For my final piece, i want to create a photo montage that will really move my grandma and make her smile.
A piece that incorporates my grandma with her father and her children as well as her past. The things she holds most dear in life.
If i can create something that makes my grandma happy then my project will be complete.
I left my grandma alone with a folder of all of the pieces of work i have done for this project and let her decide one my final pieces.
I said for her to choose the pieces that meant the most to her as well as the artistic factor.
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This is a cut piece of film that my grandma took when she first moved over to London. The film got developed but was never printed so i decided to just scan it in.
I picked three photos to add into the film. The first, my grandma in red, after she arrived in London at age 19. The second, my grandma in orange, when she was still living in Guyana at age 17. The third, my mums cousins in green, bundled up for autumn at ages 3 and 4.
I thought i would colour the photos, even though they are originally in black and white, to show how far our technology has come. We can now completely re-colour photos, not that that is what i have done here, but i have added colour that wasnt there before.
The colour also represents the time and place it was taken. So, the red image of my grandma is when she had achieved her ambition of moving to London to study nursing, her determination paying off. The orange image of my grandma when she was still living in Guyana, representing her optimism for passing school and getting the grades she needed to move to the UK. The last photo in the background is of my mums cousins, who were very close to my mum and my grandma. They are in green to show their growth with my grandma, she helped bring them up and nurse them whilst looking after my mum and her brother too.
This is my last and final version of my family tree. Although i didnt use my grandmas birth certificate, i still love this piece just as much. I let my grandma make the final decision on which background to have and she said that this texture of cardboard looked the best as it is lighter in colour in the middle and gets darker toward the edges, making the tree almost look like its glowing.
This is the last piece of work my grandma picked. The photo of my mum back in primary school. She was absolutely amazed at how i could take her eyes from one photo and fit them onto my mums face on another photo without having to use any scissors or glue.
She said she always saw herself in my mum but never realised just how much until now.
Now my grandma is happy, i am happy and this means my project is complete.
I would go to the moon and back just to make my grandma smile and i hope this reflects in my work.
