possible – large statements
Use scale to show the value
Put people in those situations
Make them see why
Put the visitor into the centre of a protest
Oversized photographs with negatives opposite.
Courage
Determination
Community
Against oppression
Design Development: Iran
Close to the wire deadline-wise!
Sticking to the notepad for a while to develop the thinking before working up some visuals – should speed it up but would prefer to work up on digital from the off…
‘I cycle through Tehran, no problem. I am not afraid of the police.’
Quotes for the walls:
“Am I a criminal because I love life and I love cycling?”
‘They said girls don’t ride bikes’
“Women’s cycling is permissible on the condition that religious customs are observed.”
Yesterday she enjoyed the wind in her hair on her bicycle and today she got arrested by the authorities in Iran.
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) October 20, 2020
Why? Because she is a woman and in my beautiful country Iran riding a bicycle or being unveiled make us criminals in the eyes of “Ayatollahs”.
ISIS is still in power😞 pic.twitter.com/ccp95oAzTO
“A person who had recently violated norms and insulted the Islamic veil in this region has been arrested,”
Mojataba Raei, governor of Najafabad, told IRNA news agency.
Womens’ Movement Tea Towels = Irony?
Came across this site with six quotes from the Womens’ Suffrage Movement: https://radicalteatowel.co.uk/radical-history-blog/6-quotations-that-define-the-suffragette-movement/
Is the irony of them being sold on kitchen giftware?
Anyway, they still seem to ring true with what I came across during the research into the state of cycling for women in the Middle East. Especially:
“Men make the moral code and they expect women to accept it. They have decided that it is entirely right and proper for men to fight for their liberties and their rights, but that it is not right and proper for women to fight for theirs” – Emmeline Pankhurst
British political activist, early 1900s. She is best remembered for organizing the UK suffragette movement and helping women win the right to vote.
What would their social media page hold?
Their banners look interesting, could a similar approach be used for the room? What would make it different?
Better context would be to use the hijab somewhere – print their statements on them?
Soundtrack to an argument between a woman cycling and a man telling her to wear a hijab.
There are plenty of places to look for statements and quotes related to the subject. An argument found online, transcript below is taken from the subtitles on the social media post.
Cycling through Teheran streets
Woman: What can you do to me? Go away! I will wear a veil when you wear one as well. Wear a veil and I will wear one too!
Don’t call me “my sister”. Go away!
You’re calling the Police? Ahhh I’m so scared…
Tell them to come to Sadeghi metro station.
I am not going to stop! Don’t tell me to stop!
Hit me if you have the courage!
Man: Please wear your veil.
Woman: I don’t like this veil, I don’t want to obey this rule. It’s my right.
Get lost! I like the way I look without a veil.
Get lost!
What is it to you, I don’t like it.
Man: You’re wrong!
Woman: None of your business! Coward.
Man: How dare you! [Hits]
Obey the rules!
Woman: You piece of shit don’t touch me!
Man: Obey the rules!
Woman: None of your business, I don’t like it.
Man: Obey the rules!
Woman: You piece of shit!
Man: Please obey the rules
Woman: No, I won’t! I don’t like this hijab.
Man: You’re no one!
Woman: Are you someone? Why are you saying that? I don’t want to wear this, do you understand? I don’t like it! I don’t want to wear it!
Go wherever you want to complain.
I don’t want to wear this hijab!
You’ll call the police? Well, call them! I’m waiting, why aren’t you calling them?
He said wait and I will call the police and I am waiting.
Male passer-by: Long live Girls of Revolution Street! Saluting the Girls of Revolution Street!
Woman: I am waiting for him and he’s swearing at me, I’m curious to see what hell he’ll do!
Image Styles:
Dual portraits of women in/out of hijab
View this post on Instagram
Searching for images to fit the bill I came across this portrait set by photographer Caroll Taveras, they fit perfectly. The portrait is of Masih Alinejad is the journalist behind ‘My Stealthy Freedom’ who I tried to contact back in Week 18.
I’ve been in touch with Caroll via her website: carolltaveras.com to ask for permission to use the images in the project. I’m waiting for her reply.
Reply!
I did send a detailed description of how I’d like to use the image (also attached the storyboard to the email), still, I’m the underdog here so I try again.
No reply yet…
May have to use Marina Jaber’s sister in the visuals when the pics come through.
And…
Another image I’d like to use in the visuals. Not so vital in context as the one’s above so should be easier to exchange.
Look for the director and for Artificial Eye from the photo credit.
Reflection
Not enough hours in the week to explore everything…
This week’s goals that have been ticked are that the review has been submitted after being checked over.
Chased up the outstanding content, heard from two of the three (Marina Jaber & JJ from Bike Bloc).
Worked out which rooms to take how far:
Kindermoord and Bike Bloc are the first rooms to work up, these can be compared and contrasted at the same time.
- They’re both protest movements
- Both targeting governments
- Both looking for a change in policy
Kindermoord is aimed at their own government to call for changes to internal policy; the changes in infrastructure to make areas safe for children to play
Bike Bloc’s aim is to cause anarchy and disruption to bring attention to a global matter, on a global stage, targeting multiple governments whilst at a global event.
Kindermoord is from the 1970s, more ‘traditional’ methods are used; gatherings, comparatively low numbers, hand made banners and signs, press and radio.
Bike Bloc from the 2000’s has all the above but on a global scale due to the internet and new technology such as mobile phones and social media giving immediate access all around the world. More publicity directly at their fingertips. (I’ll explore and detail better during the next week.)
Time is short so my plan from now is to set two items to visualise (or at least explore) in sets, ideally per day:
- Brake calliper leaflet
- Kindermoord headline room
Alongside the pairs of visuals, I can build up the content for the event literature. An important part that will tie things together will be a name for the event. We know how I feel about coming up with names… ????????
