JISCMail - COMMUNITYPSYCHUK Archives

Found another article about Ken Sprague, who designed the image,, this time from Socialist Unitynetwork on http://www.socialistunitynetwork.co.uk/counter/sprague.htm

I think Ken might have appreciated our debate. The article says:

It is his posters and prints that will remain his true epitaph. His innovative and prolific creativity, his recalcitrant questioning, determination and belief in others' potential was a beacon for everyone who met him. His images unsettle, provoke, discomfort but also amuse.

Ken was concerned about how politics impacted on the ordinary person. In essence, the leitmotif of his work was about power and the abuse of power, as well as the resilience of ordinary people. He depicted the world as changeable. His work is imbued with unfashionable optimism, depicting a world where ethics and values still have relevance - the antithesis of postmodern fragmentation and its disdain of value systems.

Every morning, he drew a political cartoon to assuage his anger and frustration at the state of the world. Only a few weeks before he died, he was excitedly telling me about plans for an artistic project in Cuba and a book he was determined to publish of anti-war drawings.

Annie Mitchell

Clinical Director,

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology,

School of Applied Psychosocial Studies,

Faculty of Health and Social Work,

University of Plymouth,

Peninsula Allied Health Collaboration,

Derriford Road,

Plymouth,

Devon

PL6 8BH

Phone Programme Administrators:
Jane Murch, Emma Hellingsworth

01752 233786

Please note I work 3 days per week:

usually Monday, Tuesday & either Wednesday or Thursday.

From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of McGowan John (Sussex Partnership Trust)
Sent: 20 February 2008 11:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Some questions about the CPUK Logo

A couple of thoughts. I feel a bit of a faud commenting as I'm new to this list and haven't encountered the logo before. Quite an interesting debate this I think as it does raise a few larger issues which I think David Fryer has outlined very clearly.The points seem to concern A) having a logo and B) is this the right one to have.

Re having a logo I do think this does change something about a movement (or maybe just reinforces a change thats already there). It has its advantages, image, identity, belonging, more of a collective perhaps. But those things themselves are suggestive of a developing hegemony or orthodoxy which might make people feel uncomfortable or at least that something about a movement has changed. (though of course maybe the hegemony exists already via peer review of papers etc etc.) I wonder if anyone else thinks this point of any consequence?

Re the logo my own initial reactions were that it is funny and memorable and original and I wish I could do something as good as that. But I also think David is right. It is quite predatory and combative. Is that a good stance? It might be quite a seductive one but I'm not so sure how useful it is.

Re it being having christian overtones I'm screamingly uncomfortable with much christian imagery but this didn't come to mind particularly.

John

From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rebekah Pratt
Sent: 20 February 2008 10:25
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Some questions about the CPUK Logo

I'm a little unsure about the image itself - I do like the idea it has a historical association as described by Annie. In terms of having an identity (I don't see what was corporate about it) and being a network, I think it would be positive to continue to engage in developing our sense of being a collective. This seems consistent with other activities, like tying to get a BPS section for example. UK community psychology seems to suffer from paralyzing introspection about the merits of identity to the point where we are almost a secret society (secret because of the perceived perils of thinking of ourselves as a collective/network inhibits our ability to be identifiable to others who actually might be interested in knowing more about us, critically engaging with us or even joining that collective).

So ... the image itself ... I'm unsure about...

The idea of having a logo ... why not!

Having that logo presented elsewhere ... why not!

Identifying to a different network of community psychologists that there is a group of people (even if we are having identity issues) in the UK interested in doing community psychology ... yes please! I don't see that means we are saying we are them, or we always agree with them. Without engaging in some sense of collective identity, community psychology in the UK is really only identifiable by its academics rather than as a rather diverse collection of people with a broad range of interests that share some features (even if just some of the time). As one of those academics I'm happy to shift the way community psychology is identified and think taking the risk of naming ourselves in some way is worthwhile.

So I vote 'yes' to having a logo of some form at Lisbon and am quite pleased someone was organised enough to take this on.

Rebekah

PS I am sympathetic to the imagery bringing up some negative responses...

From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Fryer
Sent: 19 February 2008 20:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Some questions about the CPUK Logo

Why do we need a logo?

Do we really want a corporate identity?

Are we actually a collective in any meaningful sense?

What do we agree on which is not trivially superficial?

Isn't the fish a Christian symbol?

Do we want to reinforce nationalism?

Why would we want to be seen as sponsors of the Lisbon meeting, especially without actually playing any sponsorship role (especially intellectually) or knowing what it will accomplish for whom?

Given the distribution of wealth and power, does 'international community psychology' mean anything other in practice than United Statesian Community Psychology?

Is predatory behaviour OK after all as long as we are the predator rather than the prey?

Isn't the image as representative of a lynch mob as it is of any thing else?

No thanks!

David

From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List on behalf of richard pemberton
Sent: Tue 2/19/2008 18:43
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Lisbon and CPUK Logo

Sorry for asking as a relative new comer. Why would this predatory, animal, presumably under water, image be symbolic of uk community psychology?

On 2/19/08, Paul@home <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Dear all,

A while ago there was the suggestion that the 'swimming with the fishes' logo be adopted for CPUK (logo attached). I have fiddled with it a little - added our name as a strap line and placed it on a button so it can be placed on non-white websites. Unless enough people object by the end of this week, I will send this to the organisers of the 2008 International Conference on Community Psychology in Lisbon. The organisers would include our logo on their website and CPUK will be cited as a co-sponsor of the event (don't worry, it is intellectual rather than financial sponsorship).

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