Hafeez’s Neighborhood

So so sorry for the lack of updates. It's assessment season, yes yes I know that's not an excuse but I've just been preoccupied lately with work, personal and financial matters - it's just difficult to find a time for me to just relax ad unwind. Oh well, I am going to Aberystwyth tomorrow... I do hope that would help.

But just to fill some of the intangible blank posts that have appeared between this post and the last one, I will first introduce you to Part III of my Red Tape Project, which was done on Thursday, 24th April... in which I was tied up with ribbons... I had intended to be completely covered with these rich red velvet strips, but unfortunately, I did not cut enough ribbons for the show. Well, it was an experiment anyway, so I had to make do with what I had at the time. The idea was to try to move outside the sheet of paper that I was on.... And that was very difficult... very, very difficult.

Here is a collection of photographs for the piece, click on the image to look at more photographs:

I went to Bristol yesterday for the arranged visit to the History of Art Department in the University of Bristol. It was a shame the train was so slow and I ended up being about 45 minutes late; I could have talked to the Lecturer (I will not disclose her name) much longer, because I quite enjoyed listening to what she had to say about the course, about what it teaches, etc. The building used to be a Baptist seminary, beautiful architecture; stained glass windows, dark wood panels and staircases with elaborate carvings; and they have a sitting room where there is a mini library, computers and desks; and there is a common room where they place all the students' dissertations free for the students to read.  And the prospects sound very interesting... Plus I also had a look at the campus facilities; the main library, the gym, the postgraduate common building... studying in Bristol seems promising... Well, of course, I can't make any conclusions yet- I'll still need to visit the other two universities that I've applied to before I can make a decision about where I want to go.

And that all depends on my degree result as well.

The lecturer said that I MUST get a 2:1.... She made it sound as if it's so easy.
*sigh*

After the tour, I took a bus to the city centre and then made my way to the Arnolfini. I didn't seem to like Torsten Lauschmann's work though, well, some of it was interesting; I liked 'Pandora's Ball', which was a combination of two images, one moving image of a woman's legs dancing... and another, a still image of a ball. And the moving image is modified, or moved again to make it look as if the woman is dancing on the ball. Pretty good actually.

I liked Saskia Holmkvist's film 'in character'. there are three actors: two interviewers and one interviewee. At first there is a typical job interview, where the interviewee is asked questions like what was her strength and weakness and how she deals with stress. Then somehow, the conversation is manipulated and transformed into some kind of interrogation, where the interviewee is forced to admit that she has been guilty of embezzlement.

Anyway, apart from the wonderful tour experience, I felt rather under the weather yesterday. It wasn't a very bright day, as is apparent from the above photographs, but I don't think it's really because of the climate. There's just so much I have to do in such a little amount of time. Oh well... I am in the Final year of Uni.

Welcome to reality, Jannah.

Last Tuesday, I made an appointment for tutorial with lecturers Simon Pope and Dave Shepherd and told them about the work that I did in Nottingham last week. I also told them I was much more comfortable making work with red tape compared with building a human-sized cage and doing a performance inside it. They seemed to think that making this kind of work with red tape was also a good idea, so I went ahead and made another performance, durational, in the installation room yesterday.

Prior to making this performance, I have done a lot of thinking about the concept of a contract, and how a signature can bind the individual to a piece of paper. I recalled some of the things people talked about concerning the contract and how it affects them in conversations with me, and used these memories to inspire me to write on the piece of paper that was taped onto the wall in the installation room, while I bind myself after every time I write on that paper.

Most of the time I write my name, or different versions of my name (since my full name is very long), whereas for fewer incidents I write the stuff out of memory from the many conversations I have had with people, as I mentioned above. For example, when I wrote down B$150,000, that was from a conversation I had with someone from Brunei, regarding his yearly salary; or when I wrote down "3 years in the UK = 5 years teaching unwilling brats!" ; was from another conversation with someone, who obviously doesn't like teaching. Of course, I will not name names here but you know what, to their relief, anyway, I don't think I can pinpoint who said what- because some of those conversations were years ago.

The objective of this work was to reveal what people felt about a contract, and how it restricts the individual from performing certain tasks. I was very happy this performance turned out, in my opinion, quite successful, but disappointed that only two people turned up for the show - I needed more opinions from the audience because I am still rather confused over what I would like to do for my degree show, which is due very very soon.

Anyway, here is a collection of pictures from the performance if you are interested (just double-click the image to look at over 300 photos of this performance):

 

Just in case you are around and available and would like to come an watch a piece of artwork made by me, do feel free to come to my campus at Howard Gardens. Although, you might need to bring a UWIC student card with you to enter the main entrance.

*cringe*
I'm still on holiday mode... yargh!

Time can fly ever so fast...

The day after our visit to Leicester we went to Loughborough, a town where my mother used to study. The one reason why I wanted to go there was to take a photo of the house my mum lived in when she was there; and we noticed a few interesting things along the way... Oooh... and Jay bought me a new sheepie there! My dear Lojbaroj, welcome to the family!

The next day, we just took a walk around town; had breakfast, or should I say lunch, at the Pretty Orchid again. I pretty much ordered the same thing as last time, with the addition of a Chin Chow drink to accompany my dine-in. Dee-lish! When we went back to Mel's place, we intended to go to the cinema to watch a movie from our list, but then, after our huge dinner, we decided we were too tired to go out, so we just hung out in Mel's room instead, playing the guitar.... After all, it was our last official night in Nottingham for this trip...

And then yesterday, Jay and I left Nottingham. It was strange because we felt like we've been in Nottingham for a long time, though it only had been a week. Ah well, I suppose it's the company that makes you feel like home, isn't it? Hehe... plus I really like being around people who appreciate what you cook for them; especially those who don't mind the 'oh-so-very-spicy' capsicum that I occasionally add to the dish. Plus, it really has been a good visit... And there were plenty of things we did that I thought were fun, though they are little things... But sometimes, it's the little things that really matter, don't you think?

And that was that, we left Nottingham at 12.02 on the train, and returned to our grey-skied home, Cardiff at around half-past three.

I wouldn't say much for this post but basically, I went to Leicester today... no wait, yesterday, since it is now 2.40am, 8th April. I just want to offload some pictures. It was a day trip by train from Nottingham and we spent a few good hours there after having lunch at Nandos *smile*