CONTEXT OF PRACTICE: CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

From my initial idea's I came up with the concept of curating my own exhibition that empowers black women in the UK. The exhibition would be a mix between black history month and international woman's day in the sense that it recognises the minorities or the other in society.

Before expanding my idea, I decided to research into both of these events to ensure that something like this hasn't already been done. I initially looked into the themes and aspects that they covered which are listed below.

Black History Month

• The Black victorians
• Black women and the NHS
• Young Caribbean migrants - growing up in the UK
• African London
• Black British Swing: Caribbean Contribution to British Jazz in the 1930s and 1940s
• The Self Help Movement
• How Black Soldiers Helped Britain In First World War

International women's day

The United Nations declares an annual theme for each international women's day which are listed below

• - 2013: A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women
• - 2012: Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty
• - 2011: Equal access to education, training and science and technology
• - 2010: Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all
• - 2009: Women and men united to end violence against women and girls
• - 2008: Investing in Women and Girls
• - 2007: Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls
• - 2006: Women in decision-making
• - 2005: Gender Equality Beyond 2005: Building a More Secure Future
• - 2004: Women and HIV/AIDS
• - 2003: Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals
• - 2002: Afghan Women Today: Realities and Opportunities
• - 2001: Women and Peace: Women Managing Conflicts
• - 2000: Women Uniting for Peace
• - 1999: World Free of Violence against Women
• - 1998: Women and Human Rights
• - 1997: Women at the Peace Table
• - 1996: Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future
• - 1975: United Nations recognizes International Women's Day

From the listed themes there are no specific themes that are directly aimed at black british women, so with this in mind I decided to build some concepts.

I created a brainstorm of the possible idea's I could include within the exhibition. With a focus on themes such as background, target audience, tone of voice and location

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Location: I decided to set my exhibition in manchester as a initial starting point due to living in that area and having a lot on contact with the locals. This is a initial idea that could branch out across the UK, if the project is developed further.

Target audience: The exhibition would be targeted at women between the ages of 16 - 50 with an interest in their culture and background.

I then started to build up some concept names for the exhibition, which is displayed in the brainstorm below.

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Out of all the names I deiced to choose ' women who wear black, lead the most colourful lives' although it's quite lengthy I felt that it was really catchy and could be abbreviated if needed.

After I established a concept I decided to start researching into exciting types of design that could influence my exhibition work.