I chose Palm Oil as it is a controversial subject – I’ve separated the negative and positive aspects to left and right respectively, but tried to bring out some interactions – for example how palm oil advertising is subverted into protest, and the comparison between human and animal rights. It creates millions of jobs, but the working conditions are poor. There is disagreement as to how healthy it is.
There is also the different approaches between say Burtynsky who documents the situation with an fine art approach and a collective like Splash and Burn which partners with different organisations to create multiple campaigns in different styles, using (for example) photography, installation and performance art, and graffiti. I’m interested in the effectiveness of the different approaches, which could be a source of future research. The work of Splash and Burn is more immediate, in-your-face, like a news story – demanding your attention now. The frames is filled with signs of anguish – animals in peril, habitat on fire, etc.. The work of Burtynsky is quieter, longer term, more cerebral and more aesthetic. The frame is balanced, using traditional landscape/perspective tools to arrange and lead the eye around the image. Repetition/symmetry are often used, sometimes comparing one half of the image with the other (a kind of before/after) for example with the palm oil forest clearance.
I should add that I never use mind maps – I find them a very long winded way to create an often confusing end picture. Far from being a way of organising information, for me they are completely the opposite. Maybe that shows in my diagram below, I have tried to approach it with enthusiasm but do not find that the end result justifies in any way the number of hours taken to create it!
I would have used a simple pen and paper but this does not easily allow the inclusion of images as per the brief. I tried one of the mind map apps but could not get this to work properly – might have simply been that the learning curve did not justify my expected use or energy for them in the future. This was produced in Affinity Designer.
At least by including images it comes a bit closer to an act of art as opposed to a fancy (and for me confusing) list. In this way it perhaps approaches the narrative atlas approach of Orff and Misrach (see https://photo515050level3.wordpress.com/2022/06/20/on-landscape-and-meaning/) and therefore may have merit as a stepping stone.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- Palm oil bottles At: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/trade/exports/insights/indonesia-bans-palm-oil-exports-as-global-food-inflation-spikes/articleshow/91067523.cms?from=mdr (Accessed 13.6.2022)
- Burtynsky, E. (2016) Clearcut #1, Palm Oil Plantation, Borneo, Malaysia. At: https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/photographs/anthropocene (Accessed 13.6.2022)
- Splash and Burn campaign images (s.d.) At: https://www.motmag.com/cultural-issues/2017/8/24/the-splash-and-burn-art-campaign-a-colorful-approach-to-environmental-conservation (Accessed 24.6.2022)
- Kurkiewicz, I. (s.d.) from the project Palm Oil and Deforestation. At: https://www.behance.net/gallery/47465539/Palm-oil-and-deforestation/modules/283167025 (Accessed 24.6.2022)
- Umbrella Communication Brand: Palm Oil Collective (s.d.) Naturally Tasting Good. At: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/563020390889700987/ (Accessed 24.6.2022)
- Antara Foto Agency/Reuters (s.d.) A worker with palm oil fruits at a plantation in Mamuju, Indonesia. At: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/19/palm-oil-ingredient-biscuits-shampoo-environmental (Accessed 24.6.2022)
Level 3.1 Learning Log 