Assessment 2 - Stencil
Stencil inspired by the article "Visual Dehumanisation of Refugees"
The purpose of this assessment is to design and laser cut a stencil inspired by a specific article and spray the stencil onto an A3 board of our choice.
I chose the article "Visual Dehumanisation of Refugees" which discussed the way the media has represented asylum seekers through the focus on boats. Refugees is one of the most contested political issues in Australia. The article argues that visual framing and relative absence of images that depict individual asylum seekers associates refugees not with a humanitarian challenge but with threats of security. Dehumanising visual patterns used in the media reinforce a politics of fears which explains why asylum seekers don’t generate a compassionate political response.
I chose the article "Visual Dehumanisation of Refugees" which discussed the way the media has represented asylum seekers through the focus on boats. Refugees is one of the most contested political issues in Australia. The article argues that visual framing and relative absence of images that depict individual asylum seekers associates refugees not with a humanitarian challenge but with threats of security. Dehumanising visual patterns used in the media reinforce a politics of fears which explains why asylum seekers don’t generate a compassionate political response.
After reading this article and the focus on how the media referred to asylum seekers through boats I wanted to highlight the hypocrisy of our political leaders turning away the boats. Captain Cook and the convicts that first colonised Australia all came by boats which inspired me to come up with some statements I could design.
I first designed a boat and an outline of Australia with the text "We came by boats, just as you did" but I have lost the Illustrator file for that design. After loosing the file I started from scratch. I spoke with my tutor who helped me shorten the phrase down as I was making my statement too obvious to the viewer. I decided to sketch a royalty free image of Captain Cook and turned it into a stencil. I changed the text to "Boat People" placed underneath the portrait of Captain Cook.
I first designed a boat and an outline of Australia with the text "We came by boats, just as you did" but I have lost the Illustrator file for that design. After loosing the file I started from scratch. I spoke with my tutor who helped me shorten the phrase down as I was making my statement too obvious to the viewer. I decided to sketch a royalty free image of Captain Cook and turned it into a stencil. I changed the text to "Boat People" placed underneath the portrait of Captain Cook.
When I went to cut my first stencil out I realised I had put too much detail into the shirt section of the portrait and the bridges where too small and it fell out of the stencil. I took those sections out and re-cut the stencil. It came out cleaner this time and didn’t look bad or different after making the adjustments.
I chose to spray onto A3 mounting board as I thought it would be stronger than card and wouldn’t bubble. I did two sprays with red spray paint and both bubbled slightly which I think it due to me over-saturating that section with paint. The text came out clearer on the second spray as there was some leakage on the first spray.
I'm really happy with the way my final spray turned out and I think it delivers my idea very clearly.
I chose to spray onto A3 mounting board as I thought it would be stronger than card and wouldn’t bubble. I did two sprays with red spray paint and both bubbled slightly which I think it due to me over-saturating that section with paint. The text came out clearer on the second spray as there was some leakage on the first spray.
I'm really happy with the way my final spray turned out and I think it delivers my idea very clearly.
Finished Spray
Finished Stencil
Designing Stencil
Planning Sketches
