Salford University Holi Festival

- The Holi festival is a spring festival which is also known as the festival of colours or the festival of love.

- Colours are thrown around in powdered form at one another.

- It's an ancient Hindu religious festival.

- The festival is primarily observes in India, Nepal.

- It has become very popular all over the world. 

- It celebrates the beginning of the new season, spring. 

- In 17th century literature, it was identified as a festival that celebrated agriculture, commemorated good spring harvests and the fertile land.

- Hindus believe that it is a time of enjoying spring's abundant colours and saying goodbye to winter for another year.

- It marks the beginning of new year to many Hindus, as well as a justification to reset and renew ruptured relationships, end conflicts and accumulated emotional impurities from the past. 

- It also has a religious meaning as well as the symbolic one that I've just mentioned above. 

I've been interested in being a part of this festival since I saw it on TV quite a few years ago. I made it my aim to go to the original place of the festivals birth, India, and contribute to throwing the colours around. My interest was sparked when I saw how fun and creative it looked, everyone was happy and looked to be having the time of their lives and the end result as well as the process looked beautiful, everyone was drenched in multi coloured madness. I was shocked to hear that the Indian society at my university had planned to put on a Holi festival on the grounds of one of the accommodations, I had to go. I've been looking into how germs spread and representing them in the form of colour, pattern and light so this opportunity wasn't only a personal gain but an academic one too. I planned to photograph the action and the end result of the people when they're covered in the colour so I brought my digital camera. My idea was to capture the people covered in colour and find a way to use them to represent the rapid germ spread in public in some way. When I arrived the action had already started and I immediately found out that it would not be safe to get my camera out when in the middle of it in terms of risk of breakage to the camera so I took some snaps from a far and then got involved. Unfortunately during the festival my camera had some how got damaged, either from the coloured powder getting into it or the running and jumping around I did during the fun so my images were not available in the end. I did however have a great time and will definitely bare my original idea in mind and maybe re-create the types of photos I had planned to take at a later date. 

Contacting a Microbiologist

My replies from the university lab technicians died down and after chasing them up and emailing multiple times I decided to find someone else who may be able to help me and I came across Richard Birtles, the microbiologist at my university. I emailed Richard right away in hope for a swift response.

Tue 01/04/2014 11:24

Hi Richard, 

I'm Toni Hopley, a photography student based in the Centenary building. I'm doing my Final Major Project on microbes and have been interested in entering the labs to take some images of microbes through the microscope. I've been in contact with Geoff and Cath Hide throughout last summer and was told I would be able to access the labs and do some photography but since term began I've not been receiving replies or heard anything of the previous plans. 

I would appreciate if you could let me know how I would go about looking through the microscopes at different types of microbes and recording what I see with a camera.

Thanks very much, 

Toni

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.

Microbes

I looked up different microbes to see what i'd be working with, where they're found, how they work and how common they are within the public.

A microbe is any living thing that spends its life at a size visible sometimes only with a microscope. It is too tiny to be seen with the naked eye. Microbes are the oldest form of life on Earth. Some types have existed for billions of years. 

Bacteria:

- Some bacteria are helpful and protective to humans, they flourish naturally in our bodies to help to protect us from infections.
- Certain bacteria found in infections can cause serious illnesses. A bacterial infection may be treated with a course of antibiotics.
- They have been found to live in temperatures that are above boiling point and in cold that would freeze human blood.
- They 'eat' everything from sugar and starch to sunlight, sulfur and iron.
- Bacteria can be found virtually anywhere, they're in the air, the soil, and water and in and on plants and animals, including us.
- The human mouth is home to more than 500 species of bacteria.
- Some are rod or stick-shaped, these are called Bacili.
- Others are shaped like little balls called Cocci.
- Other forms of bacteria are helical or spiral shaped.
- Some bacteria calls exist as individuals while others cluster together to form pairs, chains, squares or other groupings.

Viruses:

- Most of the common 'minor' illnesses are caused by viruses. e.g. colds, coughs, sore throats, chicken pox. Viral infections are the most common, more common than bacterial and fungal ones.
- There are some antiviral medicines which stop the virus from multiplying and so 'control' the virus and the infection that it causes.
- They widely differentiate in shape and complexity. Some look like round popcorn balls, while others have a complicated shape that looks like a spider and of the Apollo lunar lander.
- Viral diseases can be very difficult to treat because viruses live inside your body's cells, where they are protected from medicines in the blood stream.

Fungal:

- Fungal infections commonly affect the skin and nails in humans.
- Most fungi are free-living in the environment and few of these are capable of causing infection in even  the healthiest of people.
- The part of the fungus that we see is only the 'fruit' of the organism.
- The living body of the fungus is a mycelium made out of a web of tiny filaments called hyphae. These webs live unseen until they develop mushroom, puffballs, truffles, brackets, cups, 'bird nests', 'corals', or other fruiting bodies. If the mycelium produces microscopic fruiting bodies, people may never notice the fungus.

Yeasts:

- Yeasts are a type of fungus.
- Treatment for yeast infections usually work well with anti-yeast creams and medicines.

Parasites:

- A parasite is a type of germ that needs to live on or in another living organism called 'a host', to survive.
- Parasites feed off the host.
- Parasites are not as common as other types of germs.
- They're usually found in contaminated water or food, yet can get in the body by insect bites or by sexual contact.

Protozoa:

- Protozoa play a big role in maintaining the balance of bacterial, algal, and other microbial life by hunting and grazing through the microbial world.
- It has been found in almost every kind of soil environment. They teem in deep sea as well as near the surface of waters, and can be found even in frigid Arctic and Antarctic waters.
- Some species of protozoa are part of the normal microbial flora of animals , and live in the guts of insects and mammals, helping to break down complex food particles into simpler molecules. A very small number of species cause disease in people, including Plasmodium vivax, which causes malaria.

Algae:

- Algae are found in fresh and salt water all over the world.
- When enough water in available they can grow on rocks, trees and in soil.
- Most algae make energy from sunlight and produce a large amount of the oxygen that we breath.
- At some stages of their life, certain types of algae get their nutrients from other living things.

I'm going to find out what places each of these microbes thrive, focusing on the home and largelt used public areas.

Dennis Ryan

Conceptual artist Dennis Ryan — OCD art

This series of 6 paintings was created directly after the phobia art series. Coming off of the 7 paintings of phobia studies Dennis really wanted to focus more on simplicity. He wanted this series to suggest beauty by line in motion and less by mental disturbance suggested by imagery. It is called the OCD art series because obsessive compulsive disorder is the main theme of the fine art; but not the only theme... anxiety concepts are also prevalent. On the surface, Ryan wanted to approach creating these paintings as pieces of beauty by using line to create form. He wanted the viewer to experience the flow and aesthetics of the art, and not just the concepts. Carried forward are some of the attributes he found successful in his previous paintings: like broad areas of solid color, mixing and juxtaposing mediums, and the use of household cleaning chemicals to inflict surface wear.

This mainstay of this OCD Series is the hands. The importance of hands, not only for the obsessive hand washing component of OCD, but on a bigger scale, is that hands are the way we all connect and most intimately interact with the world around us.

I found this artist who produces paintings expressing certain elements of OCD, what struck my attention was the use of bright primary colours, dabs of paint, layering and splodges as it resembled the work I'd researched previous to this which was focused around microscope photography. The one thing I'm not keen on with this work is the obviousness of what is being presented after knowing the work is about OCD, however I do appreciate the idea and techniques used and will experiment with similar things for myself.