Secondary Research - Plan

Going along the same lines as i did in my primary research to investigate peoples 'natural identity'.

Going to use the list i came up with as well as other more general influences; hopefully making the research concise and to the point....

My plan to record it is have 6 post's (including this one). Systematically showing the secondary research in relation to what im actually interested in and want to find out....hopefully.

1 - This one...an explanation of the secondary research plan,

2 - Body...artists, concepts, photo's, ideas,

3 - Hair... ", ", ", ",

4 - Skin... ", ", ", ",

5 - Face... ", ", ", ",

6 - Random secondary research that doesn't fit into any of the previous posts. (Religion, male/female etc..)


Im going try and see how both historical and contemporary artists have tackled making identity visual. Im also interested in conceptual ideas maybe i'll do some research into the philosophy of identity as well as the visual.

As you might have noticed i've extended my list of influencial artists...a lot of these have connections to identity but not all.


Again, to check im on the right lines i've looked up definitions of Secondary Research....

Secondary Research = Information that's already been investigated or collected by someone else i.e. artworks, papers/essays, photos....

Here's the dictionary definition for Secondary -ˈsekənˌderē - adjective

1 coming after, less important than, or resulting from someone or something else that is primary : luck plays a role, but it's ultimately secondary to local knowledge.
• [ attrib. ] of or relating to education for children from the age of eleven to sixteen or eighteen : a secondary school. • having a reversible chemical reaction and therefore able to store energy. • relating to or denoting the output side of a device using electromagnetic induction, esp. in a transformer.
2 ( Secondary) Geology former term for Mesozoic .
3 Chemistry (of an organic compound) having its functional group located on a carbon atom that is bonded to two other carbon atoms.
• (chiefly of amines) derived from ammonia by replacement of two hydrogen atoms by organic groups. noun ( pl. -aries) 1 short for
• a secondary color.
• Ornithology a secondary feather.
• a secondary coil or winding in an electrical transformer. 2 Football the players in the defensive backfield; the area these players cover. 3 ( the Secondary) dated Geology the Secondary or Mesozoic era.

Primary Research - Faces into Masks

Finished off my primary research today....

Needed to represent faces in a quick and easy way so i decided to make some playdough and use it as a mold for peoples faces. I only used the nose and eyes...then cast into the molds with plaster.

Here's the reciepe for the playdough:

2 cups - flour
2 cups - water
1 cup - salt
1/4 cup - oil
4 teaspoons - cream of tartar...you need some chemical, can't remember what its called but its also in bicarbonate of soda.
food coloring (not needed)

You don't need the proportions to be exact...just enjoy..........

It all came out well, I ended up just using my face as it was easiest. I tried casting into cellophane that was put into the playdough and also tried straight into it...i think the latter was the most interesting. The end product ended up quite morphed but still with the figure of the eyes and nose.. Here's photo's from both he process's....





Need to start secondary research now and start making/developing stuff on monday (as usual, im beind)

Primary Research - Skin...

Got my skin photo's into photoshop and cut them all down....

Decided it may be interesting to put them all next to each other and fill the page with them...

This is what i ended up with...not sure if i like it but still....

Primary Research - List of things to do...

Monday morning...trying to think of what's next....

• Morning – Update blog… Information about artist talks/tutorial, post comments on other blogs and scan pictures from last project.
• Afternoon - Explore the next thing on the 'natural identity' list….peoples colour.

- Doing this by taking detailed pictures of peoples skin.... About 10cm by 10cm....maybe them making into a collage of some description....