Threads: Playground Battlefield

An overview of the final trend.

Threads Playground Battlefield

Research Reference: Cedric Gerbehaye for Time Magazine

Cedric Gerbehaye produced a photo essay for Time Magazine looking at the Congo's child soldiers. This work inspired me to look into the child soldiers feelings and situation, in particular this picture.

It also gave glimpses of their environment which I used to inspire the print effect of my collection.

Cedric Gerbehaye Photo Essay

Threads: Playground Battlefield

Research Reference: Patrick Robert

A section of Patrick Robert's work is from conflict areas such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. It was Roberts work which inspired the location for Johnny Mad Dog and his photographs are featured at the end of the film while the credits are rolling. Jean-Stephane Sauvaire wanted to show the photographs to show the audience that although the film is fictional the experience is real.

www.patrick-robert.com/

Threads: Playground Battlefield

Research Reference: War School by Ben Newman

WAR SCHOOL from Ben Newman on Vimeo.

This film brings the reality of the conflict in war torn countries to a western audience. At first the audience thinks they are observing a normal English classroom, it then come apparent that they are being taught about guns and having shooting practice, how to kill. It bring to the forefront the brutality, torture and pressure on a child soldier to do what the are told and to do it well.

Threads: Playground Battlefield

Research Reference: Charities

There are many charities which are set up to help child soldiers; getting them out of combat, giving the a safe place to live and an education. In an interview with Jean-Stephane Sauvaire the director of Johnny Mad Dog, he explains that the ex-child soldiers aren't interested in education because they don't see themselves having a future. They live each day as if it is their last because they believe that they are more likely to die the next day than go on and have a successful career. These charities want the ex-child soldiers to realise they have a right to an education as much as anyone else and that they can go on to be successful.

A lot of the campaigns used by charities highlight what a child should be doing against what these child soldiers are doing.

Child Soldiers International (formally The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers)

Project AK47

Amnesty International

Help Child Soldiers (Candian division of War Child)

Unicef

Invisible Children


The Protection Plan from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Threads: Playground Battlefield

Research Reference: Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry is a photojournalist who has won many awards for his work.
He disguised himself before crossing the Pakistan border into Afghanistan just before the Russian invasion and came back with some of the first images to show the conflict sewn into his clothes. The majority of his work is taken in war torn countries around the globe.

www.stevemccurry.com

Threads: Playground Battlefield

Research References: Johnny Mad Dog Review


This film along with was a great source of information to gain a greater understanding of the life of a child soldier.

Johnny Mad Dog (2008) directed by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire follows a group of 15 rebel, child soldiers at the end of the Liberian civil war 2003. It shows them terrorising, intimidating and interrogate civilians involving rape and death. It not only shows the damage they commit but also how they themselves are manipulated to  believe that they are doing what needs to be done by older soldiers. The phrase, “You don’t wanna die, don’t be born,” is repeatedly used and they are told they with be shot if they mention their families, at one point, one of the soldier says, “My weapon is my mother and my father.” This shows how detached they are from their lives before becoming and child soldier. The lead character ‘Mad Dog’, doesn’t even remember his real name.

Although detached from their family they still have a strong sense of unity between each other, when one of them dies, after only being abducted just a short while before, he is still giving a kind of memorial, showing their respect. Scenes like this show another side to the soldiers, their vulnerability and naivety which is what the older soldiers take advantage of as they manipulated them to become killers, but some of it still remains. We see one child soldier, No Good Advice, struggle to accept that they need to kill a pig to eat that he got off an old man, they appear to have killed a pig before but for some reason he has an attachment to this pig showing that they are not completely detached from all emotions.

The Making Of...

The actors are in fact ex-child soldiers and the director took their experiences to help make the film realistic, changing aspects if the children said that it would not of happened that way. Being part of the film helped the ex-child soldiers with their recovery of their experiences. Months were taken to prepare them for filming which was like therapy to them. For them it was a way of showing themselves and their communities, who have exiled them, that they did not know what they were doing and they didn’t have a choice but know they are a different person.

Threads: Playground Battlefield

Exploring the manipulation of children by adults in war torn countries and the effect on both the child soldiers and their child victims.

This is the trend which I have chose to carry forward and develop further, the next posts will build up to the final outcome looking at research references, fabric, colour, key shapes and finally a collection of 12 garments.

Threads: Accelerated Youth

About a year ago a video featuring 7-year-old girls dancing to, Beyonce - Single Ladies, caused controversy as many people thought both the outfits and dance moves were not age appropriate for the little girls. See video below.

This routine was performed at a dance competition and not meant to be shown worldwide, but now this particular video has 4,762,830 hits on youtube. That said there are programs out there which are public shown that raise the same issues. Toddlers and Tiaras, Dance Moms and other dancing and beauty pageant reality shows publicly display footage like this every week. Most recently reality show Dance Moms has hit news headline in America.
Click to view video of News Report. 
One particular routine shocked viewers as well as the Moms when they saw it was Electricity.

The outfits are very similar to those in the Single Ladies routine.

I myself danced for many years and had to wear some skimpy outfit like shorts and a crop top, but I think adding stockings with frilly knickers and top together with the heavy make-up and sexual dance moves makes it age inappropriate. Many people have similar view and yet it is still shown by the media and the routine came 1st at the competition. 

Threads: Accelerated Youth

Exploring the exploitation of children through the media and how it encourages them to grow up faster.

Threads: Memory Box

Dear Me: A Letter To My Sixteen-Year-Old Self


Dear Me: A Letter To My Sixteen-Year-Old Self is a collection of letters written by some of the most well known  celebrities; authors, television personalities, actors, fashion icons and sports personalities. As you may how guessed the letters they write address themselves as sixteen-year-olds. They give advice and reassurance and sometimes reminisce on memories that they had had by sixteen or that were yet to happen.

The website Dearme.org invites visitors to sumbit their own letters, what would you write in your letter to your Sixteen-Year-Old -Self.

Threads: Memory Box

Trend Two: Memory Box

Exploring years gone by looking at old photographs to provoke memories

Links from images:
Irina Werning
Young Me Now

Threads: CoCreate

Examples of a combination of musical genres as artists from completely different genres collaborate.

In 2004, Jay-Z (HipHop/Rap) & Linkin Park (Rock) recorded a whole album from this concept, Collision Course, taking lyrics and musical composition from each acts existing songs and combine them.
Numb/Encore

Artists also take a song from one genre and remix it to suit their preferred genre. For example Travis Barker,  most wildly known as a member of pop rock band Blink 182, took 'Crank Dat' by pop rapper Soulja Boy and remixed it to his own style.

I think these sorts of collaboration can have a large impact on society. The fact that because of these collaborations people who would perhaps never usually associate with each other, now know the words to the same song even though their greatest divide is their preference in music.

Threads: Co Create

A video using Yutaka Inagawa's work.



Yutaka Inagawa x Kenichi Okada from Kenichi Okada on Vimeo.

I also had a go at creating my own photo montage using a personal image and merging together the two faces. It helped my get a better understanding of the aspects to look for when combining images such as face shape and features.

Threads

A trend project developing a collection from a trend which I have created. From 4 initial designs one will be carried forward into a collection.

Trend One: Co Create

Mid Life Moment

An intensive project creating a new concept brand for the middle-aged consumer.

Presentation boards showing the concept, consumer and development of the branding identity.