Akgiacoman

A London Full of Colour

Kristy Giacoman

Overview

"A London Full of Colour" is a project that aims to portray a different reality of the daily life of London citizens. By picturing different scenarios in their reality comparing them to the reality that I choose for each one of them, the audience will be able to admire the beauty and uniqueness of the city from a different perspective. I have gone to international poetry competitions and taken painting and photography courses before arriving to college. This project will combine my favorite forms of expression through art and hopefully brighten the days of the viewers. The main message I wish to convey is that every single one of us chooses the reality they want to live in, meaning that the same place could be seen as a prison for our souls or a wonderland for our imagination.

Milestone 1

Colourless London
Objective: The goal is to display London as it is and to capture through pictures emotions displayed by people walking by or admiring the landscape. Pictures are taken from different perspectives and represent feelings of an average citizen living daily life.

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Milestone 2

Adding Pigment
Objective: The goal is to paint five oil/pastel surrealistic paintings of the most emblematic sites in London exaggerating the use of bright colors instead of the usual gray palette that is seen due to the weather.

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Milestone 3

Colourful Reality
Objective: The goal is to connect the emotions displayed in the pictures and the colors of the paintings in a creative way empathizing with the people walking by the site as a daily routine. Each one of the sets of paintings and pictures will be accompanied by a short story, poem or reflection.

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Activity Journal

The activity journal represents an ongoing log of reflections gained through each and every project activity on the Calendar 2017.

Day #1 Westminster Abbey & the Tower of London

Monday May 8th 2017

Today we started the day quite early because we had to meet at the Westminster Abbey for a Tour. It was really interesting to go inside and listen to such numerous and wonderful different stories, some known to me and some unknown. We heard about people like the almost saint, Edward the Confessor, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth I and her sister (bloody) Mary, and many more. However, my favorite story remained untold. As we entered the church, I saw the Scouts Movement flag next to the Girl Guides flag but we were in such a hurry that I could barely see what that was about. I then proceeded to ask our tour guide about it and he assumed that there was some kind of memorial to the scouts there but he did not know much about it. It was indeed in honor of Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden Powell of Gilwell and Lady Olave Baden Powell.

After the Tour, we went to the Tower of London, a place full of stories that help us place ourselves in distant times in that same place. The Tower of London is home to the Crown Jewels, and has exhibitions that range from methods of torture to the King’s beasts. About the last one, I thought it was really interesting how when people saw animals like a lynx or an alligator, those seemed as bizarre to them as a unicorn and other mythical creatures. It was also majestic to thing about monkeys, lions and peacocks running around and sadly sometimes fighting for the king’s amusement.

When we exited the Tower of London, Sofia and I took our time to admire the London Bridge and decided that we were going to go back later. Also, we could see “the egg” at a distance and I was thinking on maybe also painting it as well as part of my project. I think I will be painting the London Bridge, the egg, the Big Ben, the London Eye and the Tower of London. I think those sceneries are inspiring, meaningful and represent many ages of the history that London has lived. After that we went to The British Library where we worked on our journals and milestones for the meeting. Professor Constance gave me great ideas about my project and seemed to really like it, which motivated me. I didn't like how late our meeting was though, but that was because we were the last team. Also it seems odd that there are teams of six and teams of four like us. I really like my team though they are all very nice and kind. Christopher is really funny, we have inside jokes and we laugh about them all the time. Trinity is always smiling and she has such a pretty face, so kind and friendly. Finally Ben is so smart! It is amazing how much he knows about everything, definitely a good person to have a conversation with. I am excited for the days to come and to get to know them better.

Day #2 St Paul's Cathedral

Tuesday May 9th 2017

Today we visited St. Paul's Cathedral and it was truly mesmerizing. We woke up at seven to get there before it was even open so we were basically the first people in. The cathedral is so gigantic and with so many details and commemorations of outstanding men and women in the history of England that it is impossible to not enjoy the visit. The dome has three different galleries, but unfortunately the two upper ones are not going to be open until about a month from now. When I was going up the stairs though, it felt like they were endless The gallery of whispers (the only one open) lets you see up closer the paintings about the life of St. Paul. That gallery receives its name because of an unintended characteristic of its architecture, when two people stand at opposite sides of the dome, if one whispers to the wall, the other person will hear it loud and clear. I liked that our tickets included a guided visit with headsets because as I walked through the tombs in the lower level, I was listening to the life stories of poets, writers, military men and religious men and women. What surprised me is that the architect of the church was buried in a very simple tomb in the lower level of the church and that is exactly how he intended it. It was almost as if he was saying, "if you are looking for my monument of commemoration just look around you". He designed and oversaw the construction of other 55 churches in London after the great fire, however, St. Paul's Cathedral was his biggest accomplishment. I listen to every single one of te audios of stories, information and prayers and finished at about noon. Then I went with Ben and Christopher to the gardens of the church and after that we headed back home.

As soon as I got back to the apartment, I fell asleep in my bed, which was absolutely unintended and not very ideal because later that night I couldn't fall asleep until two in the morning. My best advise to future students that come is to be completely booked of exciting stuff to do the first week so you don't have time to take naps and at the same time you don't complain about it. When I woke up from my nap I went downstairs to the common room and cooked dinner with Sofia. It was the first time I ever made chicken all by myself, but I didn't tell anyone about it because I knew it couldn't be hard at all. Little did I know, because the kitchen is in the basement of the flat, it lacks of ventilation and the aspirator was not enough so the fire alarm ended up going off several times while we were cooking. The first time we evacuated the building, the second time we were about to and it just stoped. By the third time it started to go off we decided to implement an alternative method of solution (see picture). The turnout was actually delicious and everyone enjoyed the seasoned chicken with steamed vegetables with cheese.

Day #3 Natural History Museum

Wednesday May 10th 2017

Today I had a great time at the Natural History Museum. The museum had 5 zones where I saw expositions of very interesting things such as Volcanoes, earthquakes, insects, dinosaurs, birds, sea creatures and many more. It made me think of all the magnificent wonders our world encloses and that we don't have to travel far to unravel the great mysteries of life on earth. I realized that there is the same amount of work exploring little things as minerals and insects, as it is to explore huge things like dinosaurs and distant planets. I love nature, and it never stops to amaze me with its perfect mechanism. Everything is here for a reason and everything that happens comes as a result of something else, like an infinite chain reaction.

When my team and I felt like we were done, we split into two groups, half of us went back to the flats while Ben and I stayed sitting at a cafe in the library enjoying the free wifi and comfortable chairs. We stayed there because we thought it would be more convenient than paying to use the tube to go to the apartments and then for going to St. George's church for the afternoon meeting. This under the belief that St. George's church was a 45 minute walk from the natural history museum. We worked on our articles and milestones and I called my mom because today is Mother's Day in Mexico. At five we started walking to Aubrey's street. It was a loooong walk, but it was also in a pretty fancy neighborhood so I didn't mind it much. When we finally got there two minutes before six, I was exhausted and hungry. Exhausted because Ben is a really fast walker and I had to keep up and hungry because we skipped dinner. To our surprise nobody was there, and the church seemed closed and empty. Then bed said "let's try the back door" and we sneaked to a private back little garden with pretty benches and all kinds of flowers in small pots. I sat down and Ben pulled his phone out and as he was looking though it he goes, "oh". We were in the wrong St. George's church. We were over an hour walk away from the right one and about 45 minutes by car. "We should tell professor Manzo" I said and he called him and said "we will be there in about half an hour, we will take the tube". We walked for a bit and went through about eight stops in the tube until we finally arrived to the one closest to the actual meeting place. The meeting was almost done and after it we all walked back to the flats to leave our stuff and find somewhere to eat. Sofia and I got lost looking for a specific restaurant we wanted to go and is was a bit scary but we finally found it and it was totally worth it. The irony is that it was 6 minuted awn from our flats and it took us about half an hour walking to find it. Still with it thou, still worth it.

Day #4 The National Gallery

Thursday May 11th 2017

Today we went to The National Gallery and I was pretty excited for it, but I did not like it at all. I love art but I did not know about the paintings nor the painters there so it was like watching a movie for the first time but with no sound; you can kinda guess what it is about, but it is hard to enjoy the experience. So I went through it, I saw the paintings, I read some info but I wish I had a tour guide like in Westminster Abbey or an audio set like in St. Paul's Cathedral because that would have definitely made the difference. After going through the expositions, I went with Trinity to a cafe in the lower level and had the best banana bread I have ever had, which made the visit a little bit more worth it. Then Sofia met me there at noon and we went outside to take pictures. There we saw Peter and Chris and we walked together to a Chipotle nearby. After eating lunch, we split again and as the boys headed back to the flats, Sofi and I walked towards the Buckingham Palace. We went to like three different parks and took over a thousand pictures. We saw people marching, riding horses, biking, playing with there pets and feeding squirrels, ducks, geese, pigeons and even swans. It was a beautiful afternoon and we had walked about six kilometers from the apartment when it started raining. We took the bus back which also works with the Oyster card and we cooked dinner again for everyone. This night's menu was lettuce wraps with grilled chicken and angel hair, avocados and almonds. It is Sofia's favorite food and I can totally see why. After that we cleaned up and we had an emergency meeting because apparently something happened with some students regarding drugs and alcohol so V.J and Constance reminded us about all the rules we are to follow to keep ourselves safe and sound.

It was so hard to fall asleep though because someone was having a karaoke night with songs like "This is me" from Camp Rock and "Push it" from Jump in and of course the whole High School Musical and Hannah Montana repertoire. It was so annoying, they were not even good singers and were probably pretty drunk, but oh well, it can't all be beautiful right? I hope to get good sleep during the weekend, because these past days have been rough and we have so much writing to do that breaks and naps are not a thing.

Day #5 The British Museum

Friday May 12th 2017

Today I went to the British Museum and I am amazed by how great their collection is. They have things of all ages and from all over the world. Chris commented on how as they conquered new territories, they would bring back treasures to offer to the king. I loved to be able to go through most of the exhibitions. We learned a lot about Ancient Rome and Greece and they even had an exposition room dedicated to ancient Mexican civilizations. We walked the museum as a team and I think that made it more fun. We complemented the exposition with fun facts each of us knew about our areas of interest.

I am very happy this week is done though... It was amazing but also very tiring to be walking all over the city and pay attention to all the wonderful places we visited everyday. To then go somewhere and write about everything in the journals and then the daily articles. This week I created an article about Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden Powell of Gilwell, St. Paul, and I contributed to the existing articles of the British Museum, The National Gallery and the Natural History Museum by adding sections to each one of them. This weekend I want to be able to work hard on my milestone background because doing a daily article left me no time to work hard on it. Hopefully this weekend will be enough to get it completely done and go take pictures to the sites to start painting as soon as possible. The supplies are here and I can't wait to start using them. Being able to see London as a non tourist is exciting and I love that I have the opportunity to analyze and represent the reality of London citizens from different perspectives through my project.

Day #6 Vivaldi, Four Seasons

Saturday May 13th 2017

Today I felt pretty tired. But I woke up at nine, showered, did my laundry, made some soup and started working on my milestone resources right away. I found really interesting information and I know exactly what I have to do, I just have to start summarizing and writing the information. I really like my project, which makes it less painful to write about it, despite how much I dislike writing papers. In the afternoon, around three, Sofia and I walked to Nandos to have lunch. I love Nandos. When I was twelve years old, I went to the University of Cambridge to study for a summer and I remember gong to Nandos every single day. I became friends with everyone that worked there and they gave me free food all the time. After lunch I walked to Bedford Pl to dink tea with Professor Constance and discuss the progress I had made this week regarding to my milestone and the articles and journal entries. She is a historian, very kind and interesting to talk to. We had a great conversation and she gave me a book to use as a major resource for my background of the first milestone.

I left Professor Constance's flat around seven and took a bus to Trafalgar Square. I went there to listen to a concert in St. Martin in the Fields Church. It was Vivaldi Four Seasons by Candlelight. It was a lovely presentation of the Festive Orchestra of London directed by Catherine Manson and with Miki Takahashi in the violin. The music made me think on a lot of things. It was almost as if the melodies guided my thoughts. The ups and downs, the emphasis, the solos and the unions of all the individual melodies that together formed that masterpiece was an amazing experience. Sometimes the music was slow and peaceful and when you least expected it, it “exploded” and turned fast and almost chaotic, but still beautiful. It was almost an allegory to life itself. How life is a masterpiece with its ups and down and moments of peace and moments of chaos. How life, is just as enjoyable in all those situations and it is also a collaborative work between different melodies that represent every aspect of what makes us be the way we are. How, in that same way, sometime we may lean more towards one of these aspects, letting it playing a solo, but we shall always come back to the rest because that makes our lives more exciting. Some pieces in the performance were full of melancholy and some even brought me to tears. It is amazing how art can touch our innermost fibers and how specifically music is able to make our souls vibrate to the sound of its instruments. I very much enjoyed this concert, and though because of it I had to go back home alone at night, I am very happy I went.

Day #7 Mass & Milestones

Sunday May 14th 2017

Today I got up, showered and went to mass to St. Peter's Church. It was nice, I like that it is so close to our flats and then they offer many services on Sundays. Then I went for a walk with Sofia, we went through a path where we had never been before through a residential area. All the Apartments looked the same from the outside, it was almost copy paste and I say almost because they all differed in one thing. All the doors were of different and very bright colors. It was lovely. When we got hungry, we had lunch in a Pret a Manger, resisting the temptation of Five Guys that was just across the street. After that we went to a Starbucks and worked on our Milestone 1, which is due tomorrow.

Day #8 Museum of London

Monday May 15th 2017

Today we met at 9:25am to walk to the Museum of London, which took us less than expected and we arrived 12 minutes early. We ended up spending those 12 minutes and perhaps a couple more deciphering a small monument at the entrance of the museum, where the "s" where "f" or sometimes integral signs but with some exceptions. It was quite interesting, the monument was simulating to be a piece of paper with something written on it. It was a script written by John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement. We split as soon as we entered the museum; Ben went with Trinity and I went with Chris. It took us a little bit over an hour to of through it all and overall I think it is really interesting how a city has so much history revolving around it to fill the entirety of a museum. London has gone through such different ages, ideologies and rulers, always being one of the worlds most powerful and influential economies, that it is understandable how it has come to be today such an extraordinary place to visit and to live in. By the end of the museum there is a question the instantly popped into my mind, which is, what's next? How does the present contributes and what does the future hold for the marvelous city? Going through the exhibitions made me appreciate more being here, where so many great mind have contributed to science, music, philosophy, writing, architecture and man other disciplines.

After the museum Chris and I had lunch in a pub that is about five minutes away from our flats, we had a very nice conversation about politics, ideologies and contemporary controversies. It was great and I think we spent more time there talking than at the museum, which is funny. After that we went to my flat and worked on our individual journals and article entries for a couple of hours. Then we walked to the British Library and worked some more before our meeting with the professors. I told them about going to the concert on Saturday and they were very excited about it. On the walk back, Ben was telling Trinity and I his daily schedule... he wakes up at six every morning and starts being productive, no wonder why he is almost done with the milestone work. When I got home, I told everyone about it and we have an inside joke now... "be the Ben you wanna see in the world". So tonight I will try to go to bed early and wake up early tomorrow to work on my milestone, we'll see how it goes.

Day #9

Tuesday May 16th 2017

I did it! I went to bed at ten last night and woke up at seven this morning. I had breakfast and started working on my milestone. Sofia and Katherine did the same so the inside joke ended up being a good source of inspiration after all...

Day #10

Wednesday May 17th 2017

Day #11

Thurssday May 18th 2017

Day #12

Friday May 19th 2017