Originality - Initial Ideas

So earlier in the week we visited a number of different exhibitions which would then give us some inspiration for a piece of work to be presented next week. We could either produce a minute long video of choice or two photos which were inspired by some aspect we came across in one of the exhibitions. Of all the exhibitions the only one that really appealed to me to want to explore it further was the "May the Circle Remain Unbroken" by Corinne Day.

This was a photography exhibition which presented a number of photos of herself, friends and family over her lifetime. I really enjoyed this exhibition because of the raw emotion showed in each photo. None of them were staged, they were all shots captured as the event was taken place in the present so show completely natural and instinctive reactions unlike a lot of the stage photography we see now-a-days.

The exhibition doesn't it doesn't try to show a particular style, it isn't trying to be artistic instead remains natural and makes you wonder what it would be like to be there at each individual moment. It gives us an incite into the lifestyle they have. (Photos Below)

However when reading some reviews of the exhibition I came across one that deeply disagreed, and harshly had ago at the exhibition for not being very original. This annoyed me, and more importantly made me think what is originality?

Originally (ironic) I was thinking of taking some photos of my family at unexpected situations to try and capture different reactions (laughter, anger, happiness etc) however reading the article inspired me to make a video questioning the importance of originality and what actually is it. This sent me into a brainstorm of all the different things that are effected by this idea of originality and how its such a a modernistic idea. 

From this I started to experiment with writing a narrative piece I could record over a short video, in which I could film different people of the street looking at the camera (giving it a dramatic edge).