Wellcome Image Awards 2014

I'd previously learnt about the 'Wellcome Image Awards 2014' exhibition being held in the Museum of Science andIndustry by chance when accidentally stumbling upon an advertising bilboard for it. Today I decided to check it out because with the statement "Come closer and celebrate the best in science imaging", on the poster, it seemed extremely relavent to the microbe exploration part of my project.

The exhibition was very interesting, I especially appreciated the wiring of the brain image and the bat, although these had nothing to do with my microbe intentions, they propose an intriguing way to see something in a way we haven't seen it before. The neon, bright colours of the images came together well, and the exhibition space was presented in a simple, minimalist way which I think complemented the extreme images because too many bright images in a crowded area wouldn't have had as much of an impression to what these spread out images had. I was interested in finding out more information about each individual image so was grateful to have information boards located under each image. Although I feel as though this trip hasn't aided my project further, it has given me some presentation tips when it comes to displaying my work.

OCD Youtube Videos Of Interest

After reading a lot of online things about OCD I watched a few programmes on TV and realised that they gave me more in depth knowledge on the subject because I could see who was talking to me, I could see how the OCD sufferers acted and really felt through their facial expressions so I looked on youtube for more information about the illness.

I came across an extremely popular video of a poem recited by Neil Hilborn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnKZ4pdSU-s

-Nel is a poet with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

-He has taken the internet by storm with a heartbreaking performance about falling in love. 

-His bravery is inspiring others to share their own stories about overcoming limitations. 

-In the Poem 'OCD', through repetition and theatrics, Hilborn paints a painful but beautiful image of being in a relationship while dealing with OCD.

-Hilborn and two other poets are embarking on "The Good News Poetry Tour", where they will take their poems on the road.

-"The Good News Poetry Tour is the daily paper delivered to the doorstep of every person who has ever thought about sticking a fork in an electrical socket just to know what glowing is like."

-One reviewer of the show wrote "Dylan Garity, Hieu Nguyen, and Neil Hilborn wake up early to lace their bootsand hit the pavement, bringing you the Good News every morning: the human heart is the size of a crow, but its wingspan stetches like telephone lines."

The poem is about Neil and his love then loss of love and how it effected his OCD. He fell in love with a girl who loved his OCD, she didn't see it as a problem, if anything it seemed that she enjoyed it and found it to be an adorable trait that Neil had until they spent more time together, eventually she did mind it and it was holding her back and taking too much time out of her day just waiting for him to finish what his OCD made him do so they broke up. His strong love for her made him be able to touch her without washing his hands and to get her back he left the door unlocked and left the lights on, it shows that his love was stronger than the OCD. The video captures Neil's emotion through his facial expressions, the intensity of his performance, the redder his face gets throughout and the speed in which he recites some parts of the poem. 

I was interested to hear the repetition which is once again present. His ticks give the poem recital more of a real, genuine and innocent feeling to it. I want to experiment with poetry and repetition, I don't quite yet know what context I will use or how I will go about doing it but It's something I definitely will think about. 

Microbes In The Home

According to health care experts, infectious diseases caused by microbes are responsible for more deaths worldwide than any other single cause. Since microbes are much better at adapting to new environments than people it's no surprise that our homes are full of them. Microbes have existed on earth for billions of years and a lot of forms of microbes have developed to resist the attack of vaccine and medicines. Our homes hold a lot of perfect breeding spots for microbes. I looked on the website http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/germy-places and read up on the most common places that harvest germs in the home, the list goes as follows:

Dish towels,
Sponges,
Kitchen Tap,
Light Switches,
Makeup Bag,
Wet Unattended Laundry,
Remote Control,
Computer Keyboard,
Mobile Phone,
Toilet Seat.
Tooth Brush.

I'm going to turn my findings into a visual by creatively re-creating 'germs' and spreading them onto these objects then simply taking a still life image of the set up. I've always been interested in UV lighting and glow sticks so I'll experiment with using the liquid form inside a glow stick or UV paint as a representation of the germs.