If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been working hard on my research trip for Greenland this May. I’ve already gotten a schedule down, the campaign and fundraising launched as well as an idea of what imaging techniques to do. 

It’s funny because sometimes I think of something and in that moment when I go work on it, it may not have any substance and stash the idea/project away. Then months later when I am involved in something else I think of, ‘hey, I did that thing months ago that I can use again now!’ I usually love when I am able to recycle projects because it usually turns into something else that’s more sustainable.

This time it’s my topography project. I did the first run months ago when the idea came to me, but didn’t see it go anywhere because it didn’t produce a result that I was expecting but didn’t hate the result either, just didn’t know what to do with it. Yet after some thought of image-making I went back and thought that the result can be used in graphic design and realized the value of this result.

This came about after talking with the eco-technology company – The Ocean Cleanup. I had been working on the campaign for the research trip and been following people who are aligned with the arctic circle in some way. One connection was the ocean within the arctic circle since the campaign focused on the ice element. I started following smaller businesses who may not mind collaborating on something and reached out to them. Through some thought and soul-searching, I proposed to them to create some sort of image technique – unique – to their company to help raise awareness of their work. Unfortunately, they didn’t not have the Human Resources to help carry this out. But it gave me another use for my topography project. 

I think I am going to keep and eye out for waste-damage in Greenland and see if I can make a topographic impression of it – or several and then use this to create a series of prints. 

(above image is a result however it’s very faint and shows up better in video)

I have been working on my ferrofluid visualization technique in my MagKnotic project. I had been studying the video that I am using to replicate the process and just had a ‘d’oh’ moment. I was seeing the process as an imaging technique. But, yes it is a technique, however, it’s technically a DISPLAY. The image that appears is merely an effect of the DISPLAY. As such the liquid between the hele-shaw cell needs to remain relatively clear for it to display any sort of image. I bet that this is how most displays were originally made and maybe even made today. 

Maybe instead of focusing on creating an IMAGE I could focus on techniques to display an image. The image is a result of a successful display. 

I spent a good amount of time in my studio this past weekend and it felt quite freshing, as I’m starting to see my workflow again. I walked the boarder of the property of my apartment and took some photos of the plants I found ‘in the wild’. Immediately I found Red Clover, Queen Anne’s Lace, Pokeweed and Burdock. I began a few pages in my sketchbook of an herbarium. I have a smaller herbarium for the specimens used in my electrography work but I like to sometimes keep an herbarium of the plants and flowers of the locale environment. I have a field guide that I use to help me identify some of plants and use a Facebook group for difficult ones. One particular plant that stuck out to me was burdock and upon looking it up further I was pleasantly surprised that it is connected to the Turkish culture. In Turkish Anatolia, the burdock plant was believed to ward off the evil eye, and as such is often woven into kilims for protection. With its many flowers, the plant also symbolizes abundance.

The meanings expressed in kilims derive both from the individual motifs used, and by their pattern and arrangement in the rug as a whole. A few symbols are widespread across Anatolia as well as other regions including Persia and the Caucasus; others are confined to Anatolia.

An especially widely used motif is the Elibelinde, a stylized female figure, symbolizing motherhood and fertility. Other motifs express the tribal weavers’ desires for protection of their families’ flocks from wolves with the wolf’s mouth or the wolf’s foot motif (Turkish: Kurt Aǧzi, Kurt İzi), or for safety from the sting of the scorpion (Turkish: Akrep).Several protective motifs, such as those for the dragon (Turkish: Ejder), scorpion, and spider (sometimes called the crab or tortoise by carpet specialists) share the same basic diamond shape with a hooked or stepped boundary, often making them very difficult to distinguish.

All the motifs can vary considerably in appearance according to the weaver. Colours, sizes and shapes can all be chosen according to taste and the tradition in a given village or tribe; further, motifs are often combined. To give some idea of this variability, a few alternative forms are shown in the table.

Kilim motifs and their meanings

Name	Turkish	Motif	Purpose	Object	Notes
Hands-on-hips motif	Elibelinde		Motherhood, fertility	Marriage	Female principle (4 examples)[1]
Cross motif	Haç		Protection	Evil eye	to divide the evil eye into four (2 examples)[1]
Hook motif	Çengel		Protection	Evil eye	to destroy the evil eye[1]
Eye motif	Göz		Protection	Evil eye	to ward off the evil eye (3 examples)[1]
Comb motif	Tarak		Protection	Birth, marriage	May also symbolise rain, water of life (2 examples)[1]
Running water motif	Su Yolu		Fresh water	Life	very important in tribal life (3 examples)[1]
Fertility motif	Bereket		Fertility	Marriage	Combines female principle (hands-on-hips), male principle (ram’s horn) (2 examples)[1]
Ram’s horn motif	Koçboynuzu		Fertility, Power, Masculinity	Marriage	Male principle (2 examples)[1]
Star motif	Yıldız		Fertility, happiness	Marriage	Solomon’s seal, a white starlike flower[1]
Love and Unison motif	Aşk ve Birleşim		Love and harmony	Marriage	Derived from oriental Yin/Yang motif [1]
Amulet motif	Muska		Protection Luck	Evil eye	Amulets worn on the person contained a verse of scripture sewn into a square of cloth folded into a triangle. (3 examples)[1]
Bird motif	Kuş		Luck, Happiness, strength	Life	Owl and raven signify bad luck; pigeon and nightingale, good luck. Also souls of the dead; expectation of news. (2 examples)[1][11]
Fetter motif	Bukaǧı		Union	Marriage	To tie family or lovers together. The fetter tied front and hind legs of a goat.[1]
Trousseau chest motif	Sandıklı		Marriage, children	Marriage	Unmarried women prepared dowry in a chest.[1]
Earring motif	Küpe		Marriage	—	A common wedding present[1]
Wolf’s Mouth motif Wolf’s Track motif	Kurt Aǧzi, Kurt İzi		Protection of the flocks	Wolves	(2 examples)[1]
Scorpion motif	Akrep		Protection	Scorpions	(2 examples).[1] Similar motifs are used for other animals such as Spider, Crab and Dragon.[4][7]
Dragon motif	Ejder		Protection?	–	Dragon is “master of air and water”,[1] cause of lunar eclipse, guard of treasure. (4 examples)[1]
Tree of life motif	Hayat Aǧacı		Immortality	–	Many different plants may be represented, e.g., beech, cypress, fig, oak, olive, palm, pomegranate, vine[1]
Burdock motif	Pitrak		Protection, abundance	Evil eye	Plant is used to ward off evil eye. With many flowers, it symbolizes abundance.[1]