Talk With Pete

I discussed with Pete my ideas to manipulate the gay pride flag using inspiration from artists such as Jasper Johns and Gerhard Richter. His first thoughts were what are the connotations of Richter's work? How would painting in this fashion using the pride colours portray my feelings? On discussing this I realised that if I were to paint using Richter's work as inspiration to manipulate my pride colours then it would have connotations of destroying the flag. It would appear destructive and angry and wouldn't be portraying my feelings of celebration and excitement. Is using this a good idea?  How else can the pride flag be manipulated in a more bold and expressive, less destructive way? Shapes? Paper? Layering?

Talk with Tracey

Contrasting my discussion with Pete, Tracey suggested I avoid making an angry project as it is something the whole world has seen before. What would make it different to every other piece expressing anger at the hatred? She suggested I look into celebrating gay pride. This left me a little confused about where to go as Pete contradicted this but I felt that what Tracey was suggesting was far closer to what I was trying to convey in the work I had already created, it was just a case of making it more personal, of conveying a personal message.
After seeing my pride rainbow made of shattered pieces of teacup, Tracey suggested I look into other object I could use, perhaps gender specific objects? This got me thinking about how I could pair up gender specific objects to imply same sex relationships. I began thinking about which objects I could use - perhaps tampons? Tools? Certain shoe types? Make up? There was always the risk that people could interpret this as gender stereotyping but what if I didn't specify the gender? Leave it up to the viewer? They could decide if this were implying a couple who defied gender norms or just plain homosexuality. Any insulting gender stereotypes assumed would then come down to the viewer's own prejudices and assumptions.
Tracey also suggested I look into the Stonewall Riots, having watched Stonewall the night before I agreed this was a good idea as it revealed to me that Stonewall was the origin of gay pride marches which is an important relation to my gay pride project.
A concern I brought up with Tracey was that I was worried all of my work was beginning to look the same due to the pride flag yet I could not remove it as it was a vital part of portraying my gay pride in a way that was nationally recognisable. Tracey suggested I look into other artists who manipulate flags and colours. She suggested Jaspers Johns who manipulated the American flag in a lot of his art, this reminded me of the small piece I had read on him in one of the articles in my sketchbook and so I decided it would definitely be important to do a research page on him.

Talk with Pete

In terms of my project I am thinking about doing something that portrays an attitude of "we're here, we're queer". I would like to perhaps take a look into the Orlando shooting at the gay nightclub 'Pulse' as this is a significant thing to me. Up until then I had been mildly ignorant to how the LGBT+ community were still struggling, I had been under the impression that we had our rights now and things were okay. On finding out about this shooting I was shocked and upset and wildly angry. It made me realise that things still were not okay. This was the event which caused me to come out as gay to all of my friends and family through social media when posting an angry and distressed post on Facebook about the event.
Pete suggested that while taking an attitude of "we're not going away" is all well and fine, it does seem a little close to Graphic Design and holds no personal meaning. He suggested taking some of that distress and anger and using it in my work to portray something more personal, something more angry about the treatment of the LGBT+ community.
While I see his point and understand this project, in order to be fine art, must hold a personal message, I think that his idea of where my project should go is wildly incorrect. I no longer feel that anger, while sometimes I feel a sadness, this prejudice and hatred has never affected me and I cannot truly understand it like I can my own gay pride. This is why I think I will continue down the road of pride and excitement as that is what is more personal to me.