Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Unit X is inspired and fueled by the "fairground". With the university, we went on a trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The trip was the starting point of our project and I wanted to document and photograph as much as possible to fuel my initial research. I took hundreds of photographs, and once I had returned from the trip, I began to filter through them. I had veered away from the industrial frames of the roller coasters and smaller rides, and instead I was concentrating on the fairground acts and their elaborate costumes.

I really enjoyed rooting around in the costumer volt that contained over 10,000 different items of clothing and props. I paid close attention to the feathers, beads and fabrics that had been used to create these extensive costumes, not only were the textures beautiful, but the colours were vivid and diverse. The colours of these items could give me artistic licence to use any colour I want in my development, and final piece. However, because my photographs do include so much colour, I am already interested in producing a final piece that only concentrates on one, or two colours, and potentially use a projection to produce the vibrant colours.

I also thought about making numerous samples, all different, to represent the amount of costumes, fabrics and materials that I photographed. I was really inspired by the trip to Blackpool and was really grateful for the opportunity to rummaged through 10,000 costumes, old to new.