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FinalProjectReflection
Formyfinalproject,IchosetotellthestoryofPortugueseartistJoanaVasconcelosand
heruniquefeministartworkfromthepast22years.WhenIfirststartedtheproject,however,I
didntknowwhoJoanaVasconceloswas.Myintroductiontoherworkstartedwithmyperusal
ofthephotographsItookinLondon.Whileabroad,IspecificallytookphotographsoftheartI
foundmostinterestinginthegalleriesandmuseumsIvisited,aswellastheirinformationplates.
IcameacrossaphotoItookofahorseheadattheManchesterArtGallery.Thehorseshead
wascoveredinblackcrocheteddesigns,creatinganartpiecethatspokeaboutbothmasculine
andfemininestereotypes.Theinformationplatetalkedabouttheartist,JoanaVasconcelos.
ThisiswhereIstartedcreatingmyfinalprojecttopic.First,IneededtoknowmoreaboutJoana
Vasconcelos,soIlookedheruponGoogle.ThefirstfoursearchresultswerefromJoanas
website,followedbyherWikipediaentry.Iwentonherwebsiteandfoundoutmoreabouther.
Joanasartistrystartedin1994,butherentryintotheworldseyeviewwasntuntil2005
whenherworkwasshowninthe51stInternationalArtExhibition.Sincethen,herworkhas
beeninsoloandgroupexhibitions,extremelywellknownlocations,books,journals,andprivate
andpubliccollections.SheisoneofthemostsuccessfulPortugueseartistsofhertimeandone
ofthemostsuccessfulfemalePortugueseartistsofalltime.Herworkhasbecomethatpopular
becauseofitsphilosophicalnature.Eachpiececreatesadialogueaboutimportantcurrent
topics,suchasfeminismandgenderstereotypes.AfterlearningmoreaboutJoanascareer,I
wantedtoseemoreofherart.Luckily,herwebsitehadagreatphotogallery,categorizedby
year.IlookedthrougheachandeveryphotoJoanasartworkcomesinmanydifferentforms,
includingstatues,sculptures,machines,furniture,lightfixtures,andeventransportation.The
linkbetweenallofherartworkisthematerialstheyaremadeof.Mostofhermaterialscome
fromthePortuguesehousehold.Highheelsmadeoutofpots,shapeshiftingfountainsmade


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outofirons,andalargepistolmadeoutofanalogicaltelephonesarejustafewexamplesofher
uniqueuseofhouseholditems.Byusingtheseitems,Joanaiscommentingonthegender
stereotypesthatcomewithrunningahousehold.Ifellinlovewithherartworkandhercreative
visionIpickedoutmyfavoritepiecesinhercollectionsanddecidedtocreateastoryoutof
thoseartworks.
Lookingthroughmyinstructorssuggestionsoftoolstohelptellourfinalprojectstories,I
chosetouseTimelineJSfromNorthwesternUniversitysKnightLab.Idusedthistoolbeforein
myotherDigitalHumanitiescourses,butIstillneededarefreshercourseonhowitworked.The
KnightLabwebsiteforTimelineJSwasveryspecificandhelpfulintheirprocessofcreatinga
timeline.Mychoicesforthesetupofthetimelinewerelaidoutinfrontofmeonavery
convenientGoogleSheet.Istartedtheprocessoffillingoutmyspreadsheetbyinputtingallthe
yearsthattheartworkIhadchosenwerecreated.Ihadsomeartworkonmylistthatwere
createdinthesameyear,butJoanaswebsitedidnotspecifyamonthororderintimethatthe
artworkwascreated.Imadethechoicetoputtheartworkinalphabeticalorderiftherewas
morethanonecreatedinthesameyear,justsotherewasameaningfulorderinplace.The
nextstepwastoinputeachtitle,ornameoftheartwork,intothespreadsheet.Iwentdownmy
listoffavorites,copyingandpastingthestyleofthetitlesfromJoanaswebsite.AfterIfinished,
however,InoticedthatsomeofthetitlesonherwebsiteincludedtheEnglishtranslationin
bracketsandsomeinparentheses.Iwantedtomakethetimelineasuniformaspossible,soI
madethechoicetousebracketsonly.ThisdecisionwasbasedonJoanaswebsitehaving
moreofthetranslatedtitlesinbrackets,meaningfewerchangesformetomakeonthe
spreadsheet.
Aftertheyearsandtitleswereinputted,Ichosetotacklethemediaentrynext.Someof
theartworkincludedphotographsandvideosonJoanaswebsite,butaftercopyandpasting


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eachURLfromJoanasartworkpagesonherwebsitetothespreadsheet,Irealizedthatthe
timelineprogramwouldonlyworkiftheURLwasfromalistofapprovedwebsites,suchas
YoutubeorDropbox.AfterIfoundthatout,IlookedupsomeofJoanasartworkvideoson
Youtube.Therewasntanyhighqualityvideoslikeonherwebsite,soIdecidedtoonlyuse
photographsonmytimelinetorepresenttheartwork.IalreadyhadaDropboxaccount,soI
downloadedeachfileofphotosofeachartworkonmylistfromJoanaswebsiteand
downloadedthemintoDropbox.ThenIcopyandpastedalltheDropboxlinksintothe
spreadsheetandmovedontothedescriptionentryonthespreadsheet.IhadtochoosehowI
wasgoingtodescribeeachoftheartworks.Iwantedtoinvolvemoreonlinecontentand
research,soIdecidedtousequotesfromonlinearticlesasthedescriptions.Istartedtolookup
thenamesofJoanasartworkonGoogle,butmostofthetimethesearchresultsdidntgiveme
articlesthatIcoulduseforthedescription.ThatswhenIjustGoogledJoanasnamealongside
whatIthoughtwashermorefamoustitlesofartwork.Thiswasmoresuccessful.Icopyand
pastedgeneralquotesabouttheartistfromthearticlesintoaresearchGoogledocIdprepared,
andthencopyandpastedquotesthatwerespecifictoacertainartworkintotheGoogledoc
underthetitleofthatpiece.IincludedthenamesofthearticleswithalinksoIcouldfindthe
articleagainifnecessary.
IrealizedprettyquicklyIshouldhavestartedwiththedescriptionentrybeforetackling
themediaentryforsakeoftime.ManyofthepiecesofartworkonJoanaswebsitethatIhadnt
noticedturnedouttobeextremelyfamousandsomeofherbestpieces.Ineededtochangemy
originallistofartworktoincludeinthetimelineinordertoencompassmyfavoritepiecesaswell
asthepublicsfavoritepieces.Thatway,Iwouldhavemoresuccessfindingquotesinarticles
aboutJoanasartworkthatIincludedonmylist.Ieditedthetitlesandyearsincludedonmy
spreadsheetduringtheprocessofresearchinghelpfularticlesaboutJoanasworkonline.Once


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Ifinishededitingmylist,IdownloadedtheproperphotosfromJoanaswebsiteagain,
transferredthemtoDropbox,andthencopyandpastedtheDropboxlinktothespreadsheet.
Then,Ichosethebestquotesfromarticlestoincludeinthedescriptionofeachartworkand
copyandpastedthemintothespreadsheet,addingproperquotationmarksandcitation.After
finishingwiththequotesIhad,IrealizedIdidnthavequotesforsomeoftheartworkIlikedfrom
Joanabutwerentaswellknown.IdecidedtousedetailsfromJoanaswebsiteinsteadon
thoseworksofart.LookingthroughJoanaswebsitethough,eachworkhadthematerialsand
dimensionsofthework,butonlysomehadalongerdetaileddescriptionthatIcoulduseinthe
timeline.ThatshowIwhittleddownmylistofincludedartworkagain.Intheend,Ihadexactly
20piecesofartcreatedbyJoanaVasconcelosonmyspreadsheettoincludeinmytimeline.
Ifinishedupthespreadsheetbydoingaspellandgrammarcheck,aswellasincluding
Joanaswebsiteasthemediacredit.IfollowedtheinstructionsontheTimelineJSwebsitein
ordertocreatethehtmlcodeforthetimeline,thencopyandpastedittoapageIdcreatedona
websiteIdmadetoholdmyblogpostsformyotherstudyabroadclass.Iwroteashort
introductiontothetimeline,includingthequotesfromarticlesIdalreadyfoundtomakeitmore
scholarly.Sincetheprogramdidntallowmetoincludealinktoeacharticleswebsiteinthe
descriptionsectionofthespreadsheet,Imadealistofcitationswithlinksnearthebottomofthe
page.Forthetitlephotoofthepage,Imadeanonlinecollageofthetwooriginalphotosfrom
theManchesterArtGallerythatinspiredmytopicandchoseacorrespondingcolorforthename
ofthepage.Inoticedthetextseemedalittlebare,soIincludedtwobeautifulphotosofJoana
inthemiddleofit.Lastly,Iwrotemyreflectionsanduploadedthematthebottomofthepage.
TheentireprocesstooklesstimethanIthought,evenwiththeunexpectedchangesI
hadtomaketomylistofchosenartwork.Ienjoyedmakingtheproject,especiallycreating


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somethingthatincludedmorethanonetechnologicalresource:photographs,TimelineJS,and
onlinearticles.