Six Media, One Attempt Each: What Counts as Sustained Experimentation
An SL candidate's process portfolio contains eleven experiments across six media: cyanotype, digital collage, acrylic pouring, embroidery on photographs, clay slip casting and sound recording. Each experiment has a final photograph and a one-line caption such as 'I liked the contrast' or 'This did not work.' There are no tests of the same process at different exposure times, no notes on what was changed between attempts, and no artist references except one image of a Gerhard Richter painting. The teacher must predict whether this portfolio meets the requirement for sustained experimentation. The candidate argues that six media proves range and that 'real artists don't write everything down.' Two weeks remain before internal assessment. The portfolio page limit is 15 screens; the candidate has used 13.
1. Is 'range across six media' the same as sustained experimentation? Justify with reference to what the portfolio must evidence.
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Range across six media is not the same as sustained experimentation. The process portfolio is assessed on evidence of a line of inquiry: a question or intention, repeated tests, observation of results, adjustment and reflection. One attempt per medium produces six endpoints, not a process.
The captions 'I liked the contrast' and 'This did not work' are evaluative but not explanatory. They do not say what varied, what was noticed, or what would change. A useful test is whether a reader could reconstruct the next step from the page. Here, they could not.
The candidate should choose two media that already show tension - cyanotype and embroidery on photographs, for example - and build a sequence: vary exposure, compare digital negative density, then intervene with stitch and record how the intervention changes the image's legibility. Two screens are enough if they show a decision chain. The other media can remain as earlier exploration but should not be presented as the core.
2. The candidate says artists do not document everything. How should the teacher respond, and what is the difference between documentation and reflection?
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Documentation records what happened; reflection interprets why it mattered and what comes next. The candidate is right that artists do not document everything, but the portfolio is a selected argument, not a studio diary.
A stronger caption would be: 'Six-minute exposure lost detail in the highlights; at three minutes the negative's contrast held the midtones but the shadows went flat. Next I will try a four-minute exposure with a diluted sensitizer.' This names a variable, an observation and a decision.
The teacher should agree with the candidate and then distinguish: artists edit. The portfolio should include the failures that changed the work, not every failure. Ask the candidate to annotate three existing experiments with what was varied and what would change. That converts captioning into reflection without adding new media or more pages.
3. With two weeks left and 13 of 15 screens used, what should the teacher prioritise?
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Priority is depth: one comparative series, one artist reference that changes a process decision, and one reflective overview. Do not start a seventh medium.
Select the two experiments that already show the most unresolved problem, repeat them with one variable changed, and document the comparison side by side. Add a short artist reference only if it informs process - for example, a practitioner who uses serial exposure or stitching - and state what was borrowed or rejected.
Finally, write a half-page 'what I now understand' statement that connects the series to the candidate's intention. Because 13 of 15 screens are used, the candidate may need to remove weaker single attempts to make room. That editing is itself evidence of review and refinement, so the teacher should frame deletion as part of the assessment rather than as loss.