mybeniciafernandes

[mybeniciafernandes]

[mybeniciafernandes]

Proposal

My area of interest for my final major project is based on Dyslexia. I particularly chose to make this my topic of interest because I may still have some trace of Dyslexia in me and I feel going through it personally gives people a different aspects and understanding to Dyslexia than trying to describe dyslexia from people who don’t or aren’t going through it. For instance, there may be educational psychologists, Neurologists and other medical professionals who have a sense of what a dyslexic person is going through. However, as a Dyslexic person i believe they don’t know for sure what Dyslexia is and how a Dyslexic mind works.

Personally, I feel going through Dyslexia is actually quite fun because your brain becomes creatively more active. Therefore, everything you see, you find a creative solution to it.

However, to this day and age there isn’t much awareness made around it. Like people who go through it are sort of hidden under a rock and in some regions of the word having Dyslexia means you are a dumb. Only people who are Smart in education get to shine the most. There isn’t really much help and we don’t really get to creatively express ourselves either.

Also, growing up with this learning disability I felt really shy to tell people i had it and that I used to get extra classes to help me through the disability and help me through my studies. I felt extremely self continues to tell people about my learning disability because I felt people would judge me and call me out for having it.

What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a form of learning disability. People affected by it process words and numbers slower than people who can process words and numbers. Having Dyslexia means that the child may find it harder to progress in the educational future and therefore need further aid to help them. You can easily find out a person maybe suffering with Dyslexia from a young age when you notice they are not progressing with the kids the same age.

According to research one in 10 people are affected by Dyslexia which can range from minor to major and is a lifelong disability. So, imagine every 1 in 10 people from 7.7 Billion people from this earth. Therefore, Dyslexia isn’t really uncommon. It is very common.

What is my aim for my final major project?

For my final major project, I really want to show off my creative skills since I am a dyslexia suffer. I want to be able to make boring text or things I used to or still find challenging into pieces of art. I did and still do, find creative solutions to texts when I go out of focus. Majority of the times if I’m really stuck, I end up doodling patterns. Curly and swirly patterns that I would draw at the end of the book or in the margins.

Other outcomes that I would like to consider would be something 3D. Something you can feel and view from every angle because I believe having a creative mind as a dyslexic person there isn’t really a right or wrong answer it should be about however you perceive things.  

Biography

1.     Dyslexia-and-literacy.international. (2016). The Problem | Dyslexia and Literacy International. [online] Available at: https://www.dyslexia-and-literacy.international/the-problem/?doing_wp_cron=1577739270.2645099163055419921875.

2.     Tabassum, M. and Manju Kumari (2016). Dyslexia: A learning disability in the Indian context. Taylor & Francis, [online] pp.187–198. Available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315562414/chapters/10.4324/9781315562414-23

3.     Rosen, P. (2019). Dyslexia and Anxiety: What You Need to Know. [online] Understood.org. Available at: https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/dyslexia/dyslexia-and-anxiety-in-children

4.     NHS Choices (2019). Overview - Dyslexia. [online] Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Dyslexia/.

5.     ‌Kidshealth.org. (2018). Understanding Dyslexia (for Teens) - KidsHealth. [online] Available at: https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/dyslexia.html.

6.     View all posts by faithhartin (2017). Explanation Kills Art. [online] Faith Hartin. Available at: https://faithhartin.wordpress.com/2017/09/19/explanation-kills-art/

7.     Nordqvist, C. (2010). What you need to know about dyslexia. [online] Medical News Today. Available at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/186787.php.

8.     Newstatesman.com. (2018). “Forgotten children”: Our education system is excluding, and failing, more pupils. [online] Available at: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/education/2018/07/forgotten-children-our-education-system-excluding-and-failing-more-pupils

9.     Akshat Rathi and Ware, G. (2014). Education equality gap failing immigrants and poor students. [online] The Conversation. Available at: http://theconversation.com/education-equality-gap-failing-immigrants-and-poor-students-22549

10.  Bbc.co.uk. (2014). BBC - Movies - review - Taare Zameen Par (Little Stars on Earth). [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2007/12/17/taare_zameen_par_2007_review.shtml

[mybeniciafernandes]

Dyslexia

I decided to change my topic to dyslexia only because I felt my previous topic colour was a broad topic. It was way to open and I had no idea what to focus on. I felt like this would have been difficult for me in the long run as I always have a difficult time trying to focus on one part especially for the writing part of my Final Major project. 

Why did I choose Dyslexia? 

Well, when I was younger I used to find it hard to process information in. My biggest concerns came In math when I found it hard to process information in. I found it hard to understand my tutor even until my A-levels. Especially, growing up in high school maths was a complete different language for me. I never really progressed in maths very much. I found everyday numbers difficult to communicate such as the 24 hour clock. 

I also had some other things on the side, when I was really young way back to primary school maybe in year 1-2 I used to write words mirrored way round, I would get confused and almost forget how an alphabet is supposed to be written the right way round. I would hesitate whenever I had to do my homework and in school I would distract myself from education. My reading was also really bad, even till this day I find it hard to pronounce some words. I remember in primary school when I was in year 5 other kids would get books for the age of 11-12 and I would get a reading book for the ages of 5-6. 

However, now my disability isn’t really apparent, I assume being in school and getting all the extra help I could get has helped me by a bit.  

So I decided to start this project from the beginning.

I will start of with the definition

Dyslexia: This is a common disability that occurs at a young age for children and may or may not grow with you. Children with Dyslexia may find it slower and difficult to do every school tasks as they may find it harder to read, write and process information in. 

I believe since I remember what it was like to have a little learning disability, it will be more of an experienced outcome. I have learnt over the years that actually going through something and just doing something because of a bit of research is completely different. 

[mybeniciafernandes]

Colour

As you can see I was unable to complete my last 3 topic on learning disability, anorexia and global warning. Only because I felt like I couldn’t creatively come up with a solution with all those topics. 

so I thought about everyday things. what do I like? what do I work with everyday? COLOUR 

colour is super important to me because I work with colour everyday. I more so prefer colour over black and white. I fell in love  the contemporary art that was being created by it.  For instance, there is this viral art going around. where, people Poured acrylic on canvases and made these beautiful looking piece of art. 

My favourite bit about this piece of art in particular is the patterns that are being created. Every pour of acrylic creates a different pattern. so no two canvases will be the same. I love the way this piece of art is all about freedom and you can use as fewer or as many colour you want. you can control the design you want to create and additional material you want to use. 

looking at the history of this art. the surprising fact I came across is that this piece of style has been recognised way back in the 1900, more specifically in the 1930s by the artist  David Alfaro Siqueiros. He was a Mexican artist, who looking at his work seems like he mostly painted portraits. You may ask but how did a guy who paints portrait create an art piece like this. Well this style was called his “accident painting” it happened in his art studio and that's where he discovered pouring acrylic art. 

David Alfaro Siqueiros “accidental painting”

Poured acrylic contemporary art 

[mybeniciafernandes]

WEEK 5

For my Final Major project, I tried to look on to topics that are contemporary, that are ongoing and still need awareness. 

My first 3 topics are:

-Anorexia 

-Global Warming 

-Learning Disabilities 

Anorexia - Minimal eating or loss of Appetite

Part of the cases would start from Relationships, going through a heartbreak, feeling imperfect, feeling the need to loose weight as a sign of feeling not confident of yourself. You maybe suffering from depression where you avoid avoid all the good things. 

Society pressure - Society pressure is another part to why people would be suffering from Anorexia because everything we see online is categories to a perfect body figure and is classified as good looking if your body falls under that category. Therefore there Is a lot of pressure for people to have a certain body type to be considered well looking. Body figures such as Models, gym trainers are considered to be perfect.

Jobs - your job maybe an influencer of you to loose weight or go Anorexic. Jobs that need you to maintain your weight like a model or a ballerina.

Bullying - Bullying for being overweight may have a huge impact on you to the point of where you have force yourself to eat less etc.

what do people with Anorexia do?

People with Anorexia would mainly push themselves away from other people. Feel embarrassed of eating. They would feel that whatever they have eaten is going to cause them to gain weight so would vomit it out. They would hurt themselves, cut themselves because they are mentally going through a lot of depression from the pressure to loose weight. 

I really like working with illustrations doing little doodles here and there. So I don’t have an exact idea as it’s still the beginning. However, I would like to make a package of work that include beautiful illustrated work. Illustration that describe anorexia. 

My second topic I wanted to focus on was learning Disability. This topic is pretty personal to me because over my academic years I myself had a learning disability and I had to over come that with extra classes. The problem with myself was that when I was younger I had known 2 languages German, and English speaking wise and I could understand Konkani but not speak it. 

However over the years as I moved countries I had lost my knowledge of speaking German but I had known a few words here and there however, I was only left with speaking English. Therefore, over my academic years I would mix up words with German and that caused serious problems with my grammar in English. 

Also when I was really young my parents had told me that I used to write words upside down or mirror sided. So my parents thought I had mild dyslexia. 

What is dyslexia? 

This is a disorder that causes a person to be slow at performing,  normal, everyday tasks.

It’s hard for them to read and speak. 

As I was researching more into learning disabilities I came across dyscalculia this is when a individual would have problems with maths and numbers and solving problems. I never knew this was an actual disorder until now. Now that I have come across this disorder I believe I may have also had Dyscalculia as during my academic years I really struggled with maths and failed it 3 times at gcse as I really had problems with solving the problem. My mind would always go blank when it comes to solving. Every math lesson I would never learn anything from it as it was hard for my head to process numbers.