Text on practice third draft by Yalou

From journalism to visual art

On paper I am a Journalist.

I graduated in December 2021. The journey of becoming a journalist was a difficult one. As I see beauty in sharing the true fruit stories of this humanized world. This sentence was not as structured back than as it is now.

In my educational journey of becoming a journalist I always challenged myself and the journalistic field with the border between art and journalism. A journey that has been walked before by…. But is not that loved by all within the Journalistic field.

But what makes me a professional journalist?

I pulled my old journalism book out of the closet and found an interesting characteristic that makes a journalist professional:

"A professional journalist independently engages in the gathering, processing and disseminating current, relevant and verified information to a wide audience. He can justify his methods and act on journalistic ethics. Via which platform this information is distributed is not important.”

I have some issues with the way they wrote this explanation. I would rewrite it as:

“As fluid as the world is, it is up to the bird to independently spread what is floating on these humanized waves of the world. The bird will know the destination my fluid waves go and make sure it arrives as it is supposed to arrive. The bird will justify its fly routes and the bird fly’s as the core of the existence of birds were meant to fly. But it does not matter which ocean or sea the fluid waves will roll, as long as the bird knows where to go.”

I struggle to be the journalist by the book. My passion was in my opinion beyond the book and I saw opportunities in my journalistic practice that would express the stories that I found in a much fruitier, richer and brother way.

I positioned myself on that border of Journalism and Art. And I started to knot the tree branches from one side to the tree branches on the other side. As I looked up into the sky, I saw these beautiful but critical journalistic birds flying around. Being the guard dogs of our society.

I heard birdsongs in the sky:

“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.”

But as human as I am. I almost forgot to listen to the smaller birds who flew with me along the way. And helped me to make these knotted branches fit into the birds birth side of the border. As my wings were forming I felt my inner body become fluid:

As I did research on journalism and art *add image*

Where the search for evidence was more important than the presentation of the outcome. As my mind had to little knowledge on the struggles of these crossed over borders. As the main question was: How can Journalism and Art strengthen each other? How can I be fluid floating in the sky? How can I spread my wings underneath the waves?

As I spread covid through the act of eating *add image*

After my search to these crossed over borders I started to create myself. One of my first crossed over works was “The spread of Covid-19”. By using multiple senses and by giving the audience an active role in the project. The story gained multiple layers and there was more awareness from the audience. The story was about the first spread of Covid-19.

As I made the birds become birds *add image*

X A creation where wings aren’t always able to spread. The birdsongs were silent and not intent to be heard by me. As I dressed up the educators in pieces and strings of plastic. They were positioned in front of a high standing desk (one seen on the news). In front of these bird made birds there were different screens and on the high desk there was polluted sushi and cards with plastic and a paper with some core words. The lights turned of and the bird made birds started watching “Noordse Stormvogel; het gezicht van ons plastic gebruik” (The Nordern Fulmar; the face of our plastic use) while eating their polluted sushi. X

As I traded the cocaine trading routes from Brazil to Rotterdam. (unfinished piece of text)

After graduating I was left with a lot of knotted branches and I knew that this was a border only seen by the once who search for it. So as I try to forget this human made border between these two practices, I started to ground myself in this place in time. Where I can give myself the space to find my vision, my voice and my next chapter.

X So I find this whole, corner, chair, open hand where I sit. It is on the 4th floor and you can see birds fly. Here I sit with you, them, him, they, her and me. With a 360 degree view of the world. I feel I am home. I feel the ability to grow. To a bird, to a wave, to a tree, to a border.

Visual art is the eye of the whole where we work from. We are who I sit with. I choose to stay the bird with the fluid inner body. And I choose to see with borders, but not let the borders be. and create my own birdsong. I learn from all around me. Surrounded by mousecapers, foxraphers, fishainters and world creators. We are all in search for our own way to see and unsee borders. X

As my first weeks on this chair were with my wings spread wide, I got the needed confrontation:

"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 I met myself as a full bodied bird, flying high into the sky. It scared me and I almost felt like I failed. But when I looked at the reflection on the waves, this is where I needed to be. Where I need to be. Being a bird is part of my vision and my voice.

It is never about being stuck in your practice, in being a bird. It is about that playground where we, where I find myself now.

I haven't been here for that long, but I have been growing and shaping so much.

I fell in love with me as a bird, with me as a shaper.

The Eye

The Eye film for research exhibition:

Make a short 4 minute film about a topic of choice.

After the feedback from the first weeks I choose to stay a little more on the ground. Focus on my own interests and my own fantasy. My feathers moved strongly in one direction.

“Religion.”

I remember as a child a certain feeling of piece when I visited churches. And whenever I saw nuns (and I did not see them often) I felt safe. So these feelings were not learned in my case. As both of my parents were unreligious, and had more often negative thoughts about religion. So I was left with the 16th and 17th century paintings in museums and my wild imagination.

Because of that, my mind connected sunlight to god, and before I knew it I spoke:

“If there is a God out there, he must be the sun.”

I felt this strong connection towards the sun and the woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service. I tried to make the short film about nuns and sunlight. After I called a few nunneries I reviewed my plan. The nunneries weren’t as excited as I was about this project.

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 flight for me. From that moment I opened myself up for religion and the path towards it.

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.

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 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.

My next flight

It was fulfilling to finish the EYE project. And it is a start of a new journey. I don’t think I will be talking about this humanized border. I was thinking to find an island or a place, that is not held back from it’s fluid movements. I tis time to spread my wings and dive deep. So for the upcoming months and upcoming year I want to create more as a journalistic visual artist.

One of my main idea’s is to connect more with my own roots, and make an artwork about my Hungarian background. All my other ideas are as leaves in the wind. They are there to sometimes get lost.