End of Module Critical Evaluations-Visual Equations

For this two-week long brief, we were set the task of exploring the theme of opposites and finding juxtapositions with them, with the intention of hopefully finding a new third meaning because of it. I started out with the idea of using everyday public signs like 'Keep off the grass' and 'mind the dog', but was soon put off the idea. I felt I hadn't put enough thought into it and not tried hard enough. So I got onto the idea of gravestones and how formal the language is that is used to describe the person. I initially thought about writing funny or disrespectful remarks where you would usually find very caring words. But then, even when this was tried, I was informed at the critique that my third meaning was somewhat lost on the tutors. I was told to research into censorship of text that is allowed to be put onto a gravestone. I found out about 'Mom' and 'Dad' are terms that are deemed inappropriate by the church; only 'mother' and 'father' are allowed. Then I found out about a story in the press about how nicknames or shortened names were also banned from gravestones and felt I could find a playful third meaning for something like this. Which then led me into the idea of censorship on gravestones. So what if there was the kind of boring black letterbox shapes that you see in magazines and television programmes introduced onto gravestones.
If I were to repeat this brief I would take a lot more time to research current affairs and issues so that I could start out with an idea, instead of coming up with something and forcing it into a situation where it has to fit an idea that it wasn’t quite suited for.

Word Count: 298