I had a meeting with David today because I was finding it hard to put together everything and create a final outcome. The meeting with him was very useful because I came out from it with few ideas and potential outcomes that all seem to work really well. I think I was finding it out to decide on what I want to say and I think now with some small research I decided. The first thing I thought about was using these tracing paper marks to use them in an exhibition, using projection and light to create this big piece of work. The way it would go is in a big white space the tracing paper would be hanging form the ceiling and behind it it would a silhouette of a woman with the light projected you can only see a blur. This would also bring the initial idea I had earlier on but decided not to go with but in a different way and much bigger scale. I think this would be a really interesting idea that brings together all the materials I have. This idea seemed to be really good. 
After some more discussions and thinking about how I would show this in an exhibition I decided to change my idea and focus on leaving a mark. The first initial idea came from speaking to David about leaving a mark on clothing, marks on women’s clothing walking around and maybe turban was it the most common religion practiced is muslim. However, from the images I had I didn’t have enough documentation and images of women to go with this idea. I didn’t want to use other photos that weren’t from the area as well so I decided to change this idea to leaving a mark in the streets. I thought women have no representation in those streets, the main street is full of barber shops, grocery shops that’s all. There is nothing that shows or represents women a hair salon or anything to do with females. So for this, I decided these charcoal marks will be marks for women, to represent their voice and me as well. I would put these marks back into the streets on walls, floors, houses. By this way, I would be leaving a mark in those streets to show that I have been there and I was able to break those social boundaries. For this, I think it ties together all marks and images I have taken. I would be creating a photography exhibition.
Visual development
These are the first two images I created on photoshop using my photographs. I scanned the marks and then adjusted the colour, brightness and cleared up any dark smudges. The next step was to place them on to images. The first image I chose was this image of houses lined next to each other. I then placed the scanned images on top and started to clear any areas. The point was to make it look like those lines were actually sprayed, drawn on to those walls. I made the decision to cut out the dark lines and only keep the layers of lines representing women to show there are women living inside those houses and wanted to show that they exist, by this way it stands out. This is the first image so I had few mistakes and areas I had to improve. I had a tutorial with Craig and he mentioned I shouldn’t cut out windows or the doors the lines should go over on those as well to make it more realistic and it would have a stronger ever. I do agree with this comment, I have to think about objects stand out like satellite.
The second image I wanted it to have more impact and stronger sense of what I’m trying to communicate. This photograph is from the most male dominated area, where I call it the ‘the meet up’ for all Turkish men. This is the street Turkish women always avoid. The photograph I think shows off this with few men standing outside the shops and no women insight. The way I used the marks on this image I wasn’t quite sure on how to place it, I wanted to show this is very male dominated area with layering the dark lines on to the houses. I showed this to Craig and he suggested that the other image with houses was more stronger visually than this one. I do agree, I don’t think the marks stand out and create the effect.
I then carried on editing the images and I chose few more photographs. These are the final images. The first one is the row of houses and I edited again but this time leaving marks on the windows and doors. I really like this version and I think visually it is very strong, it looks very real and I like the composition in the image. I didn’t want it make it so crowded and busy so there is a clear flow of lines from one corner to another. I didn’t edit the image, only small changes such as brightness and contrast. But I liked how the image was darker, sky is grey and cloudy, different pastel colour row of houses but it’s not happy, positive tone. I think overall I really liked this shot. I wanted it to reflect and show who are behind these closed doors. The way women are absent from the streets but only exist behind these closed doors next to their children and husband.
Each image focuses on either women or male dominance. The next photograph is from the most male dominated area in the high street. Where male machismo is at its highest, ‘meet up point’ for Turkish men to socialise before going off to work and earning money for their families. In this image, I think the timing in this shot is really well, in front of the shops you can see few men having a chat and discussing something probably work related. For this, I wanted to include my marks, earlier I created an edition but I wasn’t satisfied with it visually. So this time, I didn’t cut out the marks and layered. I just played the full image on, covering the food shops, houses the whole area behind those 3 men. With this image, I wanted the same effect, show male domination, machismo and I think the shot really gives off these messages. When I was creating the image it was challenging adjusting and cropping at right places such as doors and object that are standing out to make it look as real as possible. If the image didn’t sit well on the image then the whole effect would be lost. You can see the lines cross over signboards, doors, windows. This image is also as a whole shows the dark mood with grey sky and the shot being from opposite shows as if the viewer is in this street and looking directly at this place from across the street. They can clearly see everything. I think most of the images especially is from this angle. This wasn’t calculated or I didn’t choose to photograph this way, I think I avoided getting closer I was in my comfort zone across the street but didn’t walk past those shops.
This is also another photograph I think is visually so strong, the shot is perfectly timed as you can see few people gathered around for an event which I didn’t know why. You can see a divide in groups which I realised when I was editing. There is a group of women across the street and group of men opposite. This was an interesting separation and I don’t know why it was like this or whether these people know each other I am not sure but this clearly shows the divide between men and women in the area. For this photograph, I again used the same mark but didn’t crop any parts as in this image you can see men and women together for the first time. When I had the meeting with Craig, he told me to improve few things like adjusting the mark to fit the top the house and clearing lines etc. I edited the mark by adjusting by increasing brightness and comtrast so the mark stands out and gives off the ‘graffiti’ effect”. This is the final image, I am really happy with outcome I think the composition of image and the charcoal marks really work well together.
This is another image I captured while walking through the alleyways, I saw a mother walking with her daughter I wanted to capture this moment. I liked the way the little girl was wearing a bright red coat and her mother was all in black the contrast is so interesting. They were going through these alleyways that are known to be very dangerous. I wanted to use the photograph in my final piece because I used her location in one of the lines in the charcoal marks. So she is represented in my mark. The first edition I wasn’t happy with the visual, I placed the mark onto a brick wall but it didn’t stand out as the background was dark.
This is the final image I created, I focused on another photograph. This was because the brick wall didn’t show up and stand out. I decided to use on the side wall which is lighter in colour so the marks stand out. I decided to use the perspective tool on Photoshop. I edited the photograph by increasing brightness and contrast. In all images I didn’t want to change much by adjusting colours I wanted to keep it raw. At first, I did think about black and white photographs however I thought it would hide everything and decided to go with original images.
This is the final image, I again used an image of a closed grocery shop. The reason I chose this image because the only thing the whole area has is either barber shops or food shops. There’s nothing else for women and using this closed shop I wanted to reflect this message and leave a mark. To create this, I used the perspective tools, clearing sections and erasing parts. I used the mark very large to cover most space to it stands out and it creates a strong visual.
These are the final 5 photographs I designed as an outcome. I am very happy with the outcomes and from this I need to think about what I can do with these images. My idea was to create an exhibition. The next stage is to research into interesting exhibitions for inspirations.
Busra Yildiz 