REFLECTION

Studying the Creative Dissent, Protest, Activism and Art module has really allowed me to gain a deeper understanding and awareness into what art activism actually is. My favourite area of the module was the fact that we were given the chance to participate in the interactive seminars ( even remotely) as I feel that experience and also the process of studying this module has definitely changed and helped me to develop how I view the world around me. For example, putting aside the time to discover and learn the technique of field sensing allowed me to feel closer to nature in a way I would not have explored before.

That process of discovering and exploring something on a deeper level is something that the module has really forced me to do. After being exposed to so many interesting forms of activism it has led to me seeking out new forms of activism, whether I am trying to find accounts on social media, or artists who campaign through their work. It has made me more passionate and inspired to follow and learn from having those kinds of people in my social media timeline.

The huge range and variety of forms and examples of activism and art is what surprised me the most. In terms of my own blogs, I felt that my strengths personally lay in choosing and immersing myself in the topics and movements that I was most interested in. I found myself raising the topics in group discussions, posing questions and researching further. An engagement that was a lot deeper into those issues than I had previously had. I found that my weaknesses, when writing the blog, came down to not being confident enough to put across too much of my own opinion on such controversial topics. Instead I aimed to write each blog from a positive angle which was my own view on the movements.

The process of writing, creating and publishing my blog is something that has really forced me out of my comfort zone, as I had never used or written a blog in my life. I found that reading lots of blogs on topics both related to the module but also non-related really aided my understanding on how to get my point across effectively. For me, I tailored the design, layout and readability around how I personally would want to read such information. My creative decisions were that of consistency and readability, by having a bold, simple layout.

I used mostly online websites and journals to influence and research my blog topics, due to being unable to access as many books, as a result of the isolation period imposed by coronavirus. I found the idea of promoting change and social awareness through art activism so engaging and it is definitely something that I feel even more passionate about, after studying this module in its entirety and I would absolutely consider this route when choosing the topic for my dissertation in my final year .