Melinda

Project Concept - My subject matter will be a place in Northern Cyprus called ‘Ghost Town/Varosha’ in other words it was a modern tourist area of the city before 1974 and now it is abandoned. I’m also going to focus on the families who were involved and lost lives in this traumatic experience and had no choice but to leave everything behind. The reason why I chose this topic is because I feel emotionally connected to it in a way as it is my homeland so I want to draw and paint the feelings they might have felt onto a piece of paper.

Another reason for why I wanted to focus on this topic is because it is a part of history in which is buried as kids do not get taught the Turkish culture let alone Cyprus so I wanted to surface this part of the history alongside my emotions which I felt very strong about. When I tell people I am from Cyprus i tend to get responses such as either “where is that” or “is that in Turkey” emphasising the lack of knowledge. Ghost town and the history of Cyprus is a big part of the books as there were many lives closet and ruined barbarically and I didnt want my homeland to get looked over.

The Process - At first I wanted my theme to specifically be about Ghost Town in Cyprus but as I came towards the end of the project I changed it to be more generic about war rather than being specific about Cyprus. I planned my final piece by sketching out my various ideas and approaches that I may apply on a canvas to plan my final art work.

To finish my final piece, I decided to set a schedule for myself and paint for an hour each day to ensure that it was completed in a timely manner, as it would be impossible to accomplish it all in one day. To help me develop my thoughts I researched Russel Drysdale, his paintings and photography helped. During my technique practise on canvases, I learnt how to master the blending acrylic paint process. I gained inspiration from the artist research which their artwork gave me plenty ideas on how I could do mine.

Final outcome - With my final piece I had trouble deciding what to draw/paint in the centre of the canvas to depict the mental health effect at first, but then I decided to push myself and try something more difficult, which was teary eyes. I also believe I did an excellent job of selecting the appropriate colours and demonstrating the painting's message to the viewers.