wc 30/11/15 Progress, reflection and ideas

Progress

This past week I have virtually completed the concept development document with exclusion of references etc. This is on course as two weeks were planned for both concept and pre-production documents. I also attended the second picture hooks talk which was very interesting.
This week the programme shows three tasks, firstly to complete a first dummy version of the picture book, secondly to complete both documents as hand-in is one week from today and lastly research as required.

Reflection

Working through the concept document made me consider what did I really feel has influenced or inspired me through the time spent on this project so far. The biggest influences or the most impact has been felt on how I now think, the considerations I now take and the places I look for inspiration. My thoughts are on how do I feed myself with new information or inspiration as this will not only affect this project but all future works I produce. What habits can I form that will make me the best artist that I can be? I also realised that I have spent much of my time trying to feed myself in this way, this has however meant that the creation of the work itself has been held back as it was seen as phase two, or semester two the creating the work part of the project.

Ideas

Continue working on story to create first dummy version of book this week. Complete both documents in time for hand-in. The dummy version is important for pre-production and also keeps me on time with new programme of works. The research as required will be changed to experimenting with techniques, material etc. This is more important right now to get a better understanding of the project and also develops the pre-production stage. The research will be required directly after hand-in of the documents, frameworks will be the focus of this research to allow for case studies to be carried out.

Slavery picture books

Due to my decision to create a picture book that portraits the issue of slavery it was important to see what others had done previously. I managed to buy three picture books that deal with this subject matter, however they show the issue within a historical context. The Middle Passage by Tom Feelings is perhaps the most honest depiction of the sheer brutality of slavery. Many scenes of incarceration, murder and rape showing the anguish, pain and suffering of those enslaved. The is a clear division of race a the story is based upon a certain period of time in history. I admire Tom for creating such a piece of work and the publishers who were brave enough to take on such a book. The story is important, it is a part of history, I myself think that the types of things should not be hidden away. Every generation must move on from the past to create the future, however the past should be seen as a learning tool so the same mistakes are not made.

The second book is titled Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt written by Deborah Hopkinson and illustrated by James Ransome. This book depicts slavery through a young girl, the story is in a more hopeful tone. Again the images used define rough times or places, using the cotton fields which were a common place for slave workers.

The third book is titled MOSES When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. This book still remains within a historical context but speaks with a more spiritual voice. The book also offers hope of escaping such terrible atrocities, with the will of God. 

These books are inspiring in many ways, the stories, the illustration and the fact that they have tackled such a difficult topic. However my biggest inspiration is to try and do something outwith the traditional or historical context. The stories from history are still valid and definitely worth telling, but how can I tell them in a different manner? That is a question I can only answer through trial and error whilst experimenting with this project.

Foreign picture books

Again after working on my concept document I realised there are still things missing from the blog. Buying picture book that have text written in a foreign language is not what most people do. However I was really interested to see if I would still be able to tell the stories without being able to read the text. One of the books is titled Akim Court and is a book already mentioned in the blog. The other two are Mao et Moi by Chen Jiang Hong and La Visite de Petite Mort by Kitty Crowther. Both books are very interesting both in topic sand styles. More serious issues of revolution and new beginnings in the first whilst the second book deals with the issue of death. Both are written in French  which I cannot read, I know I could get it translated but a part of me wants the words to remain a mystery. The important part of looking through these picture books was understanding how powerful visual language can be just itself. I am still able to understand the stories without text which is testament to the illustrations. This is something I should consider for my own work, could someone who doesn't read English still be able to understand the story? Perhaps trialling an exercise where I remove the text to see how strong the images are on there own. This may highlight any weak points or images, allowing alterations or large changes to be made. Reintroducing the text might also allow for changes of the text, trying to create spaces between the text and visual elements. The reduction of text to the bare minimum is something I wish to aim for as I think this works really well in the book Varmints which still carries a very strong message.

Akim Court

Mao et Moi

La Visite de Petite Mort

Journal studies: references to remember

After submitting my research proposal I realised that there were several journals I had referenced but never found time to include them in my blog. These papers cover a variety of topics, they proved valuable enough for me to reference so keeping a note of them is important.
Xinyu Yu wrote a paper on Exploring visual perception and children's interpretations of picture books. Although this study was based on children I found it useful in understanding how we all perceive things. This visual perception affects interpretation which is of interest to me. This is something I wish to explore in some manner through this project.

Lawrence R. Sipe wrote a paper How Picture Books Work: A Semiotically Framed Theory of Text-Picture Relationships. This paper looks at the interplay between word and image and offers frameworks constructed for critique. This could become very important to me as this is one of my major issues at present. Having a useable framework that allows me to carry out my case studies is something I must tackle soon. This is likely to occur next week after concept development and pre-production documents are submitted. This is why it is valuable to note such papers.

Siddharth Kara wrote a paper titled Perspectives on Human Trafficking and Modern Forms of Slavery. He has been researching into the topic 15 years ago, this made me aware of the limited awareness of the issue at the beginning of his research. This has evolved and developed with many academics now generating papers, discussions and debates on the topic. The changing attitude of recent times has been highlighted with the political processes passing new legislation on the topic just this year. Reading such papers confirms to me the importance of this project and how it may contribute towards the work many others are already doing.

Complexity in Picture Books is a joint paper written by Sierschynski, Louie and Pughe. This paper delves into levels of meaning, language and structures. These are all fundamental to the configuration of a picture book. Understanding more on the topics will help build in meaning to my own work. Having various layers is also appealing as I wish this to be something accessible to all ages. they analyse how spaces between text and visual create tension, places to explore and offer complex interpretations indicated by the unease of the reader.

No Red Buses Please is a paper written by Martin Salisbury and focuses on the impact of globalised publishing. Having things to localised seems to be an issue with publishers who have concerns about marketability in other countries. This is due to many publishers being reliant on the sales of copyright to other publishers globally. However Martin argues that book that are set more locally in landscape or detail are actually more interesting and defining. This is an interesting aspect to be aware of although my current aim is just to produce work I like and enjoy making, whether this suits publishers may be another story.

Breaking the Age Barrier was written by Judith Rosen in 1997. This paper was one of the first to discuss the growing genre of crossover picture books. Traditional thought of as children's books picture books still struggle slightly in their recognition as something also suitable for adults, certainly here in the UK anyway. However this does seem to be changing, I myself am an adult who enjoys picture books, hence the reason for me wishing to create them. The crossover genre allows me to deal with more serious topics which are of interest to me. Whilst at the same time offering the challenge of depicting such topics that they remain accessible to everyone.

Steal like an artist

https://youtu.be/oww7oB9rjgw

I have started reading the book steal like an artist by Austin Kleon and also watched his TED talk which can be seen using the link above. Austin discusses the idea of originality, the fact that nothing really is that original. Ideas are either a development or progression of another idea, or connections made between things that already exist but have just never been put together.
The thought of stealing someone else's work seems cheap, who wants to be a thief? However I have realised that many times over the years I have done this without even thinking. Trying to create an image for illustration, an action for animation, whatever it may be we all use references. But the idea is to find the best ones to use as reference. This is a manner of stealing, but only an idea! The piece we make ourselves is new, its an adaptation of all the things we have taken from ideas, poses, compositions, colours or styles, thus making it original in its new form.
With this in mind I set off to carry out a robbery in the National Gallery in Edinburgh after the picture hooks talk I had attended. I only had a few hours, not enough time for sketching as I wanted to try and get around the whole gallery. The aim was to take not of as many pieces as possible, but not just any, only the ones that really inspired me. The ones I thought were worth stealing from, each may have different elements that interest me, some might only have a small part of the whole that I believe I could use somehow. This technique of stealing makes sense, you will only steal stuff that you think is really good, why would you even think of stealing a rubbish idea? This is something I have noticed through my recent research, Maclise seems to have stolen poses from the Raft of Medusa in his creation of the Waterloo Cartoon, Shaun Tan has reference works by Tom Roberts to which he describes it as paying homage by creating his own version in the book The Arrival. This is something I have discussed in my concept development document and shown through the resemblance of Antony Gormley's sculpture Bed to Carl Andrea's Sculpture Bricks. The images that were stolen on Saturday are shown below, time will tell what makes it through into my own work.

Picture Hooks: Talk 2

Yesterday I attended the second of five picture hooks talks held at the National Gallery in Edinburgh.
There were two mentors Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom who are actually a couple and illustrate together as a kind of duet. They had been mentoring Hannah Coulson over the last year. Again the talk was very informal with Hannah discussing her background and how she had decided to apply for picture hooks. She explained that although she still filled sketchbooks they had no real purpose as she had no deadlines to meet, no one was asking to see what she had done lately as is the case at college or university. This process has helped Hannah with objectives that had to be met giving her a far more focused approach to her work. Hannah is currently in discussion with publishers about future work which I hope goes well.
Mick and Brita discussed the books they work on and their methods. Most of the books are non-fiction, books on the Beatles, Shakespear, the second world war etc. They both work on the planning stages, thumbnails, sketching, layouts etc. Then they decide who will work on which part, Brita enjoys drawing and painting people more so she tends to work on those parts. They both work mainly in watercolour with pencil, charcoal line work. Seeing the rougher planning out stages was really useful, how things are maybe just cut out of paper to allow moving around of details. The said this is useful as designers usually want to change layouts slightly. This is where digital has obvious advantages, with things being layered things can be moved very easily. This has made me think that I should not look at my work as a single image but perhaps one made up of components that allow for changes to be made easier.

wc 23/11/15 Progress, reflection and ideas

Progress

The last week has been focused on writing the research proposal, this was uploaded yesterday. Part of the proposal required a schedule which is something I would have done in any case as I prefer working with a gantt chart. This new programme shows that this week is concentrated on developing my concept and carrying out research as required. The programme also shows that on Saturday I will be attending the second of the Picture Hook talks held at the National Gallery in Edinburgh.

Reflection

Over the last two weeks I have developed a much clearer idea of what my project is about. Writing the proposal was a key part of me gaining a better understanding of what I was trying to do. I now have a set aim and much clearer objectives that I wish to meet through this project. When I initially tried to write the proposal I realised that much of the previous research I had carried out was of no real use for the proposal. However this information has not been a waste of time as it is most likely to feed back into my project later on as it develops. Through the act of carrying out further research I now feel I have a much better grasp of the overall project. The one main issue that seems to have arose is that of a critical framework. I realise that I am still unsure as to how exactly I shall carry out my case studies. There are several papers I have still to include in my blog, some have been referenced in my proposal so keeping a record of all of these is important.

Ideas

This week I should just try to have fun with the story, I have written what I consider to be the spine of the story which gives me something to begin the process. I can experiment through thumbnails, sketches or even play around with other mediums to see what happens. I am considering using a process for the first case study of the book The Arrival. This might involve me just studying the book, writing down what I observe, what I think things mean etc. Then I should investigate existing frameworks or techniques that can be used to explore picture books. Then carry out a second study of the book to see what changes, do I then see things differently. This is something I will discuss with Brian as he has been appointed as my tutor for this project.

Story idea and why

Now that I have handed in my research proposal I feel that I can really start with a more practical approach to the project. I realised that I have never blogged about what my initial idea for a story is about or where it comes from. Although I am trying to raise awareness of modern day slavery I feel that if I try to depict one story from modern times the story might form a bias or be focused on one aspect of slavery. Instead I intend to use a more historical story that will allow me to bring up the issue of modern day slavery and hopefully show a wider scope of the problems or issues involved in society today. The reason for this choice is that many of the stories of people already within the UK or some of the people shown on recent documentaries seem hard for me to fully relate to. Sure I have empathy for these people and I can try and understand their position, I can even try to place myself in their shoes but this is difficult. In most cases I know little about the culture, the towns or cities they are from or their situations in a broader context.
For these reasons I have chosen to use an existing story from nearly 400 years ago. In 1650 the Scots had a battle with the English, the Scots were annihilated and thousands were taken as prisoners. Some of these prisoners were sent to Barbados to work on the sugar cane plantations. Debate is still ongoing as to whether these people were classed as slaves or indentured labour who served most likely for a seven year period. This is not my primary concern, to me forced labour is slavery especially when seen from the perspective of the victim. There are still descendants of these Scots living in Barbados today, who have kept the nickname red legs that was giving to the first Scots who arrived on the island (they did not take well to the sun). Although this situation occurred nearly 400 years ago these people came from a town not far from where I had lived most off my life. For some reason I am able to relate to their situation better.
This choice also gives me a ready made narrative on which I can add, subtract or play around with as I please to create a fictional story. When I first heard about this story it changed my own perspectives. Previously if someone had asked me to say what the first image was in my mind at the mention of the word slavery, I would have pictured boats leaving the African coast. This information threw my whole concept of slavery, it also made me realise that my instincts still regarded slavery as historical issue. This was not because I was unaware of modern day issues but they were not at the forefront of my mind, they were not the first thing I imagined. I thought that maybe others think the same way, this is what made me realise that by becoming more aware of modern day issues myself perhaps I could also make other more aware.
Having descendants of these Scots still living in Barbados made me realise how this story could be threaded together and bring historical stories and present times together. The name red legs might be what connects them, this may change through the progression of the project but it gives me a starting point to work with. I hope to be able to portrait this story on multiple levels, I don't want it to be blatantly obvious that the story is related to the story of Dunbar. I do hope that there will be enough clues that I could be worked out if someone wants to. My initial thoughts are to create something that works on possibly three levels, one a fantastical story of battles, enslavement, escape with a happy ending. Another level might be "oh this is a story of slavery" and then next level would be "I think this is about the battle of Dunbar".
Experimenting with methods of metaphor, symbolism or morphism will contribute into being able to build in layers to the story. These themselves will only be contributors towards learning more about semeiotics, narrative and the interplay between text and visual. This project is about me having fun and gaining more knowledge about what is possible with the picture book format. Links are shown below that show more detail on the battle of Dunbar and the descendants still living in Barbados.

http://bcw-project.org/military/third-civil-war/dunbar

https://youtu.be/hDWAt_QfMvA

30 years a slave

On Friday night I watched a documentary on Channel 4's Unreported World. Reporter Marcel Theroux investigated claims of modern day slavery happening on islands just off the coast of South Korea. He spoke with a man who had been kept on the islands for 30 years. The most shocking fact was that he suffered from learning difficulties and was easily led by strangers. Scenes of many other people with similar problems showed how they lived on the edges of society, sleeping on the streets. These people were being pursued by traffickers who made a good profit from supplying the salt and seaweed farms with such labour. The islands are rather remote so they are hard to escape from, whilst many get hidden when inspectors come snooping. This program highlighted to me the depth and scope of the issue of modern day slavery. However it also showed me that others are also trying to raise awareness of such acts of inhumanity.

The True Cost

A few days ago I watched a documentary titled The True Cost. The film delves into the fashion industry by showing how it impacts the world we live in. Depicting the human perspectives of those working directly in the industry to the farmers who supply the raw materials. Questioning the disparity between the high end fashion world of catwalks to the sweatshops that supply our high street shops. Environmental impacts are also highlighted through this documentary in several ways. In many cases the environmental impacts are combined with the suffering of humans.
The film does not try to blame anyone, it does raise many questions and tries to show people who are trying alternative methods of business models. Arguments are made for sweatshops being a good thing which shows debate is growing on about the issues involved. Are these people slaves or are they just being exploited by multinational companies? What really struck me was that the director had a very similar aim with this film as I do with this project. He didn't want to try and say what is right and what is wrong, there are major problems within this industry ones he wanted people to be aware of. The film can be streamed through various suppliers, I have attached a link to the website and have shown both the trailer for the film and an interview with the director Andrew Morgan.

http://truecostmovie.com

https://youtu.be/OaGp5_Sfbss

https://youtu.be/TrvxwjSqRrM

Research Proposal

Today I uploaded my research proposal for this project. Compiling this has taken up most of my week through both the writing itself and further research. I realised as soon as I began trying to write the first draft that much of the research I had carried out was of no real use for this proposal. This was in large due to me gaining a clearer idea on what my project was actually about since creating my recent mind map. The map itself showed that my project lacked research into the topic of slavery.
When considering my proposal I also took time to understand more about what my actual aim was for the project. What I wanted to achieve and the reasons for this project, raising awareness became my clearly defined goal. Along with this came my objectives which were centred around the production of a dummy version of the picture book. The research I had been doing into visual metaphors etc will not be wasted, this will be useful later in the project. These aspects are still part of the project, however they seem to be more subsidiary than being at the core. The three key elements of the project are the picture book medium, the topic of slavery and the issue of raising awareness. With this realisation coming very recently I have had to research further into these topics. This has been difficult but has made my project seems far more solid with definite goals and purpose now. The project also seems far more interesting to me and certainly not trivial. The proposal also allowed me to plan out the rest of the project. I produced a gantt chart much the same as the one I had been using up till this point. I will continue to use the same method of checking progress, reflecting on findings and detailing my ideas on a weekly basis. This has worked well for me so far as I never really consider much further than the week ahead. This allows me to focus on the tasks required for that week by breaking everything up into more manageable chunks. This also allows me to prioritise the tasks on a weekly basis, reducing the risk of things getting out of control or becoming unmanageable. A copy of the proposal is shown below.

wc 16/11/15 Progress, reflection and ideas

Progress

Last week was spent trying to write my research proposal, this in itself threw up some major issues with my project. I realised that much of my research might have been slightly misjudged. This had lead to reading more journals in order to get more of a grasp on the topics of slavery and picture books. Over the weekend I also attended the first of the Picture Hooks talks held in Edinburgh. This week I shall be focused on writing my proposal as the hand-in is on the 23rd November. This will possibly include finding more facts to back up my proposal within the contextual review section. The aim is to have it completed by the 22nd to allow me to upload earlier and then be able to attend my daughters parents evening on the 23rd.

Reflection

Last week threw up a major issue showing me a huge hole in my research. This was due to me finally working out what is at the core of my project. The issue of slavery and the medium of picture books are the core topics within my project, all other topics seem to be more subsidiary in nature. Researching areas of visual metaphor, morphism etc are more to do with how I will experiment within my project. However I am aware that the issue of slavery has only came to the forefront recently so perhaps this was the route I had to take just to get to my current position. The previous research will not be wasted as this will help once I am creating the picture book. Trying to write the proposal has helped me define what my project is and what the most important factors are concerning the work itself.

Ideas

The research proposal has taken me away from trying to think of the project as a single question. There are many questions, which are the most important will have to be decided this week. The title of my proposal will now be along the lines of Exploring methods of representing slavery through picture books. This paints a more accurate picture of what it is I am proposing to do through this project, it seems far more fitting than the question I used in my presentation.

Journal study: Human Trafficking and the UK Modern Slavery Bill

This article was written by Gary Craig, is titled Human Trafficking and the UK Modern Slavery Bill and was published in 2015. The aforementioned bill is the first of its kind in over 200 years by the UK government. This particular bill was something I found out about during my visit to the Houses of Parliament last month. The paper discusses how the UK government have finally woken up to the fact that slavery still exists, not just in lands over the other side of the world but also here in the UK. Slavery has evolved, it has become more of an underground organised crime rather than the historical state ran versions we have seen portrait in art, novels or movies of more modern times. Examples are given such as the 23 Chinese cockle pickers who drowned off the English coast in 2004. New forms of slavery such as the workers imprisoned within cannabis factories, forced begging and theft or trafficking for organ harvesting are touched upon. These types of issues show the diversity and change within such a sordid trade. The paper delves into the issues in passing such a bill, the debates about the content, understanding of the matters involved and conclude that it will provide a focus for further debate and improvements on the issue. This paper again highlights to me why this project is of importance, the issue is something the UK government have been debated for the last few years prior to enacting this new bill. The new forms of slavery discussed should be shown in my work although my challenge might be to somehow still keep them slightly concealed as they are in real life. The UK Modern Slavery Bill is something that is available to anyone, I have downloaded a copy to see what is contained within and see how this may affect my project. Extracts from the paper and the first contents page of the UK Modern Slavery Bill are shown below.

Journal study: do definitions matter?

I have read a paper written by Fiona David titled When it Comes to Modern Slavery, do Definitions matter? Fiona discusses the terms used for slavery, trafficking and forced labour. A particular case involving the Indonesian government and the island village of Benjina forms the basis of the reviewed topic. Debating upon terms, seeing from the perspective of the victims and touching upon political views and differences. The case itself is particularly horrific with men being held in cages suffering both mental and physical abuse. Most importantly for me touches upon the general public, their awareness, their possible influence through consumer choices etc. This is one of my primary aims of this project is to invite the reader to consider their own actions in regards to slavery. Fiona David is highly regarded within this field as a lawyer and criminologist, the paper was only published this year highlighting to me that I am dealing with something that is very current and a major issue of our times. The question she asks about definitions seem to have more to do with criminal law practise especially pertaining to international law. In my own opinion the definitions may give guidance into what has happened but any person who has been trafficked, were forced to work or were enslaved are very unlikely to care about how it may be defined. The highlighted paper is shown below.

Picture Hooks: Talk 1

On Saturday I attended the first of the Picture hooks talks to be held at the National gallery in Edinburgh. The talk was given by Tracey Smith and Vivian French. Tracey has been mentored by illustrator Cate James over the last year, unfortunately Cate now lives in Australia and was unable to attend this talk. Tracey spoke about her experience of being mentored and how it has enabled her to grow in confidence and helped her in trying to find her voice as an artist. The prints that are on display in the gallery derived from her work within a spanish speaking group run in Dundee. She explained how they were talking about language and how we use phrases such as "going back to" or "chopping down" which are not easily translated because they are a special type of verb. These led to her thinking about the cottage she has moved into recently as the phrases used to describe the work that is going on in the renovation process. The images produced are not part of any narrative as such but she wishes to continue with this process. These may eventually form a book similar to some Portuguese picture books that were discussed. As Tracey lives in Dundee I spoke to her about her work at McManus and DCA and her dealings with Claire Brennan from Abertay. Seeing the processes that Tracey uses and hear her talking about them was really interesting. From initial sketches to working on tracing paper to see how layers could combine, roughs done digitally then the final prints showed how her works develop at each stage. Tracey uses a simplistic style but really goes for bold colours such as the blue shown below (four on left).

Vivian French is one of the founders of the Picture Hooks mentoring scheme. She explained how herself and others set up the scheme as they noticed a gap between students graduating and becoming fully fledged professionals. Writers are offered many such schemes but illustrators are not so fortunate. This is a scheme I myself will be likely to apply for after graduating when I feel support might be just what I need. Vivian is an accomplished writer, one who I had previously met when I attended one of her workshops last year. I had a good chat with Vivian about my honours year project and explained my aims and what I was researching etc. She seemed pleased that I was trying to tackle such a tough subject and was glad that I was trying to raise awareness of such important issues. She agreed with my choice to only create a dummy version of the book as most publishers would be very likely to ask for changes to both text and illustrations. Keeping it in such a rough format would allow this process to occur easily without me wasting time on creating a finished product. We discussed the end of year exhibition and I told her I would send an invite as I already have her email. If Vivian cannot attend I will probably send her a digital copy anyway to try and get some valuable feedback.

Journal study: Breaking the age barrier

I have been reading a book titled crossover picture books by Sandra L Beckett in which she mentions a paper written by Judith Rosen. She describes this paper as a rare article in English speaking countries on the topic of the crossover genre in literature. I felt with such a description that perhaps this paper could be an important read as I possibly see my own work falling into the type of genre if it had to be boxed in or termed in some manner. The paper was written in 1997 and gives me an impression on the topics of that time. Surprisingly I actually don't see much change in the debate, certainly within the British publishing market. I realised whilst reading this paper that although it is very interesting and it is wise for me to become knowledgable in such matters it is not my primary concern. I want to write and illustrate things that interest me, things that I feel are important, and I want to work in such ways that they are more for me than any desired audience. This will allow me to find my voice and be able to create works that are destictively mine. Whether they fall into such genres or what audience they would be marketed at is something for the publishing world or even better the public to decide. This is the attitude I want to take with this project, yes I will be considering the fact that I wish for children and adults to enjoy my work equally, inviting them to discuss or debate the issues within my work. However the work must be initially for me, that way the reader will be getting the best I can give them. A short extract from the paper is shown below.

Journal study: Ain't gonna study war no more

Authored by Patricia A Crawford and Sherron Killingsworth Roberts, this paper tackles the exploration of war through picture books. Although this paper concentrates on a different topic to that of my own project there are many similarities in the aspects that are considered within this work. Dealing with sensitive almost taboo subjects and how they might be addressed with children. My own work will not be aimed specifically at children but a more encompassing book that is essentially for all ages. Children will therefore have to be considered when I am exploring the subject of slavery. This comes as part of  the territory of picture books as they are still largely regarded as a medium that is marketed for children, although this is something that is in debate. The paper studies differing methodologies explaining how a variety of picture books choose to portrait the issue of war. They looked for common themes within these books on which they concluded that there were five main themes. Coping with loss, separation from loved ones, the power of friendship, impact on ordinary citizens and symbolic explorations of war. From the five the symbolic explorations were of the most interest to me as they seem to offer more divergence in approaches and allow for broader interpretations without the need for harsh realities or time specific events. Extracts from this paper are shown below.

Stacey Dooley Investigates

Last night I watched a BBC documentary titled Stacey Dooley Investigates. The episode was series 7 episode 1 and focussed on the growing phenomenon of cybersex which is presently occurring in the Philippines. The concerning fact is that this is not between adults but involves minors and is fast becoming a billion dollar industry which relies on human trafficking along with physical and mental abuse which amount to another form of slavery. The fact I found most alarming was not the scale of the problem but that in many cases the perpetrators of the crime were parents abusing their own children in this manner. Many suspects or offenders claimed this was a means to escape poverty which is rife in this country. Sometimes they were held in cybersex dens, made to carry out all kinds of acts for webcams. In some cases the minors being held would see the police arriving as a bad thing because now they had no way of making money. What really struck me the most was when Stacey went to a refuge for some of these children. The physiological damage that had been done was very evident from seeing them going through some of their treatment therapies. I wondered especially for those abused by their own parents, how do they learn to trust again? This brought home to me how important it is to discuss such issues, raise awareness and that my project has definite relevance as this is happening right now even as I type this blog post. The sex trade has always been a major component of the slavery but the modern slave trade shows how new branches such as cybersex are now developing and preying on the poor and venerable.

Slavery footprint

Yesterday I found in interesting website http://slaveryfootprint.org which sets out questions about your daily life, the things you own etc. At the end they give an estimation as to many slaves contribute to your particular lifestyle. This to me was not about how accurate or false these estimations were but more about the considerations one should take on how your life choices can indirectly affected many others. Slavery like any other business relies on supply and demand of goods. The website made me think about the items I have in my house, who produced them? the food in my cupboards, who picked the crops? the clothes I am wearing, who made them?
What I realised is that whether I like it or not I probably contribute in some towards the slave trade. Whether I buy a brand of clothes who use children in sweatshops to make the items, whether the particular coffee I drink is harvested by forced labour I may never know. For me this just highlighted even more how deep rooted this problem has been throughout history and still remains, will it always be just a part of the human make up of society? How might I change my own actions or ways of thinking after reflecting on such points? Only time will tell what impact this information may have on me or others who have considered the relevance of their own actions upon the life of others.