After my discussion with Craig, in the next session I sketched out some initial ideas to get them onto paper and make them easier to visualise so I could narrow it down to a few possible designs before making them.
The first sketch and idea I had was really about pushing this idea of the tape being a metaphor for the abuser within domestic abuse. I wanted to play not only with the idea of this abuser being a monster which is something which is written about largely about domestic abuse within my research, but also to show the idea of the victims being silenced. I wanted the text to be written in tape, with these almost alien looking strands of tape poking out of the walls to make the exhibition more interactive with the user.
The next thing I experimented with was the idea of mirrors being used within the design. I wanted the idea to be large and overwhelming and Craig and I discussed taking influences from one of my favourite exhibits in London and using mirrors to open the space up and make it look large.
I then looked into the idea of the text on the walls being printed and covered up with tape instead of written by tape, to experiment with the idea of the tape, a metaphor for the abuser, being the thing covering up the crimes and silencing the victims, so in this case the tape would literally be covering up the words. I wanted to look at this idea within a normal room as well as a room with mirrors implemented to see the effect of the tape covering up the mirrors.
I showed Craig my sketches during a 1 on 1 tutorial to get his feedback and similar to myself, he was unsure of which idea would be more effective and we decided the only way to make this decision was to make them myself, in a smaller scale, and make my mind up once I can see it for real. Although I would have liked to get a more definitive answer and to be able to make my mind up from the sketches themselves, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having more than one good idea which I can develop as it gives the final design more possibilities to be the best version it can be. Next time however, I think as well as having sketches to show Craig, I would also make sure I had final designs to show him so he could help me make a more definitive decision.
Ben Jackson 