Madeleine Swift and The Camp
- Poppy Chapman
- Oct 3, 2017
- 2 min read
Madeleine Swift's lecture really struck a chord with me - her use of memorabilia and personal memories to fuel her creative practice is something that resonates deeply with me as well. I found this out after creating my zine from last year's project, in which I chose to use the memories of my mum to create a book of memories coming from a perhaps skewed view of someone else, that wasn't even born yet. (me!)
These are images used by Swift in her film. Some are hers, but others belong to family and friends, as well as others who lived in the camp she produced the film about.
In a similar respect, I have lots of pictures of Norwich from the 60's and 70's, as well as being a part of a Facebook community in which people like my mum discuss their memories together as well as pictures. These are what I used for research material when I made my zine, and I found that the personal aspect of it being connected to a family member made me eager.
http://www.madeleineswift.co.uk/film/#film2
This is the link to a shorter verson of Swift's film. Me and YR 2 had the pleasure of watching the entire 9 minute video which isn't available on her website. It really reminded me of the work I have done using memories of people in Norwich, and I felt a connection with the film as I did with the memories told to me by my mum.
I enjoyed the use of type, as Swift said, "handwriting is like your own form of illustration", and she has shown this by using it in her videos and books. I think it's a great touch to the work to make it more personal, especially since the subject is personal memories.
Another thing I liked about the process of Swift's research and development is that she writes! I also enjoy writing and would like to incorporate it more in my work. Swift uses diary entries as her writing, and displayed the entries as a whole image in her lecture. I thought this looked amazing, and it helped m e to understand how writing can create a powerful visual as well as drawing and other methods.
