Text on practice second draft by Yalou

Text 1 (the same but than with some edits as the first draft)

From journalism to visual art

So the past few years, I have been educated to become a journalist. This process was not all easy for me. The journalism world does not fit to my journalistic practice. In this world, journalists learn how to write and tell stories. How to be objective and how to ask the right questions. Journalists learn to work with deadlines and to write as the reader wants to read it. This commercial side to journalism is very significant to the field. As the role of a journalist can be practiced by anyone with Wi-Fi connection. Journalists have to be attractive. Journalists have to write down what the audience wants to read. I struggle to be the journalist by the book. I saw opportunities in my journalistic practice that would express the stories I wrote so much more. I wanted to combine my journalistic stories with artistic forms. I wanted to tell my journalistic story through visual art. its would be interesting to define what "journalism" is perhaps in a broad sense, but also what journalism for you, as well as visual arts. many terms are being revised: unstable of the stable before."

There were a lot of journalists who disagreed with my ideas.

“Why would you use these experimental ways to tell a story?”

“We don't understand it.”

“This is not art school, this is journalism school.” nice to have examples

But a few journalists agreed with me. And helped me during my last years of journalism study. A few of my journalistic works are (use images and text):

• Research on journalism and art: I did a research in my second year of journalism on the use of art in journalism. In this research I searched for artists and journalists who were already active on this border. And I looked at the benefits of the use of art in journalism. "to use" looks like an extractives term for me
• The spread of covid through the act of eating: After my research to journalism and art I started to make my own artistic journalistic works. One of the first works was “The spread of Covid”. It was an interactive piece where the audience had to follow a few steps to experience the story. The story was about the first spread of Covid-19. In that time I was also very interested in multisensory storytelling and in this piece I used taste and smell to make the story multisensory.
• An interactive film installation about plastic pollution in the Northern fulmar (where the audience is the Northern Fulmar)
• An interactive installation about the cocaine trading routes from Brazil to Rotterdam

After graduating I knew I wanted to expand my journalistic field to an artistic practice.

With my masters, I want to continue as a journalist and grow a critical voice in visual art. Speaking with tutors, students and artists shows me that I still have a lot to learn.

"You are very objective."

"How do the stories relate to you as a person?"

"Talk with your work and take time to see everything."

"Search a topic or story that is closer to you."

"Just start creating, and have fun with it."

"You don't need to have the full story, to start creating."

"Do something that you haven't done yet."

So at first I felt very far from being an artist. I felt that I was stuck in my journalistic practice. On the other hand it also opened up a playground that I’ve always wanted to enter as a journalist. I haven't been here for that long, but I have grown so much and learned so much. A good example is the short film for the Eye.

The Eye Film as the shift

The Eye film for research exhibition: I had to make a short film about a topic of choice. The short film must be 4 minutes or under. The showing is in April.

Idea faces:

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to focus on religion. I felt a strong pull towards it and wanted to dive into that feeling. The first thoughts that came to my mind were monks, nuns, nunnery and monastery. As I felt a certain piece towards these individuals and their work. I know it is, ofcourse, layerd but I did feel appealed towards them. This feeling has been there for a long time. The influence of television, paintings and written stories were part of it. I connected it to a relaxing and safe feeling. That was the opposite of what I was taught back home. On the other hand, I connected religion and, most of all, God to sunlight. As a young child I thought that if God was here, and real, He must be the sun. I connected God to the sun because that is how he was portraited in my surroundings. As he was not a very present figure in my life. I would see his imaging in old paintings in Museums. I would see his imaging in churches that I would visit on a holiday destination. After trying to contact different Monasteries and Nunneries, I found out that they were not interested in my project. They were not interested in being filmed or recorded. I could come by and stay in solitary. That was very appealing to me, but not what I was searching for. In the last week of November and the first week of December I had a family dinner. I told my family about my struggles and processes at school. Than the girlfriend of my brother started talking about her family and her religious background: A Christian family. She herself stepped away from the religious path, but her older sister and brother are still religious. She offered me to ask her sister if I could come to her house and maybe interview her children about religion. And that was the start of a very interesting journey for me. From that moment I opened myself up for religion and the path towards it.

So my idea shifted a bit, but it was the best shift I made.

The final film idea:

Interview two young girls about their religion and ask them questions related to my curiosity about God and Jesus. And connect this to my childish visualization of God, my discomfort with religion, and my ignorance towards religion.

Used methods: There are different stages in the make of this short film:

1.My own effort to learn, and introduce myself to, the Christian religion. I started reading the bible, and I began to go to different churches.

2.Build a connection with the young girls. I came by to meet them and play games. I explained to them what the project was about and built a connection with them.

3.Think of a fitting setting to interview the girls in. Reflect on different ways of speaking towards them. A way that is interesting for the film but also a way that the girls feel comfortable in. While answering my interview questions, I choose arts and crafts as a relaxing and exciting activity for the girls.

4.The interview questions. I thought of questions that could be answered by anyone who can use their imagination. The questions needed to be objective. But they were also challenging and could be answered in various ways. *image of the questions*

5.The day of filming. Before I met with te girls, I bought some arts and crafts. And In the afternoon we started filming at their home. I wanted to create an informal setting and let the girls tell the story. In the mean time I asked them to draw.

6.Editing of the film. The editing process went from a journalistic interview to an abstract journalistic video. In that process I found out that the mixture of journalism and art is beautiful. I feel very passionate and good with it.

7.The final edit and showing. So the final edit was an abstract video on the girls. My goal is to give enough space in the film to make a connection with the young girls. And as a maker I don’t want to steer in any direction. It is up to the viewer to steer its own direction. Thereby, I feel that the girls already give a lot to the feeling of the film. In the second half of the film the viewer makes a connection with the maker. It is to amplify that the film is a personal piece and it is about the relationship between the maker, the girls and religion.

In this process I found the key to my artistic practice. Combining journalistic techniques to create visual artworks. These past few months have been very valuable for me. As I found my path towards my artistic practice. And I also found the values of my journalistic practice, and reconnected with it.

It reminds me of the beginning of my journey. The start of my study in journalism. I was convinced that art and journalism can strengthen each other, and I am still sure about that. It won´t be a fit for everyone but within my practice I need a combination of both to create.

Future plans

After I finished my project for the EYE, I felt a little stuck. I still struggle with ‘Just start creating’. It does not yet come natural to me, and I need to have a plan and see the finish line. It is something that I need to do more and to start feeling comfortable with. For now I haven’t started making anything new. I do have some ideas that I want to work on:

- The cats of Thessaloniki

- Short video’s for my own benefit

- My grandmothers escape from Hungary

I don’t know If these idea’s will all take place, but I do know that I need to pick up the camera and just start creating.

Text 2

Feed what they need

Teach me to write like the pilgrims hunt.

To feed all who are hungry

To feed all who are in need…

Teach me to tell like the Kardashian’s speak.

To be seen by all

To be reenact by all

Teach me to research like it is right in front of me.

As sure as my existence

As miraculous as the discovery of a new world

I was taught by the pencil pushers.

To write what you will be reading.

As being kidnapped from my own fantasy.

I refused to become your needs

So now I have been wondering on the borders of…

Both sides are steep and uncertain.

Trying to build bridges between you and me

"You experimental use ways to these why a story would tell?”

“It don’t understand we.”

“Is this art journalism this is is not school school.”

EYE

I don’t need to open my eye’s

Eye know what eye see

Sunlight hits the world

Since its creation

He must have known, how the world glows best.

“A Christian family. She herself stepped away from religion, but her older sister and brother still believe in the sun. She offered me to ask her sister if I could come to her house and interview her daughters. And that was the start of a very interesting journey for me. From that moment I opened myself up for religion and the path towards it.”

They opened their eye’s to me

Young and filled with energy

They spoke about him

And what he created

She read the book

She prayed and wished

They sung about his holy spirit

While drawing their imagination on paper.

I asked: “As I never asked back home

What Him is and what He does?

Him is the sun

That is what I can remember.”

Future plans

As I wrote this poem, I thought about what is next. I finished my project for the EYE, I felt a little stuck. I still struggle with ‘Just start creating’. It does not yet come natural to me, and I need to have a plan and see the finish line. It is something that I need to do more and to start feeling comfortable with. For now I haven’t started making anything new. I do have some ideas that I want to work on:

-The cats of Thessaloniki

-Short video’s for my own benefit

-My grandmothers escape from Hungary

I don’t know If these idea’s will all take place, but I do know that I need to pick up the camera and just start creating.