Authority

As suggested in a previous post, the danger of beginning the term on slow start is threatening once again. It is not for lack of want to work, but contempt for a project so stale that it becomes difficult to justify spending a month just for the pleasure. The transition from commercial to concept work has been difficult; it is a great opportunity to showcase my ability to see something from a new light, but the solution is not coming without a fight.

The 'big idea' brief supplies us with a word of substancial weight and burdons us with the task of communicating it in an interesting way. It is a brief that has been unchanged for years, so finding a new angle for a word that has been used for a decade is a daunting task in more ways than one. In addition to catching the tutor's eye, I have to keep in mind the professionals that have attended the graduate shows and arranged interviews for past students who will be well aware of repetitions in portfolios. It is certainly in my interest to avoid churning out another predictable outcome for a word with limited options that will cause the interviewer to yawn with disappointment at seeing this work yet again.

My word is 'Authority'

A word with  cast iron connotations. Everybody knows what authority is; it touches us everyday in some way. We witness it in every journey we make, every interaction with another person in every situation. We all know what it is like to have authority, as we know what it is to yield to it. Authority is something that we recognise; it has no subliminal offering... nothing that will surprise us anyway.

In order to engage with an audience, it has been suggested that I focus on the everyday limitations that we all conform to. The things that we are used to after so many years of experiencing them. The difficult task is avoiding the obvious such as the traffic cone or the cash register. Obedience is the aspect of authority that I find most interesting. The fact that we are willing to make these sacrifices for what we believe is ultimatley in our best interest to do so. When we are young, we are not so accustomed to these rules from authority. Maybe the route to an interesting outcome lies in the minds of the young; blissfully ignorant of the established hierarchy of authority.