Final blog Post

Prior to takng this class I only imagined Autobiography in the realms of written works. Sure Benjamin Franklin, Rousseau, St. Augustine----I could imagine this literature falling into the category of Autobiography----but a film such as Tarnation, Obsessive Becoming, Electronic Diaries?---This might be a stretch. Now I can not stop considering basically every human creation or action in terms of autobiography. What color a person chooses to print out a flyer, the ring they use for their phone, what sitcoms can they just not miss ,etc. etc. I have also become more aware of the viewer----what does the actions of my own self reveal about my background? What sorts of impulse do I partake in---where does this stem from--what am I revealing to the common outsider.

Something about the literature we read, especially Roland Barthes, Jaques Derrida, and Rene Descartes--changed my view point substantially. Descartes methodologies---how he aproaches his own work and research. What circumstances in his life allowed him to arrive at the determination that he must look inside himself in order to make any sense of his surroundings. The information he had gained during his travels and his studies were substantial and pertinent---but as well was his introspection. Jaques Derrida and his considerations of how one reads a work, the keeness of one's ear---how keen is my own ear? Is this applicable to other works besides the written? Can one achieve a state of a keener ear? Roland Barthes punctum and studium. Brings about the topic of when the reader/veiwer is pricked. Does the photographer/creator/writer have any control over this? Should the creator concern himself with this un-contolable punctum that is impossible to predetermine?

This plethora of information has been in the foreground of my mind especially whenever I view a film, artwork, or reading. Although I think its significant to all reading and all seeing---the text on a t-shirt a road sign or billboard----what associations can be made.

As far as how I can apply it to my own projects-- I suppose I have always been an introspective person--but now I have more of a filter or rather I am trying to become more aware of my intentions as a maker. Why am I working with these materials? Why am I interested in these visual texts? What does this particular mark mean--what about this color---how is the viewer going to read this work? As you could easily see by my presentation I am not the most verbally articulate person on this planet---neither have I excelled in terms of writing or have I ever been the swiftest or reader. I have always wanted to used my hand in order to manifest a particular idea or emotion I could not other wise express----this class has made me more concerned in becoming more intuned with the relationship of my work to the viewer as well as more consciencious of my own process.

Interesting for me to work so close at hand to the blackboard software--I typically cringe and refuse to use the computer when I have to. But I was taken aback when I found myself really enjoying this aspect of the class. I think it creates a dialogue with the other students that would have otherwise been lost. As well as a broader perspective of the readings ----additionally causing there to be a platform for discussion during class time. This technique is viable to learning an intense and thought provoking material---feel as though I truly benefited from this style.