Unit 3 Assessment
- Ashton Blyth
- May 27
- 9 min read
Updated: Jun 4
LO1: Present evidence of a body of work that demonstrates a systematic enhancement of your knowledge and understanding. (AC Realisation)
My body of work over this course is divided into two categories: before, and after, discovering I had been removed from the NHS Leeds Gender Identity Services waitlist.
Prior to this discovery in February 2022, I was working on a feature length film comprising of live-action interviews and rotoscoped moments in my life that I felt contributed to the discovery and understanding that my gender identity did not align with the sex that I was assigned at birth. I had vastly underestimated the time involved to achieve this. By digitally drawing the frames, compared to my previous experience of rotoscoping being hand drawn, I became far more conscious of mistakes and redrawing lines until they were perfect thanks to the undo button. I also increased the level of detail captured in each frame, which meant that although the final clips of animation looked great, the time I was spending creating them meant very little was getting completed. My 3 Minute Video includes clips of some of the more progressed clips of animation.
When I returned for my second year, I accepted the fact that I needed to leave the animation behind and start fresh - especially as for the time being sitting at a desk was not a possibility, having just had surgery. Inspired by the medical negligence I was experiencing, and attempting to find a solicitor to support my claim for, I decided to translate the provided documentation regarding the NHS Care Pathway into a tube map, inspired by the designs of Henry Beck and my Progressive Tube Map from several years ago. I completed this map design for the end of Unit 2.
Post-Christmas, with fresh eyes on my process of creating tube maps and an understanding of the link this methodology of tape has to my life due to the physical connotations of binding and restricting my body with tape, as a trans man.
My first step in understanding this process was to plan my first physical Tape Map, and bring The Transition Tube Map to life - The NHS Transition Tape Map. While preparing for creating this first physical map, I was also constantly amending and dissecting my own personal journey and how to translate that in a similar way.
After constant revisions to my map, trying to find the most accurate representation of my experiences - not sugar-coating the bad parts, and making sure to document the positive experiences, I unveiled the final version of My Transition Tube Map. This was later revised in a layout that best suited the physical creation of the map in tape for the film, shuffling things so it sat horizontal.
The things I learnt from this process inspired me to create the full map on the same scale. The following videos are of me retracing my journey along the map, and the take-down of both the standard NHS section and of my own map. These were parts that I did not plan to film, or expect to be so interesting to capture, but actually had me rethinking the content of my film for the show.
LO2: Synthesise and critically reflect coherently on your process whilst providing evidence of an active, independent and/or collaborative practice. (AC Process)
It took a while for me to get back into the swing of making this unit, but once I started the process of designing my section of the map it was hard to take a pause in the drawings and redesigns to reflect on the changes I was making. The following blog posts are listed in the order that evidence my reflections on the process of creating My Transition Tube Map, and My Transition Tape Map.
The following post details some of the failures I experienced in the making of the first tape map, and what I learnt from it: The NHS Transition Tape Map - Failures I have since made a second larger map implementing these corrections, during the process of which I learnt of more ways I could adjust my set up for a final filming for the show. The first of which being that the meeting room windows from which I filmed have a catch I was not aware of that allows the window to fully swing open. This means that, providing I use a strong clamp, I could suspend the phone from which I would film out of the window and get a flatter Birds Eye view rather than slanted, but more importantly I would not have the window reflections of the meeting room which overlayed the entire film. I was also not expecting there to be a skip a couple doors down, and for there to have been such moss mess made across the area I was planning to use, but not having an outdoor brush available meant there was limits to how much I could try and clean up the area. For the next filming, I plan to bring a pressure washer and remove the layer of moss sprinklings, meaning that it won’t block the tape in areas or get the tape mucky. I am also hoping this will allow me to remove the couple of small muddy areas that weren’t there last filming, and create a clean-as-possible surface to work with.
LO3: Summarise and evaluate your overall progress and formulate a constructive plan for continuing Personal and Professional Development. (AC Communication)
Over my two years on this course, and the two gap years in between, I have faced many personal challenges:
Discovering I was discharged from the NHS GIC, and all the (on-going) setbacks since being re-referred
Receiving a diagnosis of ADHD - combined type
Uncovering a diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder - borderline type from nearly 9 years ago that doctors opted to keep from me - again due to incompetence and failure to tell me, not because it was necessary to keep it from me
Undergoing a double mastectomy a week before starting my second year
Being signed off of work post-recovering from surgery due to a severe depressive episode
Being re-referred to the team who failed o communicate the EUPD diagnosis to me, and being told I also have PTSD and OCD
I am very much aware that my education and artistic practice took a significant hit with all of the above, the awareness of such further impacting my mental health.
Despite all the aforementioned roadblocks I experienced during my time on the course, I feel confident that I have progressed overall on this course. Having COVID hit half way through my undergrad forced me to reevaluate my artistic practice. Where I previously made interactive and immersive installations, this would now not be possible. My second year final work could not be professionally displayed in the studios, and so I had to project all the plaques that should have been wall mounted, and take pictures of my sellotape sculpture displayed on a meeting room table. After this, I switched up my practice to digital works so that, when inevitably only displayed online, the loss of impact that the work would have on the viewer would be minimal. In my third year I created The Progressive Tube Map and Felt Right Then, Feels Right Now - the two works which continue to inform and inspire my practice to date.
I started this course discovering a recent love for rotoscope animation and a drive to develop it, keeping my practice constricted to the desk, unaware of the restrictions I had yet to remove from my artistic range. Where I had become comfortable in the realm of creating new artwork on a screen, the digital aspect of the course allowed for this comfortability. I think with all the personal problems I was facing, this allowed my art practice to continue, where if I was on an in-person course it would have halted completely.
Starting second year was the first step in pushing my art back into the physical world. As silly as it may seem, just the designing process of The Transition Tube Map felt out of my shrunken comfort zone, but the gradual process of re-working my designs was the nudge I needed to remember the enjoyment in physically holding a pencil. After I had healed from surgery, my ideas to bring the designs off of the paper were allowed to take flight. While I considered the necessary resources to make this happen, I started on the designs for translating my journey the same way.
I noticed I proceeded with my own designs in a completely different way. When drawing the previous NHS map, I was of the constant mindset that if it wasn’t too neat that did not matter, as these were sketches for reference when making a clean digital version of the map. However, this time I started with grid paper and constantly created clean full-picture versions of the map between rough sketch amendments, and with the last several versions if I made a mistake then I restarted the diagram. The neat line-drawings were my final drawings of it, with no intention to recreate them all slick and print-quality level in illustrator. I considered them the blueprints for my physical tape maps, because that was then end goal I had in mind from the start of the design process.
This has meant that the only times I have needed to be at the computer desk have been to edit the film footage of making the tape maps, and this has become the tedious part of the entire process for me compared to the satisfaction of finishing a redesign of the blueprint without mistakes, or physically squashing duct tape into the cement grooves between bricks and the feeling of a line having been placed without creases.
In summary, my progression has been rediscovering my enjoyment for making art and being engaged in a hands-on creative process. I think it has been exactly what I needed, and I’m looking forward to taking the time to continue enjoying rebuilding my art practice, without the amount of pressure I put on myself within an academic setting. I think I need to take the time to allow art to be my escape and help heal, and recapture why I have always to go into teaching.
If you were to ask me what I would expect to be writing here several years ago, I would expect to write that I would be starting a teaching course imminently. However, I think I need to take the next year to allow my mental health to recover significantly, while gaining relevant experience in the teaching sector where possible to boost my application. I am aware that a PGCE or PGDE will be challenging academically, driven by written assessments and placement evaluations, and if I am not mentally ready to handle the strain of it I will probably struggle more than I have this year, where the practical work has been an escape from the challenges I've faced.
I plan to act on the opportunity I have had to be going into my old college, spending time with the students running various workshops and offering tutorials, and allow the in-person art environment to spur on my own art practice. This will also develop my knowledge of the education sector for applying for my PGCE for September 2026 entry. I was previously accepted on the PGDE in Post-14 Education at Edge Hill University back in September 2021, before opting to apply for this course last minute on a whim. However, Edge Hill is a challenge to get to by public transport, and the PGDE (120 credits as opposed to 60) in Post-14 Education no longer exists, being replaced by Further Education and Skills. It is still 120 credits, delivered at the Ormskirk campus only if you come from an art specialism, but no longer run by the professors that interviewed me and I had discussions with. It was the prospect of earning double the credits in the same time-span and being academically challenged that initially drew me to the course, where this option was not available at any other nearby university, and Edge Hill has a reputation for being one of the best teaching universities. At the time of applying, my essays throughout undergrad were described as post-grad level, and I wanted to continue to be academically challenged and benefit from all the extra knowledge it would get me for the same amount of time (and student loan).
I am now leaning towards applying for the PGCE M 14+ Arts and Creative Practice - Postgraduate Level at the University of Bolton. This is a 120 credit course, like the one I previously wanted to take, and specifically aimed at those wanting to teach over 14s in the creative arts industry. The University of Bolton is far more accessible via public transport, and thus the chosen placements would also be more accessible. I attended an open evening for the teaching courses via zoom in December, and the teacher of the 14+ course was very nice and welcoming.
I also want the opportunity to have proficient support in place before starting such an academically challenging course. Where I am eligible for Disabled Students Allowance, and was told I would receive a computer with Caption.Ed, MeisterTask, MindMeister, Sensory Readable and Talk Type Dictation, as well as a reMarkable tablet, a ScanMarker Pro pen, noise cancelling headphones - over 4 months after being told I was recommended these things, I have still received nothing and they do not reply to emails. After investigating these software's and products, I can see just how much they will benefit me academically, and allow me to reach my full potential, and so I want to have access to these things in place before confirming an imminent acceptance onto another academic course.
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