I decided to use mind maps as a way of becoming more lucid about my ideas for the essay. As well as getting down the main points, they offered me the possibility of organising them into orders of importance and linking bits where a relationship might not immediately be apparent.
I made the first mind map with the title ‘Artwashing’ and developed it from a previous mind map which had the more generalised heading of ‘Regeneration’. I subsequently developed further the ‘Artwashing’ mind map to make the second mind map: ‘Argument against Artwashing’. In all honesty, I think the first mind map of this post was more useful for me, allowing me to reflect insightfully about the concept of ‘artwashing’. I could get down all my thoughts that had been gathering up in my head and do so in a logical way.
I found before I made the mind maps I had lots of lists of things I wanted to say. However, the lists were convoluted in that they only logged my thoughts in a linear fashion and sometimes it was hard to see connections. In contrast, with the mind maps I could write down my thoughts in a hierarchical manner, starting with for me the most obvious points about ‘artwashing’ and moving on to sub-points that may or may not link up to one another. For example, in the ‘Argument against Artwashing’ mind map I made the connection that advertising and independent artists operate differently. Once the artist loses their autonomy, art can become much more like advertising.
Overall, the mind maps made me more lucid on a lot of my key points for the essay and I’m glad I made them.
Photography 3: Contextual Studies 