Kseniya Simonova - Sand Animation

Loss in London - Monument

4 of 4

The Monument to The Great Fire of London, erected to commemorate the fire of 1666 and the people who lost their lives to it, is also the site of where six people committed suicide between 1788 and 1842. This is apparently very close to the "official" number of deaths The Great Fire itself caused; as peasants were not considered important enough to record at the time though, its not even close to the actual unknown figure.

Loss in London - Kennington Park

3 of 4

The South field of Kennington Park was used as a public air-raid shelter during the second world war.
On October 15th the trenches suffered a direct hit killing 104 people. It was the largest single loss of life at a bomb incident in Lambeth. 48 of the bodies were recovered, but rescue efforts were hampered and the remaining 56 victims were covered with lime and the trenches filled in, effectively making the park a mass grave.

Loss in London - Marchioness

2 of 4

This small stretch of the Thames between Southwark Bridge and Cannon Street Railway Bridge is where on 20 August 1989, 51 of 130 guests attending a birthday party on the Marchioness drowned after it was run down by the dredger Bowbelle.
The 1,880 ton Bowbelle caused the Marchioness to founder within 30 seconds of the collision, as the meager 46 ton vessel was pushed under water "like a toy boat".

Loss in London - Tyburn Gallows

Photography - Loss in London

Brief:
Produce a piece of narrative photography
October 2009

Description:
1 photo from a series of 4
This central reservation road crossing, next to Marble Arch, was the site of the Tyburn Gallows, the place where up to, or maybe more than, 50 000 people met their maker.
It was one of the first public gallows to not only erect stands for the viewing public, but to charge them to watch the proceedings. Now next to the site ironically sits a cinema where people still go and pay for their entertainment.

Piano Stairs

Great idea, genuinely fun "exercise"...wish i'd thought of that

Random Snooze

Chris Jordan

Just came across this tonight. Really great photos that are very thought provoking and interesting. Such as strong body of work...why have I not heard of this guy before!

http://www.chrisjordan.com/

Kasabian Football Hero

Conservative Sun

Is this what "The Sun" will look like when the election rolls around?

Student Radicalism

Lawrence Zeegen is our new "Head of School of Communication Design Kingston University", after a 12 year stint at Brighton, doing i think, the same job. We haven't had much contact with him as yet, other than a brief introduction from himself on the first day.
He seems like a nice guy, and after such a long time at what I believe to be another great university for Graphic Design and Illustration, definitely has the experience to make Kingston better still.
Today during my daily scan of "It's Nice That" I spot his name on an article he's written for their weekly discussion...so I read it with a healthy sense of interest. (I'll post a link to it at the end of my ramblings).
To summarise; he's talking about how he feels; "tomorrow’s mavericks and misfits are commencing three years of study knuckling down to the proposition of rowing boats rather then rocking boats". He isn't exactly saying that we are all boring, as being boring and not radical are definitely different; but breaking down boundaries it seems we might not be doing.
Questioning why us students haven't rebelled like in the "civil rights Berkeley student rebellion of 1964, the Parisian student revolt of 1968, the Soweto uprising of 1976, even the poll tax riots of 1990" ; is valid, as I have thought similar things on several occasions, and there is a lot to protest about at the moment. But, in my view these acts were radical and influential at the time, and the same demonstrations now, would provoke a far smaller reaction than was achieved then. Art is about progression and doing new things, rebelling in this manner now is not new and we'd probably all be arrested under the "Counter Terrorism Act" or some bullshit very quickly.
Of course there are new things us students could do, but "in recession-hit UK" no-one is going to care about students who get a six grand a year loan, interest free, when everyone else is scraping round for pennies in the sofa. It would basically cause more harm than good I think. There is plenty of fantastic new work out there, but we are in a saturated design student world with thousands more graduating every year with an art/design related degree than did 20 years ago, making it much more difficult to be spotted. Sieving through the sheep takes longer now than ever and more perseverance is required...I have faith that there is good stuff out there.
I must say at this point I haven't spoken to Lawrence about this in person yet, so I'm trying not to be bitchy and slag off his opinion behind his back.
I just feel that the YBA's he referred to later in his article are also not doing anything radical themselves at the moment. Some of their work came out after the countries finances' were in a similar state to what they are now. There is perhaps something to be said for students working in their comfort zone, I don't know, Mr. Zeegen is in a far better vantage point to see that; but this "world crisis" might prove to be the catalyst needed to kick start some more radical student output. Hopefully when my year graduates we can give him some hope that the new generation of students is still radical at heart.

Cable

AlcatraZ Kitchen

CA-1

San Francisco flickr

"Cosmetic" Surgery

Plastic surgery and all the procedures under the umbrella of this term, is without a doubt a spectacular feat in science and technology. However as with most spectacular feats, there lies an equally spectacular fall on the other side. (Newton's 3rd law of motion: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction).
The use of plastic reconstructive surgery is another wonderful string to the medical bow, but i can't help thinking that it's use for cosmetic purposes causes natural evolution to slow down...just a little bit.
The process of natural selection is inhibited by the fact that some people look like a more attractive mate and a suitable spouse to raise young with than what their genes will actually produce.
It basically means that genetically 'ugly'* people are reproducing because they look prettier. Their genes are obviously not affected by the surgery and are therefore producing children that are not as advanced (relatively speaking in evolution terms), had the non-surgically enhanced parent produced children with similarly non-surgically enhanced spouse.
Having said this, as our one underlying primeval instinct is to breed....then giving 'ugly' people the opportunity to breed is probably good in the long term for the human race, in terms of numbers at least. Bigger is not always better though; this being proved countless amounts of times in Africa and the resulting famine...but i digress, Africa is an entirely different can of worms.
This leads me to my underlying point; that "cosmetic" surgery is not merely cosmetic.


*I'm not referring to purely cosmetic looks, but i can also mean recessive diseases that could possibly be hidden in the genes or anything else hiding in the skeleton

I realise I have no evidence to back this up, but its just a blog, so make your own mind up, just thinking out loud really.

Pod

Dolphins off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA.
pretty

Vegas Ambulance

Boys Noize - Jeffer

Apple Globe

I wish i'd done this...really really wish

What's wrong?

Another cool little thing I found on my trawl. Don't know really whose done it, some sort of combination between ChappsMalina design studio in New York and Little Fury which is at least one person, as they refer to themselves as "us".
http://chappsmalina.com/
http://www.littlefury.com/

Ink Calendar

A really cool calendar I found whilst trawling the internet for images during my placement at SalterBaxter.
It's by a guy called Oscar Diaz and uses capillary action to suck ink across the numbers embossed on the page, one day at a time, gradually colouring itself in over the month.

The Visitor 2

The Visitor 2

October 2008

Brief

To produce a piece of work based on the phrase "The Visitor"

Description

Ok this is pretty much the same concept as last time but executed in a more photographic manner.
Using preservation jars I wanted to show the items I had previously listed in a preserved state; as if they were the last of their kind. The jar labeled "Rainforest" is left open to show my other underlying point; that the Rainforests of the world will eventually disappear without significant protection...if they are not protected, this jar is waiting.

Pantone South Africa

Self Initiated - Pantone South Africa
April 2009

South Africa has a long history of segregation and racism. I looked into apartheid; a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the South African government between 1948 and 1994. Part of the laws meant separate beaches for the four ethnic groups (Black, White, Indian and Coloured), as well as other public amenities.
The Pantone swatches are designed as if it were 1994, and would be for the public to carry around. The names of the different colours denote what political and social rights that person would lose depending on how tanned or burnt they became in the Sun. The closer to "Black" they become on their card, the less rights they have.

Saatchi & Saatchi Viral

Funny little viral from S&S taken from its nice that.

Behind The Seen film

Inappropriate

Inappropriate Typography - Public Breast Feeding
November 2008

Brief:
Choose a topic or subject area that could be seen as inappropriate and produce a piece of typography on it.

Description:
My chosen topic was public breast feeding, not that I necessarily think it is inappropriate, but it is definitely controversial and is seen as inappropriate by some people. For this reason I looked at points of view from a nursing mother and the general public, and pretty much just used the quotes I heard.

I Witness Too

I Witness a Geo Cache
With currently 801,490 active Geo Caches in the world, its the world’s biggest treasure hunt. This is one of them stuck to the metal work of Knights Park bridge in Kingston Upon Thames.

(exactly what it says in the box on the image)

Kingston Degree Show '09

Show Ident - Kingston Degree Show '09
May 2009
Joint Project - James Titterton, Jess Harvey and Alexandra Delaney

Brief:
Come up with a concept for the 2009 degree show for the faculty of art, design and architecture

Description:
The concept lay in how we felt that Kingston design students are so into their work, that they have almost become part of it with the amount of effort put in during the run up to the show. It was also about the hard work that goes on behind the scenes before the show is opened.

P.S. this didnt get chosen by the powers that be in suits...and it fucking well should have done, because it was the best idea by a mile
(not bitter at all)

Pig Flu

Sheringham

This was a photo from on a disused train in Sheringham, Norfolk. I think it was at a museum, but it was about 2am and i'd had 2am's worth of alcohol, so couldn't be 100% sure of that. Quite like the photo though.

LSD

Post cards from the edge

This pretty much just was a muck around, but ended up having potential to be quite cool. The idea was that after I had done the words (Long Shore Drift), i'd come back the next day and photograph what long shore drift had actually done to it...alas we left before the tide had gone out again. It's the thought that counts.

Mugabe ebaguM

The reaction in Yorkshire if the President of Zimbabwe stopped by for a spot of tea.

Snow Geese

Moving Image - Animals
Joint Project - Jon Barnett and Kirsty Ayree
January 2009

Brief:
Show animal characteristics in humans

Description:
A fairly ridiculous video. Basically we had the idea of showing how the daily commute to work, was like the migration of birds...or more specifically in this case; Snow Geese.

I Witness

Self Initiated - I Witness
April 2009

Description:
I was originally looking at 'why looking up is important', in the sense of taking in the small details of places you know very well and may have lived for a number of years, but have never noticed; sort of psycho geography, but not really.
It came to me looking a journeys, and more specifically car journeys. Coming into a town or city a different way from usual and not having a clue where you are until you're at your destination....so again kind of lead me back to noticing things you have usually ignored.
These photos show 3 elements of a journey people tend to 'ignore', and I am capturing what is ignored. By chance the 3 final images I chose all had a close link, or were infact animals.

I Witness Bats - Wildlife is something which is quite often and obviously missed whilst on a journey
I Witness Roadkill - The kneejerk "eew" reaction we have when seeing roadkill, but is never thought about again after the initial sighting
I Witness a Zebra Crossing - A Zebra crossing is ignored by a motorist

Irony?

Waste of Paper

Deep...

Flag Hijack

So today is St. George's Day...
I'm all for a bit of patriotism (not that he was actually English; he was Greek)...but I don't feel much sense of warmth when I see the English flag flying high.
I look at it as almost this symbol of racism, the classic English football hooligan, the BNP (I know that's British), the English National Party. Not that I'm saying football hooligans are racist; or that racists are football hooligans for that matter...my point is basically, it conjures images of the not so attractive side of being English, as opposed to what a nations flag should symbolise....

Am I wrong?....I would like to be

Typographic Code

Ok starting now...

Typographic Codes
March 2009
Joint Project - Joe Provis

Brief:
Produce a piece of typography that involves a code

Description:
Looking at creating an 'econimical typeface', we went through 9 commonly used fonts used for copy (Gill, Helvetica CY, Times New Roman, Officina Sans, Baskerville, Caslon, Bodoni, and a couple of others). Then for each letter of the alphabet...A, B, C etc. we found the surface area that each letter covered, from each font. For example the 'A' from Baskerville covered 13% of our set area; this was the smallest percentage covering for any on the 'A s' out of our 9 fonts....therefore its the most economical. This percentage is then translated to a grid of 100 squares;...for 13%, 13 are coloured in. This gives us the code for the letter. This is then repeated throughout the alphabet.
They are colour coded for the fonts that ended up being involved:

Baskerville - Yellow
Caslon - Red
Officina Sans - Green
Bodoni - Purple
Helvetica CY - Brown

Phew...

Ok from now on this is actually going to be a real blog and it will be updated on a more regular basis...do some proper bloggin' : )

The Visitor

The Visitor

October 2008

Brief

To produce a piece of work based on the phrase "The Visitor"

Description

I looked at how nothing in this world is permanent in the grand scale of the universe, and is therefore temporary; like a visitor.

The list on the left is a list of things that would have seemed very permanent at the time they were were around, but did eventually disappear. The right hand image is of the amazon rainforest, and is something which is the source of much political debate, but little action. This is because I believe it is still perceived as a very 'permanent' part of this Earth and people find it hard to believe that with continued deforestation it will eventually vanish as it is a re-newable material. Opinion is similar to what people used to think about fossil fuels....and look what's happened there.

The list is complied with the idea of a tombstone in mind. I would like to maybe have this engraved on stone to evoke this thought more.