Today is my final assessment at Walsall, we had the Private view at the Gallery last night which went very well, a lot of people came to see us and some faces from the Foundation year which was lovely.
But what I have to do now is conclude my work, it has been a wonderful journey in many ways, the work, the travelling and the conversations on route. I feel the work has reflected what I wanted, the cocoon has become the organic shape I wanted and travelled to places that are important to me and that make me happy and also make me feel uncomfortable, I still don't like places like Digbeth and Wolverhampton but part of me will always have the memories of going to take the photographs and the giggles we had while doing it, which will make them more bearable. Memories have been created and some have been recalled as my journey to Rhyl was a look back to the HNC work and also to my childhood, as many of my summers where spent there. Rhyl is now having work done on the sea front and has had a lot of the old B&B's knocked down hopefully it is now on its way back up, the beach is clean and a lovely mix of sand and stones, and it saddens me that no one goes there, to enjoy it.
Woodlands and Waterfalls have also been visited, places I love to lie and watch the clouds and listen to the sounds that surround me, the cocoon looked so natural and part of the land, some children even thought it may be a real cocoon that a giant bug had come from, My favourite images showed the cocoon hanging from a tree, it swung around and made it difficult to photograph but it was fun.
The Birmingham photos show exactly how I feel when I'm in the town, invisible . No one took any notice to what we were doing, the Bullring was packed and we struggled to get photographs without it being concealed totally, yet no one looked at the cocoon, which was under the bull at one point, in full view. Also at the Library I placed it by the door, people walked past, one person threw their cigarette butt right by it, It was lucky it didn't burst in to flames ( would of made a good photo though ;-) )
The map on the wall shows the route, I chose where I wanted to go, apart from the Lake Vyrnwy which was a suprise visit, we travelled over 500 miles, and we didn't always take the quickest route, but it was a lovely journey.
The cocoon has now done its work, and is sitting in the gallery, its organic shape in a concrete space, to me it will always look best in the woodland.
My journey at Walsall is also over and I'm moving on to Birmingham, the cocoon has looked after me and is giving me my rebirth as a student at Margret St.