Meet the Entrants
Last month we told you about our the NUFS 2021 Visual Edits Competition and showed you some of the amazing edits that were submitted. Now we take a look behind the scenes and meet the faces behind the collages.
NUFS Blogging Director, Emily Rickerby, interviewed some of the entrants to the competition in order to understand the process between their pieces. Whilst also seeing the different routes they took in completing the task, and understanding how despite starting with the same images they all created such different, unique pieces.
Name: Justina Mitkute
Degree: Film Practice, PhD
Fun Fact: I won my school's draughts tournament
Was this the first time you made a visual edit?
I like to draw things that I create in my imagination. From time to time I was doing funny edited pictures from my friends' pictures. Yet It was the first time when I created this type of visual collage. I loved the process of making it.
What were some of the challenges you faced while making your piece?
While making it, I played with various editing techniques. As a result, I created not one, but many different visuals. Each of them had different elements and a combination of those were leading to an even more different final version. Sometimes it was hard to choose which version was better and on which version of the artwork I should continue to work on. It is like writing a book, you may feel that story can go to so many directions... And they all seem somehow exciting... Due to this, sometimes it's not easy to choose just one. Yet all these possibilities of different versions - is very freeing and creative.
What made you want to enter the competition?
I knew that I wanted to participate in this competition, right after I heard about it. It sounded like a lovely challenge. And I am so glad that I did. It was so interesting to play with all those images. It actually inspired me to create even more visual collages.
Did you choose the images you wanted to use first or did you decide as you went? What was the first thing you did once having selected the images?
After seeing the images, I knew immediately that I want to use the man's figure combined with the woman's head. That's how all creation starts. I like to play with gender constructs and break them; I was playing with femininity and masculinity. Details from other pictures joined further on during the process.
Did you have other ideas before settling on your final edit?
Absolutely! Many! It was hard to choose one of them in the last editing steps. On the other hand, right after I created the final version of the picture, I felt satisfied with the result
In your edit you said you are playing with the concept of gender. Why do you think this it's important to represent gender and how does this interplay with your artwork?
I feel that specific gender stereotypes imprison people. By allowing men and women to do various things, who are not defined by gender, this allows people to feel at peace with themselves and search for their identity. In the end, we all are humans and we like various things; not just those who are given to us, because we belong to specific groups.
Can you please explain a bit the fantasy world represented in your edit? If you could change reality what would you change about the world we live in?
I like to look between the lines and play with metaphors. For me, the world becomes even bigger and even more fascinating when we allow ourselves to dream and use the power of imagination. Imagination doesn't make the real world to be blurred in comparison, it works like spices. It helps to reveal and enrich the hidden elements. Those pictures were of real-life elements (like a swan in the lake or light bulb), but after I let my imagination and creativity play with them I create a different version of the world. In which everything could happen. The second part of your question is actually very deep, it's not easy to answer it in a few sentences. There are no perfect things, so plenty of things could be changed and improved. Shortly, I would like to change the level of equality. That all living beings (children, women, men, animals) - would not suffer.
Is there anything you would like to add?
Creativity and imagination are some of the greatest things of which our brains are capable. I just love how artworks can express different points of view and inner worlds.
Name: Tom Lucock
Was this the first time you made a visual edit?
No I’ve actually made a few visual edits before, so I really enjoyed taking part!
What was it that inspired you to enter our competition?
This is something really up my alley as I enjoy fashion and media, so I thought it would be something fun to do.
What were some of the challenges you faced during the process?
At first I really struggled trying to combine the images together and I actually ended up scrapping my first 4 attempts before I got my final piece. But I’m really glad with how it ended up.
When making your collage did you choose the images you wanted to use first or decide as you went?
I kind of just went with the flow and put whatever images worked well in the moment so as not to limit my creativity!
We loved the idea of moving from the darkness to the colour, in order to represent the past year we have all been through. Can you please explain this a little bit further?
For the choice of black and white, I felt this signified how all hope had been washed out over the past year. There was no life or drive left in us. Then sepia shows the slight shift and the introduction of colour once again represents life slowly building itself back up. Finally ending with colour to connote life and motivation being restored. For me personally colour represents life and enjoyment, and that’s why I linked the idea of hope with colour.
Would you say in the current climate the pandemic will be a main source of inspiration for many artists?
I think the pandemic has made a drastic change in the art world. People have been alone with their own minds and thoughts which has allowed them to discover new things to then put into their art. The same can be said for fashion. Plenty of fashion houses, especially this year during SS21 shows, have shown an inspiration shift from the pandemic. For example in Valentino’s SS21 show they used a lot of colour and bleak colours to show a shift from no hope to hope, similarly to myself and how I did.
NB/ the time-lapse Neelam refers to will be uploaded soon
Name: Neelam Majumder
Degree: Second Year Architecture
Fun Fact: I have a cow named after me at my boyfriends farm
Was this the first time you made a visual edit?
I study architecture so I’ve made a few bits and pieces for my degree, but this is one of the first I've done on digital software using procreate. It's quite different from the traditional way of collaging, not necessarily harder or more difficult but it gives more room for experimenting quickly
What made you want to enter this competition?
I was hitting a point where it felt like all of my creative energy was being directed towards my architecture coursework, I was getting burnt out and I wanted to do something creative for myself, but I didn't feel much in the way of inspiration. I saw the competition and thought it would be something enjoyable to do with a bit of structure but no pressure to try to meet a mark scheme! Having a brief, and in this case, a set of pre-decided images, was a great jumping-off point to work from that I would not have really thought about otherwise.
Did you face any challenges in the process of making your edit?
Honestly, it was smooth sailing and the piece felt like it came quite organically, with a bit of trial and error here and there, until the last few finishing touches. I spent ages trying to decide on just a few minor changes in background (in the time-lapse you can see me going back and forth trying to figure it out) and eventually I sent a few different colour variations of the final edit to some of my friends who helped me decide which one to submit in the end!
How much did you enjoy taking part?
So much! I made the edit while watching Bridgerton on Netflix in the background. I also really enjoyed seeing the other entries, it's so interesting seeing how so many different interpretations can come out of the same few images.
What was the first thing you did once having selected the images you wanted to use?
I knew straight away that I wanted to use the trench coat and the mannequin head somehow, and I was also really drawn to the visor over the eyes in one of the images. I messed around with those three elements until I was happy with a composition as the main focus of the piece, and then overlaid texture from another one of the provided images that I was really drawn to. At this point, I had settled on the concept of making a 'modern father time' and so the background elements that I chose drew from that theme.
Did you have other ideas before settling on your final edit?
The part of the collage I spent the most time experimenting with was the background, once I had the foreground elements set I wanted to make a background that would complement, but not detract from, the figure of father time. You can see in the time-lapse video that I tried a few different techniques; initially I used the image of the clock to try and create a sort of dimensional effect which I didn't end up using, I also tried incorporating different colours and textures but I found that they didn't suit the general vibe I was going for. I finally ended up settling on quite an architectural background by re-using the texture from before and also adding the floor element from another image. I think this composition helped to anchor the figure while still creating a kind of 'no-where' infinite space.
Obviously we loved your design as we chose it to win! But can you please explain a bit more about Father Time element of your piece?
When I first started the piece I honestly wasn't sure exactly what direction to go in, I knew which elements of the images given I wanted to use but wasn't sure quite how they would look and fit together. Once I added the rings around the figure I felt that it gave it a celestial body kind of feel to it (think the rings of Saturn) and I knew then I wanted to take it into a more otherworldly direction. I think during lockdown everybody's sense of time has felt so warped and skewed, it really feels as if we are kind of frozen in place or just drifting. I wanted to make this piece a kind of embodiment of how placeless time feels right now, by having 'father time' as a faceless and set within a space that seems never ending it encompasses how lost and out of place a lot of us are feeling at the moment.