Now that my work Memórias Da Guerra is complete as well as my degree coming to an end I can say I am pleased and proud with the work I have produced. I feel that I have come a very long way from the start of my project to where it has ended up and become.
I always knew that I wanted to create a body of work that would be looked upon as a professional piece and even be exhibited in other galleries/exhibition spaces so I not only wanted to create a body of work worthy enough to hang in my degree show but something that I could proudly take with me after university and use to either help me with getting a job or presenting to a different public. I feel that I have communicated a specific theme throughout my work which is distinctive to me. I started off with researching into family archives, war photography and then began my own research into my granddads time in the war which lead me to go to Portugal to further this research.
I feel like I really developed my professional independence with this module because of this trip to Portugal earlier on in the year to further my research, gather images, sound and video material. I went out there with a vision, I wanted to created something which was inspired by Tim Heatherington and his Sleeping Soldiers photo film. Once I was out there I started to visualize things differently and starting thinking of ways I could do this in my own style and show my independence within my work and began to see my idea changing. It was very challenging and if I could do it again I would definitely take someone with me to assist me with it, as I found out filming and sound recording at the same time was a very tough thing to do. I did over come this but definitely something to think about next time I plan a trip like this.
Now that my body of work is all finished I feel it is necessary for me to carry on with it because I have such a passion for what I have created and researched into. I would love to commit to it even further with carrying it on professionally outside of university. I feel that my informed body of work really appealed to a wide market once I had spoken to people visiting the gallery. I got fantastic feedback from a wide range of people from grandchildren of soldiers who told me this made them think of their grandfather and his photographs, it gave them a “happy nostalgic feeling”, other people who didn’t know anything about the Portuguese Colonial War but said it made them “interested” and wanted to do further research into and some people became really fascinated with how these photographs were still around and produced from back in the time of war and how they have survived. All these comments have made me want to evolve with my work and produce something even greater once I leave university.
Upon reflection I wish I had maybe taken another trip to Portugal to get more footage and research as I feel this would have helped me, but because of time and cost issues this was not possible. I also would time manage better because I felt a lot of pressure with this project, sometimes I feel like I fell behind with it because I was stressing too much over it but I managed to get it all done the way I hoped and I feel it was an overall success.
Cruz Santos Media 