Statement of intent

The title of my project brief is Journey, within this brief I will work towards creating a metre of fabric for my final piece by doing this I am going to gather different types of information on my chosen area for my journey.

I chose to look at tattoos and culture. I was influenced to look at tattoos because a lot of people I associate with have tattoos and I take a lot of interest in them. I started off by taking photographs of family and friends I knew who had tattoos and gathering up information about the history of tattoos, where it went, how it developed and how tattoos are now used within the fashion industry. While researching tattoos I was able to gather information about culture as well. This helped because I wanted to look at both tattoos and culture and how they came together. I noticed that I became interested in African culture and went into researching how tattoos were a part of African culture and how tattoos were used within tribes as symbols to identify one tribe from another.

During the project I researched African prints and markings to inspire me to create my own print for my final piece. I created some samples using wooden blocks and spray paint lids; using these materials created a great texture on the fabric and was perfect for the African look I wanted. I looked through books on African prints to get an idea of what colours were used so I could really get a feel for my own prints so they identified the culture correctly, I used bright colours like yellows and greens to give of a vibrant look which I felt identified the culture perfectly.