Iteration 2

It has been a slog! Combing the data and considering ethics has led to a change in direction for the object illustrations used in the Craftivist Clay engagement. Also, note the change of name! While the Conversation Café framework is published for people to use and adapt, there are some rules that mean I need to call the engagements something else and not Conversation Cafés; the Conversation Café asks participants to speak from the heart and refer to personal experience which has been deemed too high risk in this context, and the Conversation Café must not have an agenda and I am collecting data for research. So Craftivist Clay seems fitting as this framework can be adapted to suit other personal-political topics.

The work is changing for the next Craftivist Clay session to focus more on culture and less on autoethnographic illustration. There is a tension around my personal experience leading to reflection on the home. I want to continue this work as although it is an uncomfortable narrative, I believe it is important to make art/illustration that challenges. So, I will hold this next session as the last engagement and make the autoethnographic illustrations for an exhibition. This iteration of objects include questions aimed at society and refernces to literature. They are more explicit than the previous iteration that was more poetic and emotive. It will be interesting to hear if there is a difference in the conversation around the table and the reception of the object illustrations.

The objects are currently in the kiln for their glaze firing while I wait for the decals to arrive in the post. Craftivist Clay (2) is scheduled for 14/12/22. A lie down for Christmas is also scheduled.