Learning Outcome 1:
Develop and realise a self-directed programme of learning which draws from wide-ranging subject knowledge. (AC Knowledge, AC Process) - is largely about your art practice – show how this has developed
Unit 2 has been an incredibly challenging and transformative journey for me. As I write this assessment, I am still in transition and well aware that the journey is far from over.
At the end of Unit 1, in my Study Statement, I wrote:“The plan is flexible and open to change. Unforeseen opportunities, events and encounters may arise, that could impact the plan and offer valuable contributions to my growth as an artist”.
I couldn’t have imagined how much life’s plans would impact mine.
The past six months have been among the most difficult periods I have ever had to face.
I have learnt and I have grown a lot from this. My practice has become more concrete and directed. If at the beginning of the course my approach to practice was wide and playful, it is now more focused, urgent and mindful.
Reflecting on the self-directed program I drafted at the end of Unit 1, I will assess what worked, what didn’t, and what my next steps will be as I move forward in the course.
What I have achieved:
A major turning point in my practice was building my own darkroom. This space became a sanctuary for me, a portal to other dimensions, where I can release control and engage in dialogue with materials. Having access to it 24/7 allowed me to further explore analogue photography and experiment with techniques and materials other than the traditional ones.
I continued to train myself in analogue photography. I learnt how to develop film on my own and how to print the photos autonomously. While I still have a lot to learn, I feel more and more confident with this medium. I have also been reading technical books, which I plan to integrate into my practical work during Unit 3 to perfect my technique. An update of gear, such as new filters and lenses, is also planned.
Here are some scans of my “traditional” analogue photos:
The desert remained one of the leitmotifs of my work. I spent a significant amount of time in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, working on “The Incense Road Experience” (more on that below). This allowed me to look at the desert from new perspectives and engage with the cultural context of this territory. The desert feels like an unconscious space, a void full of possibilities. It is the representation of an internal world. These reflections became particularly significant as I navigated personal loss and grief during this unit.
As much as I enjoy taking “traditional” photographs, camera-less techniques hold a unique place in my practice. I deepened my knowledge reading technical books by Christina Z.Anderson, following courses at Alternative Processes Academy, and engaging with its Discord community. Exhibitions visits were a great opportunity for inspiration and dialogue with other artists/professionals:
My focus during this unit was on photograms in particular. My experimentation with it took a turn when I encountered incense, which has become central to my work. Incense first attracted me aesthetically (or maybe on an unconscious level), but as I worked with it, its deep symbolic and spiritual significance began to emerge and affect me. I’ve experimented with incense photograms and lumen prints, creating works that approach themes of impermanence, transformation and transcendence, exploring the liminal space between the visible and the invisible.
See my first exploration of this material:
I also experimented with different types of incense. Some successful, some not really. The process is still very much ongoing.
These sessions have been a form of discovery and meditation for me. Here you can see a selection of my latest works, which I feel particularly connected to:
I tapped into the theme of memory without even realising it at first. The sudden death of my aunt last July was the beginning of a spiral of pain and losses for my family. There is a lot I still need to process. I am still in the middle of the storm, but my art practice has proven itself to be a great source of relief and support during this time.
On a more positive note, just a couple of weeks ago “The Incense Road Experience”, a multimedia theatrical experience I artistically directed, opened to the public in AlUla, KSA. I adopted a 360-degree multisensory approach, with the sense of smell being the lead. A great opportunity to test out artistic ideas at a large scale. The project was massive and very demanding, but it was also an incredibly formative experience and an invaluable opportunity for growth. I initially saw it as a completely separate entity from my studies and practice, then I gradually realised how the two were actually parallel and feeding into each other.
What I didn’t achieve (yet):
Apprenticeship/Workshops.
I had planned to attend the Experimental Photo Festival in Barcelona in July, a week-long event dedicated to experimental photography and alternative techniques that offers full-time workshops, exhibitions, conferences, and networking. I was really excited about it. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my participation at the last minute due to a family bereavement. I also planned to attend another workshop in Portugal, organised by The Sustainable Darkroom London), but again, personal circumstances made it impossible. I still think that these collective, practical experiences are critical to my development and I am determined to engage in similar workshops and potential collaborations in the coming months.
Maintaining a constant rhythm of practice was impossible. I agree that consistency is crucial to develop a solid and successful practice, but I am learning that this is not the only way to grow. Or in other words, that we don’t all have the same perception of consistency. I am starting to find and embrace my own rhythm and pace. It definitely needs to improve but I find that my practice still matured a lot during this unit.
I haven’t explored all the techniques I mentioned in the Study Statement. I did it quite consciously though. I simply fell In love with the purity of photograms and decided to dive deeper in this technique. I intend, however, to expand my technical skills and extend my experimentation to new camera-less processes in the next Unit.
Next steps:
Experiment with ways to make images smell (good!)
Perfect my technical skills and expand my knowledge of new camera-less processes
Deepen my experimentation with incense.
Continue my exploration of the themes I highlighted in my research paper and in this assessment.
Develop installation ideas with a strong multisensory approach (possibly for the final project)
Attend workshops and/or collaborations to expand my experience and network.
Learning Outcome 2:Articulate a thorough understanding of your research and establish an informed critical position. (AC Communication) - is largely about your research paper and all the different elements of research that connect to it.
Writing my research paper has been a genuine transformative process. It has helped me understand my instinctive attraction to incense and why it has become so relevant to my practice. And I have a strong feeling this is just the beginning.
I traversed a broad and fascinating territory before I could narrow down the focus of my research statement.
When I started the research, I knew I wanted to write something about perception. Rereading my previous posts, I noticed how I unconsciously recorded my perception of smell above the other senses, and how it made certain experiences somehow more memorable, more embodied. This intuition led me to approach olfactory art, but even that was an overwhelmingly vast topic.
The tutorial with Maiko was useful to identify what I was really interested in and which direction to take from there.
All the while I was experimenting with incense in my art practice and I was creating an immersive experience about the Incense Road. It became evident that my research paper needed to focus on incense.
Earlier this year, I read and loved Carl Jung’s “Man and His Symbols” which became the foundation for the theoretical section of the paper.
Jung’s theories of archetypes and the collective unconscious resonated deeply with me. I identified incense as a powerful archetypal material, capable of visualising the invisible and creating a connection to mysterious spiritual dimensions.
My spiritual practice also influenced this direction; it’s an important part of my life and my work, and it continues to shape the way I think about art as a ritual of transformation .
Re reading my study statement from Unit 1 I realised how this research is a natural continuation of my initial interest in spirituality, psychoanalysis and neuroscience.
My research statement, that incense is a powerful archetypal material that can play a fundamental role in modern rituals of art, gave me a better understanding of what I want/need to do as an artist.
We live in a fragmented, desacralised, individualistic society. As a result, human beings feel increasingly lost, isolated and fearful, which makes them very dangerous.
As an artist, I want to create opportunities for people to transcend the physicality of this world and reconnect to themselves and to each other.
By practising art rituals and working with symbolic materials (such as incense), I can explore ways to access and activate our collective unconscious.
Now I see how my previous film work, where I aimed to visualise the invisible and push beyond the physical surface of materials, deeply resonates with the desires and themes that this research has revealed.
One of the most inspiring parts of the research process was discovering other artists who use incense as a medium. Before this paper, I never really encountered artists working with this material. It was insightful to see its potential through the work of other artists.
The second tutorial with Maiko was also paramount to clarify and refine the core of the research.
By this stage, my second draft contained most of the elements I needed, but my passion for Carl Jung kind of overshadowed the main point of my paper.
Maiko’s feedback helped me see a different narrative, much stronger and more focused. Taking the material, turning it upside down and reshaping it from a new perspective has been a great exercise to test my ability to change perspectives and develop multiple narratives from the same starting point. This process is also a metaphor for my practice, naturally.
This research Unit has been a turning point for my practice. Boy, has it been challenging, but it was all worth it. I am confident that the challenges I’ve faced, the discoveries I’ve made, and the “seeds” I’ve planted will have a lasting impact on both my practice and my personal growth.
Next steps:
Deepen my research into psychology, aesthetics of perception and neuroscience to inform and inspire my work
Explore the work of other artists working with multisensory and photography media (with a constant focus on incense, but not only) to stimulate reflections and experimentation.
Reflect critically on how this relates to the themes of ritual, transcendence, and collective experience.
Open up to opportunities to collaborate with other artists and professionals, particularly those exploring similar themes.
Learning Outcome 3:Analyse and critically reflect on your practice and its context. (AC Enquiry) – is largely about your reflective thinking and writing on your blog
If I’m being honest, I had a hard time writing on the blog these past months. I didn’t enjoy it and I felt quite self-conscious about it.
If in Unit 1 I shared (maybe too) many personal thoughts and experiences that might not have been strictly related to my practice, in Unit 2 I struggled to share even the things that were actually relevant to it.
This difficulty was not just about time and energy. I think it was due to a combination of internal emotions and external events: the increasingly personal and vulnerable nature of my work, the crisis I was going through, and the feedback of Unit 1 that affected my motivation and made me feel judged and misunderstood. All this triggered a mechanism of self-censorship.
Jonathan’s guidance was once again invaluable during this unit. Although it took me quite some time to fully understand and digest what he was trying to tell me.
Then came July, and life started hitting me right in my face.
I won’t go into detail here, but my family and I have been going through a painful period of loss and illness.
I spent the past 5 months bottling up all these feelings, trying to balance work, guilt, and the instinct to look strong on the outside. My emotional system entered into survival mode and everything else, including my writing, took a setback.
In this time of uncertainty, the only relief I could get was in the darkroom. Incense started to gain more and more meaning as I worked on my research. Most of the time I managed to dedicate to my practice has been devoted to the exploration of this material, capable of bridging the physical with the spiritual, and deeply connecting to the unconscious.
Continuing Unit 1, the first part of Unit 2 was focused on making my work more personal. I had yet to find my own voice, after spending years using the words of others to express myself.
It’s been and still is a delicate and transformative process.
As the months progressed I could see my work slowly becoming more personal and more independent from my controlling rationality.
During this time, I’ve been writing notes for myself, which helped me reflect on the flow of my emotions and the direction of my work. Yet I decided to keep most of those notes private.
In part I regret this choice as it deprived my practice of constructive criticism, support and exchange. Keeping my thoughts to myself means missing out on dialogue, and that’s something I want to address moving forward.
In Unit 3 I want to work on my attitude and aim to find a better balance, sharing consistently and focusing on what is genuinely valuable for my artistic growth.
During Unit 2 I also worked A LOT.
Balancing a demanding full-time job with the masters course has been challenging, to say the least. It’s been exhausting but also necessary and, in some ways, cathartic.
This project served to fund my master’s and buy me the opportunity to fully focus on Unit 3 and my final project. It also taught me more about the life of an artist than any school ever could (See "The Incense Road Experience" in LO1).
The experiences of Unit 2 also made me reflect on what habit and ritual is FOR ME. My life isn’t constant or stable, and I don’t think it will be for many years to come (nor do I want it to be).
My practice mirrors my identity. It’s not linear but it’s authentic.
As mentioned previously, artists relate differently to the concept of habit/ritual. For some it means spending a few hours in the studio every single day, for others it’s about 72 hours of intensive sessions and then not entering the studio for weeks. And it doesn’t mean they are not working.
That said, I know my consistency can be improved, but I’ve started to embrace my rhythm and trust that my process is valid. And for me, this is a win.
During the summer, more than once I have contemplated taking a year out. But a voice deep inside myself was telling me that it would be a mistake.
Life will always come in the way of art, it will disrupt it and nourish it at the same time. I told myself that if I failed Unit 2, I would still have learnt from it. And a wise man once told me that failure and success go hand in hand in a healthy artistic practice. I now deeply understand what he meant.
Whatever the feedback will be, I feel proud of what I managed to accomplish in this Unit.
Now it’s time to take care of myself. To allow myself to live, grieve, create, succeed and fail.
Unit 3 is full of possibilities. The tough time is not over, but I now know that my practice has the potential to carry me through it. After the emotional rollercoaster of the past months, I don’t know how I’ll react to the challenges ahead. Will I fly or will I crush? The answer is I’m ready for both.
I can already see butterflies fluttering all around:
Next steps:
Develop my practice in the directions I outlined, always leaving space for the uncertain and the unexpected, good or bad.
Expand the ritual aspect of my work, improving consistency and exploring how incense and other materials can create multisensory, transformative experiences.
Do a better job with my blog! Focus on writing what is meaningful to me and my practice, rather than trying to meet external expectations.
Be kind and take care of myself
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