It feels weird to write a speech about the end of the first year of KABK. Weird because it’s digital and I can’t see you or thank you in real life. And also weird because of the fact that an entire year just flew by, when it only feels like yesterday that I started. Like I said in my last speech, coming to KABK felt like coming home for me, finally  I am at the place where I was supposed to be. At all the courses and bachelors I started, I have never been sad about a year ending and not having class for a while. This year is the first one that I do feel like that. It feels like saying goodbye to a family (for just a while though).

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Looking back at the past semester I can say that I have tried to look more for my voice and what I have to say. I now know better what kind of subjects attract me, for example; childhood, fairy tales with a critical note, myths, family relationships, and womanhood. I know there are more to come and I'm curious to see what else I have to say. This is also thanks to Raimond and Ola, who guided me through assignments where we got a lot of freedom. Because of this guidance, I found projects that were so important to me they began to live a life on their own. It felt like taking care of a living thing. I loved being suck into my own created world. What also helped is that they gave me the confidence of taking this space and freedom, that first felt so restricted to me. Like Ola told me; I started with shaking legs and a lot felt uncertain, but I got steadier and even surprised myself with some of the results of the courses.

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Another thing I told myself to work on last semester was to experiment more with my visual language and look at more modern inspirations, not only photography. During Portrait I tried to do this. I noticed I like working with a second layer; using thread in archival images and plastic on pictures in the scanner. The playfulness that came with it really spoke to me.

I also went looking for my comfort zone and how I can break out of it. It is still hard for me what that exactly is, but I came close with my project for documentary. The use of ‘dirty’ and dark images is at least different than the light pink projects I did last semester. I know I could have taken bigger steps in doing this though. That is one of the things I will work on next year.

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Other courses were harder for me and to appreciate the freedom we got. But this taught me the exact lessons I came to this school for in the first place. For Image development for example I firstly didn’t know what to do and what to make. I can think of a view reasons why; I have the invalid impression that simple work can become boring quickly. Because of this, I always try to overcomplicate am assignment which takes a lot of energy that I don’t really have. This is a restriction I create for myself that makes me feel stuck in my own mind. Besides, I struggle with the idea that it won’t be good enough. Lastly, with time pressure of creating something within a week, it is hard for me to get past the first ideas. I had more room to do this in Mise en Scene and Documentary so it showed me that I can do it, I just need to learn how to do it with more time pressure. But Johan assured me that you’re able to.

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There is a lot more for me to work on than I just described, and I will work on all of them real hard... Despite some complaints we might have had this year, I would like you to know that I absolutely love the school and how it changed my life.

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Thank you so much for that and see you next year, Jet