FINDINGS: Using these findings how can we address the writing-rewriting of original/unoriginal material?

 

1.

Ekphrasis - Picture of Dorian Grey or The Girl with the Pearl Earring.

An early recommendation for this PHD process, was exploring notions of Ekphrasis, and historical ideas which pertain to: changing of images into words. Ekphrasis is a rhetorical device in which by defining form and essence, one medium of art attempts to illuminate and relate to another medium. This specifically led to thinking about popular literature, inspired by art or paintings, such as Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier, where the writer tries to imagine the life of a Girl from a Vermeer painting. Setting this character in a historical place, based on where and when the painting was made. However, this writing style is a very obvious approach to recontextualising an image so one wanted explore and look at new and interesting ways to do this, such as in Wilde’s, the Picture of Dorian Grey, where the painting/art is treated quite differently, here, it is inside the story itself. Unlike, Chevalier’s which imagines a storyline or life events inspired by a real person that was painted, in Wilde’s work it’s more about what paintings do to people, and how they Capture/Mirror and perhaps skew reality; akin to the Alice’s Wonderland in Carol’s work, which also plays with ideas about place and time.

Using ‘The Great Battle’…in the first work, the first NARRATAGE story uses characters from this picture and places/images into a written narrative…

This story sequence uses nostalgic memory, written in the first person. Also, It was decided here to utilise ‘A Hero’ Tale myth style (as that also related to the (ethical) ‘…Great Battle’ image itself), and the characters in the story are taken from this Image, interjected into the story and they interacte with a main character, assumed to be the writer. Initially this had a form that was considered to be a writer’s (Artists’) own voice but quite soon into the writing process, the notion of What voice was being used? sparked a considerable amount of discussion. Conversations around ‘Voice’ were unsettling and outside of any comfort zone because as an Artist, one rarely considers this factor. Artist’s usually think what does an artwork mean? and what does it communicate? but rarely, if at all, What voice is being used or what voice should one use? Therefore, this was deliberated until a new understanding of ‘Voice’ in writing was understood, as of course this is a significant factor in the creation of a Narrative. Therefore, this notion of ‘Voice’ was unpacked, and was then understood as not just there, but must be carefully considered.

Because this initial assumption was always to use one’s own voice, the initial ‘Voiceless’ approach, however was derived from remembrances of visits to Venice and used life-events, that were tweaked and further contemplated, but this soon led to a shift in thinking about the possibilities regarding using a multitude of written Voices. So here was a shift, from “whom am I?” to “whom could I be?” and also how should my personal; writing/notes/memories relate to other texts.

It makes sense that In this first story, although there are various different elements added here, the text isn’t very Collage-y in terms of using other writers appropriated words,

At this point the writing processes was still being developed, both during and within the writing itself. But these experiments allowed for a comparison of aspects from my previous art practice, and think about how these could be conveyed in this writing.

Story 1: Summary/Conclusions

In the GIGATAGE image, there is a landscape (site) where characters from internet image searches are added to it. These images are of people characters that are appropriated from different stories (films, cartoons, etc). The collage elements of the image, are freely digitally cut and pasted (Ctrl C / Ctrl V) to invent a playful visual story of sorts. In the writing I hadn’t got there at this point, in knowing that it is OK to freely use appropriated text to add to (play with) in the creation of Narrative place (site).