“Spring in the Trenches” is an exceedingly ironic artwork by Paul Nash based on the World War 2. First enlisted as a soldier to fight in the army in the early 1917’s, he was invalidated and sent back soon, just before an attack that caused his regiment to perish. However, Nash was sent back to the frontlines again soon, but as a “propaganda artist” this time. “Spring in the Trenches” is based on an incongruous scene that he had witnessed during the springtime of 1917s, a time when he was still in the army. He had witnessed birds chirp and vegetation spur out of nowhere while man prepared to kill man. Such juxtaposition seemed the very embodiment of the characteristics that man and nature were exhibiting at that time . Overwhelmed by the extreme effect that such juxtaposition created, he wrote about it to his wife, describing the scene as: ” Ridiculous, mad incongruity!”. In the piece, Nash uses various elements of space, colour and light to tell the audience about the time in history when man and nature were in conflict with each other, when nature was creating and man was destroying. Nash’s use of such visual elements also help establish the far-reaching effects of the catastrophe that was the war.

The light in the artwork is perhaps its most salient feature as it gives it its defining qualities. The light appears to be quite natural, presumably, sunlight. It is what gives the piece its distinguishing overall bright demeanour, which is quite uncommon for a Nash painting. Nash’s use of light is quite significant in this piece as it helps highlight the aspects of nature present, in particular. As the bright light shines from the east, the trees and the land in the middle are accentuated. Due to this, the audience is able to notice the bloom of a couple trees in the backdrop, which gives rise to the thought that it is “spring “, as that is usually when nature blooms. The use of this direct light (or the absence of it) also helps in distinguishing man and nature. As natural elements are in the sphere of the painting that is characterised by bright light, man is left in the dimly-lit sphere, which again places emphasis upon nature and its creations. Perhaps, the dimly lit sphere is a symbol of the darkness that has filled humans as they have resorted to wreaking havoc on each other and on nature through the means of a war. It could be representative of a gloom that has surrounded the race ever since it has begun treading on the path of destruction. Overall then light is to be considered as a pivotal element of the piece.

Space: Extreme distance between trees is representative of the destruction that has been caused due to the war. Use of background and foreground helps in the presentation of the juxtaposition and establishment of the conflict.

Colour: Bright colour palette contrasts against the shadows in the foreground which again deepens the conflict. The bright colours also indicate the time of the day: morning. Soldiers sleeping at this time are representative of the way that the war has changed them, thus identifying a root-cause.

End with expressing that the war was the root cause of humans starting to destroy, thus being in constant conflict with their surroundings and with each other.

The given text is an article published in the “London Review of Books”. It has been written by Gavin Francis. The writer’s primary audience are the readers of the magazine. These readers are likely to be adults and reasonably educated because the article was published in the “London Review of Books”, a literary magazine and because the article makes frequent use of medical terms.It can be said that the secondary audience are other doctors due to the scientific nature of the article. The text has been written from first person point of view and the writer has addressed the reader quite frequently. The text aims to depict the beautiful practice of listening to someone’s heartbeat with the naked ear or with a modern day instrument. The text achieves its purpose by transforming this seemingly mundane practice into a wondrous experience while being scientifically relevant through the use of alternating style shifting between literary terms and explaining the mechanisms behind this practice.

The text presents the practice of listening to someone’s heartbeat seem relevant even in front of modern technology. The writer is able to accomplish this through the use of scientific facts spread throughout the article which portray this practice as being quite evaluative for judging the conditions of a heart and actually useful in the case that only this medium be available.  The writer says,”The first sound is made…as the two largest valves close” The use of scientific terms here provides credibility to the practice. Thus making sure that readers grasp the usefulness of this practice in the world of science. Then the writer says, “The second sound is made by…two other valves”. This statement ensures that readers understand that there is some level of science behind the practice. It also ensures that they comprehend that the practitioners do understand the heart’s conditions by listening to its sound without a stethoscope. Broadly, this may even mean that the readers begin to acknowledge that there may be other such relatively straightforward processes with deep scientific reasonings that they are not aware of. 

Lastly, the text aims to project this practice of listening to the heartbeat with an instrument or just plainly, as a “unique and intimate experience” through the use of personal anecdotes. The author says,  “I was reminded of holding a conch shell as a child, listening to the imagined ocean within”, the use of visual imagery here helps the audience really understand how this is a special experience for the writer which reminded him of his childhood. The use of this personal anecdote here, also evokes nostalgia within the reader. This emotion holds a lot of power and it may push the reader  down the memory lane and reminisce a similar comforting experience, in the process, really understanding how one-of a kind this experience is.  The author’s use of a personal anecdote has helped the reader apprehend that this experience is more about comfort than anything else through ensuring that they relate to him and reflect on their experiences to seek out similar ones. The author also says,” Perhaps it’s the womb… a deep memory of my mother’s pulse.” These words again hit the reader’s emotional side, circling back to the concept of comfort and nostalgia.Overall, then the narration of a personal experience really helps the reader contextualise how this experience feels to him in their own terms.

To conclude, the writer makes use of both scientific facts and emotional appeals through narrations of personal life experiences to convey that listening to someone’s heartbeat is a pleasing experience which is special. Today, we live in a fast paced and technologically advanced world, where there are better listening methods to the listening to someone’s heartbeat method. However, the author’s argument is effective as the reader sees that this practice may be valuable for its credibility as well as its emotional value. The author’s structure and style is decidedly one-of a kind as seldom are there such pieces with equal value given to the scientific as the emotional.

Text 1 :Creativity and Academics: The power of an arts education

This text is a blog published on a website called “Edutopia” which displays “key features from New Mexico school of arts”.The blog’s primary target audience is teachers as it is an educational website. The secondary audience are parents. Teachers may come across it as a part of professional development while they are researching for practices for the betterment of their students and parents may come across the blog while researching about the school (New Mexico School of Arts). The text addresses teachers directly at the end of the piece and while it never addresses parents directly, the blurb at the end provides key information about the school, which parents may be interested in if they are looking to enroll their children there. The text’s purpose is to inform its target audience of the benefits of an arts based education primarily, and also promote the school. The text promotes the school using facts and figures at the end of the article and indirectly, by stating that the school supports the arts and then relaying their usefulness. The text challenges dominant discourse by trying to convince the audience that the arts are just as important as academics through the use of empirical and scientific methods and through the narration of personal experiences.

The text tries to influence the audience’s viewpoint of the importance of an arts based education through the narration of personal experiences and emotional appeal which supports the main purpose of the text of relaying the message that the arts are just as important. When the author says,  “I had a student…who would not speak…through the act of making music, she…found her voice and place in life”. The author’s use of a real-life example contextualises the benefits in a real life setting while telling the audience that art helps students discover themselves and grow into individuals with a purpose. Secondly, the author uses emotive language to further persuade the readers of arts’ role in an individual’s life. He does so by saying that “A culture without art isn’t possible”.The use of emotive language here strengthens the view that art may help individuals get in touch with their roots. This is important because many families deem that understanding one’s culture is essential to understanding who one is which in turn is crucial to knowing what is important in one’s life. This links to the concept of having a sense of purpose in life. Overall then the usage of emotional techniques helps strengthen the central claim that the arts are to be emphasised upon because they help individuals grow.

The text also challenges the idea that art is not as important as academics because its benefits cannot be quantified. The writer uses the text’s structure to do so. The text is organised into 5 different parts as if the information were in a list. This gives the overall effect of evidence being collected. This technique helps provide more credibility to the central claim of the text. This is because the arts are usually just associated with being more about emotions than concerning quantifiable data. Thus, the division of the blog provides a “scientific” outlook to the audience and makes the benefits of it seem quantifiable. Although it isn’t explicitly clear, the writer uses the sub-heading to support the view that the arts have scientifically proven benefits by mentioning that it increases “self-confidence and self-understanding…improved cognition”. The words “improved’ and “cognition” create the effect of these statements being proven in a study or something likewise. These words helps challenge the notion that the arts benefits have no measurable impact on an individual, as is usually perceived. Thus, the use of a divisive structure and “science related” words strengthens the evidence aspect of the claim that the arts are not to be considered inferior to academics.

Lastly, the text tries to promote the concerned school throughout the text by talking about the benefits of an arts based education and goes on to say that at the concerned school, a dual curriculum(with art) is followed which helps their students excel in life. There is also a small information section at the end which provides information about the “demographics” of the school, number of students enrolled and the fees of the school. This information helps prospective parents understand the school’s background. The fact that the fees is mentioned strengthens the claim that the secondary purpose of the advert is to promote the school, since parents can firstly decide if they have the means to afford the fees because considering additional factors is not useful without taking this factor into consideration. Looking at this information and by reading the article, parents are more likely to have a positive opinion of the school (since it is a diverse school and supports the arts, which were claimed to be beneficial throughout the article), thus be more likely to enrol their children in this school, which fulfils the article’s objective.

In conclusion, the text engages in the usage of both science and emotional appeals to depict the usefulness of the arts to its target audience- teachers and parents. This text may have been to inform and persuade the audience of the central message that the arts are just as important as academics while also encouraging them to reflect on their thoughts about art and its value. The aim was to influence these thoughts for a more favourable view of art and the New Mexico school of Arts. This piece would be interpreted differently in different contexts. It will be interpreted well in many schools because a lot of continued emphasis is being placed on the arts in this day and age. This is more likely to be the scenario in the places where “western ideology” is followed as opposed to “eastern”.Hence, it will not receive a favourable response from the places following “eastern ideology” as these are places where academics has always superseded the arts.

“From an ethnographic museum- Abduction of the virgins”

Creativity, art, creativity and the imagination:

Hannah Hoch’s “From an ethnographic museum- Abduction of the virgins” uses the red coloured trees to present a contrast, while communicating a clear message about identity and representation. Hannah Hoch’s strategic placement of the red trees in the background contrasts well against the overall dark blue and the brown statues. This helps the image look aesthetically pleasing to some degree despite the incongruity of the German woman’s face being on the bronze statue. These trees had been taken from an article which referred to them (the trees) as the cure for malaria. The placement of trees here, next to the wooden statue forces the audience to make connections between the two, which ultimately helps establish the fact that the image conveys the view that African regions and diseases go hand in hand. This is in line with the German point of view back then because they thought of the African regions as being unhygienic even the home of diseases. Even though she presents these regions in a bad light through the use of the trees, her intention is to challenge this view, which she accomplishes through the portrayal of an inverted power dynamic between Congo and Germany.

 

Representation, culture, community and identity

Hannah Hoch’s “From an ethnographic museum- Abduction of the virgins”  conveyed the idea of an inversion of the power dynamic between Congo and Germany. The time period that this artwork was created in is also to be considered as it was when Germans thought of their race as being “superior” and looked at all other races with varying levels of disgust. Hannah Hoch presented the inversion through the use of a wooden sculpture from Congo and a German woman’s head. She placed the backwards facing head of the German woman on top of one of the sculpture heads. The resulting image looked quite incongruous but presented important ideas about the treatment of woman in both cultures. As the wooden sculpture was titled “Abduction of the virgins” by a German magazine, it is fair to assume that the magazine thought that the image depicted woman being taken away as sexual assets, which was in line with their thoughts about the culture where the image originated from.However, Hannah Hoch’s strategic placement of the German woman’s head looking backwards re contextualised the image by portraying that Germany was in fact moving backwards in their treatment of woman while Congo was improving (as the other wooden sculptures were facing the front). Secondly, the German woman’s head facing being carried on a wooden statue from Congo could also be representative of the fact that Congo was taking away German assets just as Germany had taken away Congo’s assets forcibly. This is because the image has the effect of the German woman being taken away forcibly. Thus, Hoch’s work introduced the inversion of the existing power dynamic through re contextualisation.

How do Rezkallah’s advertisements and “Warming her pearls” explore the concepts of wealth and resources ?

Main thesis:

Rezkallah- Traditionally, only men had access to wealth and resources due to being in the public sphere. Hence advertisements were mostly directed at them and were portraying them as the “head of the family”, “important” and “dominant”, which was the case back then. Now that that is changing, Rezkallah’s advertisements depict a world where women are seen as “dominant” and in the public sphere. However, the advertisements have a hint of “falsehood” to them, showing how this situation isn’t true. Thus, conveying that wealth and resources dont determine everything.

Warming her pearls- The concept of wealth and resources is explored through the examination of how “pearls” are worn and by whom. This is because the lady, who is presumably quite wealthy, makes her servant wear her pearls and warm them, a task that is quite menial. This links to how people who lack wealth and resources and treated poorly by everyone in society.

Supporting ideas:

Rezkallah- Exaggeration to make the advertisements appear fake through changing every color to light tones “Men dont leave the kitchen advert”

Incongruity- They don’t look as though they could be placed in a real life context “Get out of the kitchen sooner”

Excessive use of photoshop- To depict that these advertisements are artificial “Tin advert”

Warming her pearls- Contrast between both character’s lives- Shows bad treatment through contrasting their daily routines “She fans herself whilst I work”

The servant does everything- Shows how the servant attends to all of her(the lady’s) needs by saying “I dust her shoulder”

Shows how the servant desires that lifestyle- Shows how the servant desires to have the pearls which are symbolic of wealth “I feel their absence and I burn”

Broader links and connection to Duffy’s poem:

Rezkallah- Link to the concept of power, does it always originate from wealth and resources? The little red cap also portrays a power dynamic.

Warming her pearls- Links to inequality, is it always present where the levels of resources that everybody has are different? The little red cap shows an inequality in terms of power.

Concluding bullet points:

Rezkallah- Does power originate from perceptions instead of actual situations?

Warming her pearls- Is there a way to eliminate inequality in treatment if the resources that everyone has are not equal?