250mc – Further Research.

After looking at the areas, I still felt like I hadn’t found a purpose for my project.  As I chose the maps that were mainly located in the city, I decided to look further into the history of Coventry city. Not being from Coventry, I didn’t actually know much about the city or the stories behind it aside from things such as the cathedral and the blitz.

I firstly did some general research by googling the history of Coventry to see if there was anything that sparked interest. The first thing I found out about was that in the middle ages Coventry was considered one of the most important cities in England because it’s textiles and cloth industry was booming. Then once again coming back round in the 19th and 20th century by becoming an important industrial city due to it’s car and bicycle industry. Clearly, Coventry played a massive part in Britain’s Industrial revolution.

Something else I found interesting was the phrase ‘Sent to Coventry’. The phrase is commonly used when referring to being snubbed or completely ignored by everyone. There are are many connotations as to why it is used, the most common being that in the English civil war royalists troops that were captured were sent to Coventry to be imprisoned in St.John’s church and the people of Coventry shunned the prisoners completely. Another interesting version of the origin was linked to the story of Lady Godiva. It was said that as a punishment for peeping Tom’s disrespect, the town’s folk completely ignored and shut him out, therefore as the saying was retold, peeping Tom was the first person to be ‘sent to Coventry’. It is interesting to find out a few of the stories and myths behind this saying and it could be interesting to explore this as if you didn’t know this saying before hand you wouldn’t know what it actually meant and probably presumed it literally meant being sent to Coventry.

Leading on from this, I wanted to do something more research on Lady Godiva. Although it may seem like a cliche story to look into, I knew I didn’t actually know much about her and wanted to understand the importance she has to Coventry still to this day.

The basic story that most will know is that in the 13th century, Lady Godiva rode through the town on a horse naked after making deal with her husband (Earl of  Mercia) in which he would agree to lower the taxes set on the people of Coventry if she would ride through the streets naked, therefore she did and because of this she has become a heroic figure still to this day. Whether the Legend of Lady Godiva is real or a myth, I find it incredibly interesting to see how even in today’s society she is still praised and commemorated  by the people of Coventry and compare her to what would be a role model today.

I plan to look further on into the story of Lady Godiva and explore into this idea of the cities heroine.

 

 

250mc- Initial Ideas.

As said in my previous posts, the legend of Godiva has really intrigued me, therefore I have decided to base my project for this module on Lady Godiva focusing mainly on her love for the city and it’s people. Our brief is specified to Coventry and ovbiously Godiva plays a huge part in Coventry’s history. Rather than trying to re-enact the story, I want to show what the city would be like for Lady Godiva now if she were to be here today.

Whilst looking further into the tale of Godiva, quite a few questions popped up in my head, some of which were:

– If Lady Godiva returned to the present day, what would she think of today’s Coventry?

– Would she still show the same level of affection towards her city  with the many changes to it’s landscape?

I plan to explore these questions raised and hopefully come to a conclusion by answering it visually through still images. As there are no limitations as to what we can use to create the photographs, I intend on using medium format to produce my final images as I feel that this fits into the style of work I’d like to produce. It also gives me a chance to practise more with this format which is something I have been wanting to do since last year when I had first started to experiment with it. However, I do plan on using digital format as well, just incase something goes wrong with the first method.

As I have now an idea of where I want to take my project, I feel like I need to explore more locations that fit with my project. One idea I thought might be interesting would be to see if there is a map of the route Godiva rode through and pick out certain areas as the main locations for my shoot. However, I do realise this might be quite hard to find as not only is it unsure that the story Lady Godiva actually happened, but there has been a lot of changes and expansion to the city from how it was back then to what it is now, meaning that the original route could be completely vanished.

 

 

 

 

250mc- Locations: Problems and Test shoots.

Today I visited the history centre at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry. The centre consists of the local records office and archives dating from medieval times to the present. I thought this would be a perfect place for me to try and find some idea of the route Lady Godiva could have possibly taken as I have had no luck with finding anything related on the internet. I was directed to all the information they had on Lady Godiva, which ranged from books to newspaper clippings to leaflets and to play scripts dating back as far as around the 1920’s.

Unfortunately, once again I could not find anything relating to a route or area of the town where Godiva might have ridden through. But what I was able to find was the locations that many of the Godiva festival processions have taken over the years, as seen down in the image down below. It is interesting to see the similarities and changes over the years to the route of the festivals.

Although it was a shame that I wasn’t able to find any suggestions of where Lady Godiva might have been, I am happy with what I have found through this extensive research. My initial idea was to show what the city is like now. By keeping some of the first locations I had looked at, for example, the car park with a beautiful view of   Coventry, intertwined with a few of the locations that are within the Godiva festival celebrations such as the war memorial park, I will be able to mix the modern day with the  city’s traditions which are held to celebrate Lady Godiva throughout my project.

Here a few images I took of a few of the locations I plan to take photographs at:

These are images from 3 of the areas I intend on using. As you can see each area shows changes that have happened to the city over the years whilst some are kept the same. Showing the new against the old is something I want to show throughout my still images.

 

250mc Further research – Lady Godiva.

Lady Godiva – John Collier 1987

Through using information from archives, books and the internet, I decided to look more deeply into the story of Lady Godiva and why she is loved so much.

As the legend says, Lady Godiva rode through the streets naked to force her husband to lower the taxes set on the people of Coventry that was crippling them. But why did she do this and who was she actually?

The earliest known version of the legend of Godiva is found in Roger of Wendover’s Flores Historiarum that dates back to the 13th century. Godiva was an 11th century  Anglo-Saxon noblewoman  who was married to Leofric, the Earl of Mercia. Both were very religious as most people where then, they were known for being incredibly generous in giving donations to the churches and monastery. It is said that Godiva was very affectionate towards Coventry and the people of the city and took pity on the town’s folk who were suffering from her husband’s oppressive taxation. She continuously pleaded  with her husband to get rid of the taxes and at one point it was said that he forbade her to ever speak of the subject again. However, he replied saying that if she mounted her horse naked and rode from one side of the town to the other that her request would be granted. People were instructed not to come out of their houses and to board up their windows so that no one could see whilst she rode through the town, apart from the two soldiers that accompanied Godiva on her journey. Apparently only one person disobeyed and was struck blind whilst in the act, therefore being given the nickname Peeping Tom. When she’d completed the ride, she went back to her husband demanding he honour his side of the agreement, which he did, freeing Coventry and it’s inhabitants of the high taxes, therefore making her the heroine of Coventry.

Obviously the legend has been changed and adapted over the centuries and there have been many disagreements and debates over certain sections and whether the story is true or myth. However, one thing that does stand out from every version, whether she did actually ride through the streets naked or just simply was a great benefactor to the religious houses of the city,  is that this woman had a great love for Coventry and it’s people. The fact that she stood up to her husband just shows how much she cared, as it is common knowledge that role of women in those days was completely different to now. To follow her husband’s instructions was incredibly brave for that time. This to me is why the legend of Godiva is celebrated to this day and why people look up to the tale of Godiva whether it be real or not, as it shows the courage and bravery of one woman  as well freeing the people from the  imposed taxes.

I find Godiva’s love for Coventry incredibly intriguing and it makes me wonder, if she returned to the present day, what would she think of today’s Coventry? Would she still show the same level of affection towards her city  with the many changes to it’s landscape?

250mc Initial Ideas – Locations.

Still feeling slightly uninspired as to which genre and style I want to focus on in this project. I decided to look into the maps that had been given and explore each one that appealed to me visually, hoping this would trigger some ideas as to what to do within this topic.

I began by looking at all the maps then googling each area to get an idea of where each place was in which I was able to quickly and efficiently cancel out certain places such as  Allesley park simply for being too far for me to get to. I then focused on the maps that were based more in the city area and that were within walking distance.

Selected maps.

 

Although I don’t have a main idea for my project as of yet, I do know that I wanted areas that were interesting and not the typical locations that people would normally choose such as the Cathedral. I decided to use google street view to get a initial idea of places to look at first that I might not spot on foot, and to help me find these places.

 

Greyfriars Lane.

 

One street I found using this method was Greyfriars Lane. Located near just off from the central part of the city. Looking at it on google street view and on foot it is mainly made up of Council buildings and student accommodation, but one building that did intrigue me was the old timber house pictured on the right of the image above, it’s interesting to compare the new against the old opposite. I’m interested in finding out why this building has lasted so long and what it is. When walking past it, I noticed a sign on the side which said ‘Ford’s Hospital’ which gave a bit of information such as saying it is one of the perfect examples of timber framed architecture, You could also see when walking past through the gate a garden which looks really aesthetically pleasing.

 

New Union Street.

The next area I found was New Union street, living near this area I thought I knew it quite well, however looking at it from another perspective, such as a bird’s eye view like this, it completely different to what you expect. It would be interesting to see what other angles and viewpoints  I could use to change the views on areas.

 

Friar’s Road

I didn’t find this next place on google maps as it’s actually in the street I live on, There is a car park  (New Union Street) located on the corner of Friar’s road. It’s not particularly  the most interesting or beautiful building but it has a incredible view of Coventry city. As I now know that I want to focus my project on the actual city and not the surrounding areas, I think this would be an ideal location.

Looking at these places has given me a lot of inspiration on what to do next however nothing has still sprung to mind on what I could base my project on. As well as doing further research into these areas, I plan to research more into the city’s history and stories behind Coventry to not only get more of an idea of Coventry but hopefully to help me to come up with a few more ideas.

 

 

 

250mc Assignment brief.

To begin the second year of university we were given our first brief which was called ‘Site specific personal project and critical analysis.’

It states that our task is ‘…to make a body of work that intergrates your own personal interests with a specific map space in Coventry.’ It is deliberately broad allowing us the opportunity to research and develop a project in which we can personalise to our own individual taste and style.

As this is a site specific task based upon Coventry we were given 15 selected areas in the city to look at, some places that are included are; Allesley park,  Tile Hill and Swansell park. While sketching out some initial plans and ideas, I looked on google maps at these areas as I felt it was a much more sufficient way of narrowing down the areas to a smaller selection that appealed to me due to things such as accessibility and practically than actually travelling to each area separately.

The next step I need to take is to walk around the areas of each map I have chosen to find locations which should hopefully be the starting points for my project. As of yet I have no ideas on which route to go with for my project overall. Even though this assignment  lets us explore our own interests instead of being structured I am not sure if I want to take this as an opportunity to develop further into my preferred genre of photography or explore into a completely different style.