As a full-time doctoral student, I have enough time and space to study the major and expand the career. My master’s final project is the basic research on collage, and now I am researching this technique in depth. I attempt to expand the different concepts and methods of collage, to connect different theories and knowledge with them, and finally to develop out the new insights.
My research question: How Might Existing and Developing Methodologies Associated with Meta-Modernism Be Expanded upon to Further New Approaches to Collage? In short, I am working on how collage can be transformed from the two-dimensional to the three-dimensional, and to the video. Furthermore, what the results of the practice reflects regarded with society and culture, and how to connect them with occupied thinking such as Meta-modernism, as well as making the breakthroughs in the techniques and concepts of collage.
Personally speaking, collage is not just about cutting and pasting. Collage provides a platform and is a bridge to talk about artificial and natural, waste and art, to connect ancient and modern, to combine East and West, folk and academic, and life and art. I hope that the observations and reflections on globalization and contemporary society that I propose through the practice of collage enable viewers to pay more attention to their living environment and conditions. Moreover, it is important to give collage a different face and advance in the field of art through the doctoral research.
I started my PhD research in spring 2022 and the progress so far has been unexpected and full of surprises. When I hold an open mind, life, environment, the feedback from teachers, peers, and the training of the college expand my horizons, and indeed affect me to develop something different from the past. Every time I review and reflect on the things and processes that have been completed, I will derive other directions and goals that I would like to explore in the future.
The process of research and practice has always challenged my ability to solve problems: How to respond and reflect society and culture with art in my own way? How should I create exactly what I propose and imagine with the raw materials? How to use the known theories appropriately to discuss my practice? How to think and explore the suggestions gave from the supervisors? How to report the research practice well?
Manchester Metropolitan University does provide research guidance, and set up research awards and funds for graduate students to apply. The library’s resources are abundant and convenient, and there are some guide courses about sharing the methods of using these resources. There are also one-on-one tutoring sessions for academic English-related questions. So far, my collage research has made significant progress and support here, and I am excited about the following research development.
