Alice writing practice

1. what the project was 2. how it came to be 3. why it came to be

Food Journal

Last December, I created a visual journal of everything I ate for a month. Every day was represented on a different horizontal line. The drawings were each about 2 square cm big, in black pen ink. The paper was taken from one of my sketchpads, with grainy, rather thick A5 sheets. I filled 3 sheets of paper with the small drawings of each individual dish I ate, sometimes adding individual ingredients as well. The lines differed in length, clearly showing the days right before Christmas when I returned home, as well as the days when I had no appetite. After filling each of the 31 lines, I scanned my work, edited it digitally and uploaded it on my website.

The project came to me at the end of November. I decided to dedicate it a whole month, so it would have a clear beginning and an end. At the end of each day, I spent about 15 minutes listing all the meals and snacks, then went on to draw each individual food item. Even though it seemed a bit frivolous at first, I slowly realized that I was able to have a much clearer view of my days and my activities around these meals. It was a clear realization of where my priorities were, in that month in particular.

I started this journal while recently moved to a new country, Croatia. I had trouble using language to function in this place, and found myself relying more and more on non-verbal communication. Buying food was an ordeal at times, since I could not communicate, in the market, what I wanted to purchase. Often, I ended up getting more than I had intended. The days were rather similar, as I had not much activity. Planning my meals had become an important part of daily life. I realized I could better remember what I had eaten the previous day, rather than what I had done. I ended up translating those memories in drawing.

Thesis

My Advertising Bachelor's Thesis was a comparison and analysis between TV advertising practices in two very different countries, Romania and Ireland. It was a mostly theoretical work, a 50 something page book with a higher percentage text than images. It was split into two parts, the first dealing with theoretical research, while the second was based on content analysis. The images I used were either screenshots of various video ads, or charts relevant to my research. It was written using APA style, in Times New Roman 12 sized font. The end result looked rather official, bound in black fake leather with silver letters. I did not keep a copy.

The first steps of my project consisted in watching TV and making notes on the commercials that came on. I started listing different categories from which to approach them, from the type of product being advertised to the representation of male and female figures and corresponding stereotypes. I used observation and content analysis, choosing a sample of commercials from 3 different TV stations, respectively. The timeline of my research was split into two steps: I first collected my samples from Irish TV, then from the Romanian TV, upon my return home. I then proceeded to compare and contrast my samples according to the previously listed categories. For my theoretical research, I used a wide range of anthropological and media studies references.

I was doing my Erasmus semester abroad at the beginning of my third year when I started working on this project. The idea came to me while being exposed to Irish TV. I was living with a host family whose entertainment heavily relied on watching television. I started noticing the clear differences in topics and production between Irish commercials and the ones I had seen back home. The idea was, coincidentally, in line with my field of study. It had also been a previous interest of mine to critically analyze ads. I combined this interest with the urgency of completing my final thesis.