Black Lives Matter Movement.

Black Lives Matter campaign has moved to the UK in response to the vast growth of it's support in the US. The campaign aims to highlight a crisis in the way black people are treated. These are the reasons protesters have given as to why the movement has started in the UK:

"We know that in the UK there have been over 1500 deaths in police custody. Many of those are black people," says Natasha.
"We also know black people are 37 time more likely to be stopped and search by the police.
"We know there has been a 57 % increase in racist hate crimes since Brexit.

"So we believe that we are in a crisis; that black lives in the UK are in a considerable amount of danger - shown by these facts."-(Referance- http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/36985740/why-has-black-lives-matter-come-to-the-uk-your-questions-answered)

These Protests are happening due to incidences where black people have said to have been mistreated and in some cases die in police custody. Historically been mistreated and the shootings currently in America.  This artical by the BBC gives argument into weather the movement is needed in the UK. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36982748

#BlackLivesMatter- Video filmed July 2016-London.

This Protest was filmed and put up on youtube. This protest happens only a few days after I went to London myself on the 12th July , and I was suprised by the amount of people that came out to protest as they looked to have blocked off most of oxford street which I went down and it is large. There is also strong references to the shootings of black people by police "hands up , don't shoot!"There is still angry about equal rights and it still has a significant impact. Even in the 21st century there is still a miss treatment of people who are from different ethnic background. This again is another example in how Harper Lee's beliefs and topics in her work are still very relevant.

Martin Luther King speech.

Martin Luther King was the leader of the African American Civil Rights movement and a significant player in helping to enforce the equal treatment of people.He fought against Segregation , and more famously he was involved in the Montgomery bus boycott, along with Rosa Parks.During a campaigne in Birmingham (america) 1963 , non violent protests took place in which black people would do sit-ins and stand in silence the aim was to openly contradict the laws against them. the police where said to have used highly unnecessary force including Water Jets and dogs. Soon after this protest King was arrested for the 19th time. but this only increased his popularity and whilst inside he wrote letters from Birmingham jail calling for people to conitue used legal channels for social change.
April 3rd King was shot from the second floor balcony of a hotel. His assassination led to wide spread race riots, and his killer was supposedly James Earl Ray and white american , However there are still conspiracy theories behind the attack. Below is a video of Martin Luther King' most famous speak but even though an important speech where it was said, I feel is more significant. It was said during a mass march on Washington , thousands of people came to support the fight for equality, and I think that that is the significant turning point in the civil rights movement.

The Help.

The Help are a group black women who work as maids and nanny's to white family. And the film really highlights issues similar to kill a mockingbird. It shows the divide between black and white people, in particular the wrong of the supremacist the whites had. Also how the women where talked down to belittled by the white women who they worked for. However a young women called Skeeter decided to hear the black women's side there working life and very much like Harper Lee , there share the same beliefs that there should be overall equality. Skeeter publishes a book in which holds 1st hand accounts of these women working for the white families. The story is also based in Mississippi which is a neighbouring state to Alabama, this is where to kill a Mockingbird is set.
  

The Help.

Harper Lee.

This is the first time I have read to kill a mockingbird and I loved it! Harper lee only ever really published this book and she dose a clever thing where she tells the story from the perspective of children, who don't have many preconceptions of society and its views and are still asking questions about it. So they are almost unaware of the huge issues inequality of races and classes of that time, but what really stuck me was how innocent the whole story was. But there are quite a lot of story lies that are crisscrossing over each other which can make the book quite confusing at times however the main one that stood out to me was the trial of Tom Robinson and it is a interesting reflection of rasium in that time.

Sadly the topics in Lee's book I have realised since reading it , is that they are still very much relevant today. The race wars that are going on in america and the campain black lives matter.

Harper Lee- Trailer for the play.

Kafka- Metomorphsis- Gregor Sketches

• starting to draw Gregor who is Kafka in Metamorphosis .
• the image above is my favourite of the three. It is the most detailed but I think that the shapes, thin stick legs make the proportions look perculiour and strange. Also the facial expression make it look like the monster is evil and almost snake like. It dose embodies some of Kafkas dark atmospheres in his work.
• The two charcol sketches of Gregor however I think they have expression in then , the rough , dark bold lines and the differing expressions on the face. 
• It was quick to draw these and fun ! but I have ignored the value of colour and they would have looked better with some slight colour in them. Just to enhance the dark mood using greens and blues. But if I choose Kafka I will remeber this for further development.

• the shadow faces are bold and simple but I prefer the more detailed faces as they communicate more about what is going on. However these could make a nice Motif. 

Kafka- Metamorphosis- Beetle sketches

•  I did some reference drawings from bugs , just to get a better idea of how things for example their legs are shaped. I used the mark making drawing techniques when I did these and it looks good.

• But below here I simplified the bug/beetle form using charcol again. Again would work as a motif , but simplifying it helped me to think of the bugs as symbols too. However I did work into some with pencil but I think that over-complicated them. I could take this further by simplifying them more into just shapes but I will do this more if I chose Kafka.   

Franz Kafka

Sketches from draw everyday.

I did these mark making images in my sketchbook for the other summer brief and they have had a big impact on how I am drawing my images now. Instead of just drawing single fluid lines and using shapes and mark making and I much prefer it. It is slightly more time consuming but look great when done. Also I can see it being used in a verity of different mediums too , etching, print e.c.t.

I really want to keep applying this technique of creating marks and lines into my drawing for about the author and I think it will help me come up with some really interesting and different outcomens.

Sketches for "Trees".

•  I used hard and soft pencils to build up the textures for the tree rings and I added the eye in for the human element.
• I really enjoyed building up these textures like this and it looks and suites a texture of a tree trunks.
• Using different pencils meant that I was able to build up tones and this really worked for going over the harder pencil with the softer one.  
• I am very happy with the effect that has been made and I want to do more like this. 

• This was another idea I had of an old man(fragile) with a tree growing out of him, but this images makes him look like the god of trees or something which doesn't incompletely fit with the text , but with more development I think it could work as a piece to describe Kafka.

Franz Kafka - "The Trees"

This is a very short story in which Kafka compares trees to humans. I have found it hard to work out the meaning behined this story. It is confusing what he means but I think it means that we might seem fragile and can be moved easily, but really we are hard and resilient.

Quote from the text above and sketch I drew just to start getting ideas.

But to help some more I went down to the woods and took photos of the trees , shapes and  textures. The trees textures helped me the with the sketch above.  

Franz Kafka.

• I already have a good understanding of Kafka and his work Metamorphosis as having studied it previously, so I knew the story well but I wasn't aware of how Kafka used his work as a metaphorical reflection of himself. 
• He appears quite and unhappy guy from going off the research and text. His work reflects the struggles with his family particularly the farther and his frantic mental state throughout his life. But from what I have read so far Gregor Samsa seems to be a good example of his reflection. 
• However I have seen many different interpretations of Gregor some say when he changes he morphs into a Cockroach, Bed Bug or beetle. So I am going to put these all together and say that Gregor is some kind of hideous Coleptera(beetle species).     
• This could be a really exciting idea to explore more, trying to imagine and making it visual. 
• Also looking into his other work.
• He is an interesting character. 

About the author Breif in short.

Select 3 Authors- Research their lives and work. 
For the chosen one:

• 5- Quotes.
• 5- Motifs- reoccurring Objects, Symbols and artifices.
• 5-Characters. 
• 5- Locations, sense of place , Atmosphere e.c.t.
• 5- piece of information about the author , other then there works.

25 piece in all with corresponding sketchbook work.