What I did today

Have been at a total standstill for the last two weeks, after I phoned barnardo's and they said 'someone would get back to me'. I don't want to hassle them if I can help it, because I suppose they do probably have better things to be doing, although once I've drafted some questions that I want the answers to I will ring again. But I had a meeting with Jo yesterday and she agreed that I need to keep moving with the project regardless, and just slot them in if i can get them involved.

I have done some feathery samples, because James' aunt gave me about a gazillion metres of tulle, and it's gonna make some awesome wings for my sculpture, as well as a prom dress for Lily. More of those plus samples coming soon. i got inspiration from the 'diary of a fashion student' blog that i dont seem to be able to find now, but she made a beautiful collection, drawing inspiration from nature. And the skirt of one of her dresses was done in a gorgeous pink (or is it orange) silk chiffon, done in loads and loads of feathers/leaves, all with raw edges (which i believe she painstakingly sprayed with 'fray-stop'.) IT IS GORGEOUS. When I find it again, I'll post a link here so I don't lose it again. http://designcreatewear.wordpress.com/tag/fmp/ I'll also be needing to look into techniques for creating feather-effects (I've already gone a bit crazy on pinterest).

So, next step is getting out my survey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NZC2J3K if you're interested), round college and anyone else I might be able to get to do it. I sent it to our head of psychology today so she could check it for bias, and then I'm planning to send it out to the heads of all our vaguely 'social' subjects, along with an email asking them to politely encourage their students to complete it. Meanwhile, I need to be getting on with more design work and samples, and most definately trying to come up with some questions I want to ask at Barnardo's.

Thinking further ahead, I need to write a speech for my presentation, which incidentally we have to in english so I may do something vaguely relevant, which I can then alter so it's not excatly the same, but it's less work. I also need to source a mannikin/model for my sculpture. Discussing this with Joe yesterday, she said that as long as I make it clear that the photographs are purely for my own use (as in for my EPQ), it should be ok to get a child of a friend or whatever, although i kind of this that i might be better of (especially fit-wise), if I just use a mannikin. This would also allow it to be used as an installation, as well as for photographing, so that would be my first choice. If the project were to be used as an actual campaign, and I had used a real child, I would need to re-photograph it with a proffessional child model, and draw up a whole new contract/agreement, for it to be acceptable.

Also, if I'm going to use the installation with a scripted audio track of a 'child' speaking, I need to begin to draft ideas for that and maybe get someone experienced to check through it for me (drama teacher? Barnardo's worker? Advertising section of a charity?). I think that as a starting point for this I will need to gather as many examples of real-life and scripted narratives as I can. And save them on here???

Post 1

Had a meeting with Jo yesterday about EPQ progress and she suggested that I could try keeping a blog, as I'm not having much luck with a sketchbook/journal. So, here's some ideas so far:

• I've sent this letter to Barnardos with the hope of being able to talk to someone there about child abuse, sexual exploitation and child carers.
• I've drafted a survey which I'm hoping to send out around college, so that I can figure out which area I want to focus on, ie, the one that people seem to have the least knowledge of. These questions need to be refined still though, and I think (Jo suggested) that I should show them to a psycology teacher/ student, because they know how to make questions un-biased. (Maybe I should post this on internet?)
• I need to do some drawings/design work regarding what I'm actually going to make.

Last week I had an awesome idea! I read a line on the Barnardo's website, from a young(ish) boy who was sexually exploited; 'I was just a shell.' Prior to this, I'd been wondering who on earth I was going to get to model whatever I made. I was wondering this because a lot of the adverts produced by Barnardos are quite shocking and hard-hitting, (like this, and this), and I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone who's going to let me use their child for it! So this is basically my idea: a child sized manequin (maybe with a  hole or two?) dressed with a floaty, winged outfit (based on a phoenix, although it could also be really ethereal) 'rising from the ashes' of deprivation, poverty and abuse, which would be represented by objects (eg. broken spirits bottles, needles, cigarettes etc.)  scattered around its feet. This would represent the childs potential to become something more, but it would be chained by the ankles to the floor, showing how they cannot escape. I have literally just had a thought that I could leave some kind of wire cutters or an axe on the floor nearby, just out of reach of the sculpture, but within reach of the viewer; they are the people who can help. Obviously this would be quite a large scale installation type sculpture.

The second element of the idea came again, from researching previous child abuse campaigns. I found that video/tv ads are much more common than I realised, and also that the commentaries are generally scripted and read by an actor/tress, instead of being an actual story, they are an amalgamation of several accounts. This made me think of how I could script a young person talking about their 'experiences', which could become part of the presentation. The presentation would also involve me having to make a speech (incidentally I have to do some non-literary writing for english, which would kill two birds with one stone), and having to answer questions. Jo thought I could maybe hire an empty shop on the high street to make it very public, since I said it would mean a lot if this project could really help to raise awareness and get some support going on the issue I decide to focus on.