Unit 1 Assessment – Kehkashan

Formulate, describe and implement a challenging and self-directed programme of study, relating to your Project Proposal (research; subject knowledge; communication and presentation; professional and personal development)
- My project proposal is a good snapshot into the thought and process behind my work, as well as a glimpse at the final outcome. The bibliography is quite comprehensive and describes most of the research that went into developing the research concept and following it through. MA Project Proposal (final)
- My practice had always consisted of diverse, equally integral, strands which were difficult to mesh together. Instead of forcing it to make sense, I focused on the steps I needed to take, and my practice organically came together as a mosaic. http://kehkashankhalid.com/evolution-of-the-project-proposal
- The mid-point review was my first deliberate communication of my objectives. At that point, I was able to articulate a raw understanding and outline future steps but it was clear that the underlying objective of the proposal was still in the experimentation phase.
  - http://kehkashankhalid.com/mid-point-review-presentation
  - http://kehkashankhalid.com/record-mpr-comments-classmates
- The research I conducted for the research paper along with its reflective blogs, was crucial to this process of converging my practice and understanding its context:
  - http://kehkashankhalid.com/category/blog/ma-blog/unit1/research-paper
- The focal point was June/July 2018, when I took the biggest leap and organized massive community projects in Karachi, engaging with a variety of bloggers, writers, artists and influencers. This is an ongoing project.
  - http://kehkashankhalid.com/untold-edition-small-update
- This led to a lot of reflection and directed me to the relevance of social media as a public art platform which became the basis of my research paper and further inquiry.
- Other important milestones on the way to developing the project proposal include:
  - As an online student located in a conservative place like Saudi Arabia I had to strive to learn more about arts and culture in the region
  - I researched several artists to explore figurative expressions of mosaic
  - I followed artists and galleries on social media to gain an understanding of the digimodernist landscape
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/keeping-up-with-instagram
  - I explored artists who had conducted community projects or engaged in interactive public art
  - I took advantage of trips abroad to visit museums and exhibits there
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/art-institute-chicago
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/the-poetry-foundation
  - I exhibited work online and at group exhibits to engage with an audience, gain exposure and develop my project concept further
  - Regularly met up with groups of artists for the benefit of critique and discussion
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/discovering-jeddah
  - The tutorials were a huge source of guidance every step of the way. The lectures were also a great way to learn about the points of view, practice and research of different artists. I reflected on these either through the blog or in my sketchbook:

Critically engage with practice-based research and contribute actively to debate and discussion (analysis; technical competence; experimentation; collaborative and/or independent professional working).
- One of the core ways in which I engaged with my practice based research was through a public log of all my work on Facebook and Instagram. The numbers are as follows:
  - Instagram:
    - 1800 Followers
    - Highest /post reach: 61,000
    - Highest /post views: 21,000
    - Highest /post reactions: 500 Likes
  - Facebook:
    - 7151 Likes, 7222 Follows
    - Highest number of /post shares: 77 shares
    - Highest number of /post reactions: 500 reactions
    - TAABIR–Artists’ Collective: 2.2K members
  - Here are the pages documenting my development;
    - www.facebook.com/KehkashanArt
    - www.Instagram.com/artworkbykehkashan
- Technical competence was qualitative when it came to painting (improving through practice) and quantifiable when it came to learning to work with arduino, blender, processing or photoshop. The progress is evident through my process of experimentation leading up to the conceptualization of the final outcome mentioned in the project proposal:
  - My approach at the beginning of the MA and the initial reflections:
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/symposium-1
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/making-sense-symposium-1
  - First attempt at mosaic art and first foray into processing:
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/experiment-1-capture-desert
  - I then explored porcelain marbling using glass paints and assemblage using shattered objects; as if the objects had a history, character and voice:
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/experiment-2-whisper
  - After researching the work of Gaudi I felt that incorporating painting and mosaic would be a way to stay true to my approach. I began to examine figurative interpretations of mosaic inspired by other artists I had studied or novels I had read/tv shows or movies I had watched:
  - I experimented with 2.5D animation in order to make a painting appear alive. I taught myself blender through video tutorials to achieve this. I was happy with the result, but uncertain if I wanted to continue in this direction. The tutorial with Jonathan helped me see the animated version and the original painting as separate works of art. My next step is attempting to animate the Iridescent Alloys which will be far tricker.
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/2-5d-animation-first-attempt
  - I then used a combination of the acrylic pours, hand-sculpted clay and glass tesserae to experiment in the creation of the Iridescent Alloys.
  - I also attempted to create a voice activated stop motion animation using Arduino and Processing, in collaboration with a coding student from King Abdul Aziz University, detailed in the following blog. This initially was a failure since I used a voice recognition software instead of a speech recognition software. But it is something that I will continue perfecting so it can contribute to the creation of the Iridescent Alloy installation final outcome mentioned in the project proposal.
- I was present for and active in most Skype lectures, as well as tutorials as well as during the MPR, having researched the work of my fellow students beforehand as evident by blogposts as well as notes in my notebook. Most of the links are given in the previous LO. Following are links to the MPR comments I made and received.
  - http://kehkashankhalid.com/record-mpr-comments-classmates
  - http://kehkashankhalid.com/mpr-log-comments
- Experimentation of the second half of my project proposal focus required a lot of collaboration, planning and resourcefulness.
  - I started with smaller scale projects and then moved onto bigger humanitarian community projects in collaboration with NGOs.
  - Social media exposure also resulted in the following features:
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/featured-by-forever-17
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/the-indie-arts-and-crafts-show-and-my-first-magazine-feature
    - http://kehkashankhalid.com/shemeansbusiness-feature
    - I also have an upcoming video interview which will appear in YOU!Newsletter in Jeddah
- Another important component of critically engaging with practice based research with debate and discussion were the weekly in-person meet-ups with other artists from Jeddah through AlfKalimah, FIG etc.
  - http://kehkashankhalid.com/discovering-jeddah
- Displaying my work online and at group exhibits was also an essential aspect of engaging with the audience, gauging response and getting exposure. The links to the group exhibits are given in LO1. I contributed my work for the Hybrid and Impromptu exhibits as well as for the Camberwell building inauguration wall projection. These are mentioned in above linked blogposts.

Critically reflect upon your practice and articulate a clear understanding of methodology and context of your creative practice (analysis; research; communication and presentation).
My blogposts in general are written in a reflective style so nearly all of them incorporate some form of reflection which impacts next steps. Many of them have been mentioned above in the previous LOs. But the links that will follow are examples of a few that were critical to the development of my practice. These include:
- Regularly reorganizing the blog to look back upon work and reflect
- Working methodically by creating to-do lists and weekly goals to assess progress
- Keeping a visual journal to overcome creative blocks and increase ‘comfort with ambiguity’
- Reflecting on The Untold Edition project and how it paved the way for development of the project proposal
- Reflecting on who I am as an artist, and allowing myself the freedom of creative expression in other mediums such as writing. Writing fantasy fiction was also a way of reflecting about myself holistically, since our writing is inevitably drawn from our experiences. This story in particular, due to be published soon, was highly introspective:
The Souq at the Mameluk Lanterns (the prompt was to write a story around a location in Jeddah and highlight our local experience. So of course I chose my favorite spot, The Mameluk Lanterns!)
Writing the research paper and the penning down the project proposal were integral components of fleshing out my methodology and understanding the context of my work. More importantly, neither of those two were achieved in one big jump. Many blogposts of reflection, brainstorming, analysis and lots of undocumented proofreading went into it, and they were crucial to arriving at a proposal for research that resonated with me.
- http://kehkashankhalid.com/category/blog/ma-blog/unit1/project-proposal
- http://kehkashankhalid.com/category/blog/ma-blog/unit1/research-paper

To conclude, a lot of work has gone into developing my practice since this MA began. It was an organic but cohesive and logical process and it is evident in how far I have come with articulating and executing my ideas. I have a lot of ideas for the next steps, for example participating in the Karachi Biennale award as well as working on the execution of my final project. I would say I am geared for Unit 2 and nearing the completion of the project proposal I have envisioned, which will in turn (I hope) open doors to more inspiration and connections.

Formulate, describe and implement a challenging and self-directed programme of study, relating to your Project Proposal (research; subject knowledge; communication and presentation; professional and personal development)

The mid-point review was my first deliberate communication of my objectives. At that point, I was able to articulate a raw understanding and outline future steps but it was clear that the underlying objective of the proposal was still in the experimentation phase.

The research I conducted for the research paper along with its reflective blogs, was crucial to this process of converging my practice and understanding its context:

The focal point was June/July 2018, when I took the biggest leap and organized massive community projects in Karachi, engaging with a variety of bloggers, writers, artists and influencers. This is an ongoing project.

This led to a lot of reflection and directed me to the relevance of social media as a public art platform which became the basis of my research paper and further inquiry.

Other important milestones on the way to developing the project proposal include:

As an online student located in a conservative place like Saudi Arabia I had to strive to learn more about arts and culture in the region

I researched several artists to explore figurative expressions of mosaic

I followed artists and galleries on social media to gain an understanding of the digimodernist landscape

I explored artists who had conducted community projects or engaged in interactive public art

I took advantage of trips abroad to visit museums and exhibits there

I exhibited work online and at group exhibits to engage with an audience, gain exposure and develop my project concept further

Regularly met up with groups of artists for the benefit of critique and discussion

The tutorials were a huge source of guidance every step of the way. The lectures were also a great way to learn about the points of view, practice and research of different artists. I reflected on these either through the blog or in my sketchbook:

Critically engage with practice-based research and contribute actively to debate and discussion (analysis; technical competence; experimentation; collaborative and/or independent professional working).

One of the core ways in which I engaged with my practice based research was through a public log of all my work on Facebook and Instagram. The numbers are as follows:

Instagram:

1800 Followers

Highest /post reach: 61,000

Highest /post views: 21,000

Highest /post reactions: 500 Likes

Facebook:

7151 Likes, 7222 Follows

TAABIR–Artists’ Collective: 2.2K members

Critically reflect upon your practice and articulate a clear understanding of methodology and context of your creative practice (analysis; research; communication and presentation).