'The way you make is intertwined with who you are' - Kelly Walters and Anoushka Khandwala 

Communicating visual narratives is divergent in different cultures, with complexities and deep cultural and philosophical mores. For some it is a way of connecting generations – being custodians of heritage, and in other communities, it is a visual language, a way of speaking with each other and the beyond. The aesthetics, methods, materials and techniques used in different cultures to convey narratives differs and gaining an understanding and education of these non-binary methods opens new ways of cognizance.

How can we develop and adapt visual storytelling to today’s demands within a rapidly changing world? How might we break down power structures, diversify our references, and begin to think about communicating new narratives across geographies? Can this be done by understanding diverse aesthetics to enrich our practice?  

Strategies will include ways of shifting the gaze and moving away from what is traditionally design, understanding new ways of communicating, while diversifying creative thought processes. The studio pushes aside the notion that one must examine only the individual and wants you to examine the collective, along with an intersection between cultures, identity and examine the amalgamations that arise from these deep dives.

Students will explore modes of communication in different cultures through traditional and non-traditional methods, as ways of seeing and knowing and examine how diverse aesthetics may enrich your practice. At the end of the studio, you will have rich, unique non-binary visual narratives. Working will be encouraged through making, crafting, discovering, understanding and imagining new stories.

Work will happen in a mix of analogue and digital mediums in 2D and 3D. You will create everything from collages to book making, from printmaking to maquettes; from puppetry to papier-maché figurines. Weekly studios will include a model of conversations or lectures, workshops, field visits and studio time. You will be encouraged to be independent, make mistakes, have introspective discussions, provide feedback, and most importantly, work collaboratively with peers.

Brief 1: Collaborative research as a thinker-maker.

Brief 2: Narrative deep dive: an individually-led or pair-based project where students will create their own work based on the collaborative research and their own.

Brief 3: The SKO will be a collection, a reflection, a self-initiated journal that students will maintain weekly and will then curate into a mixed medium reflective output of their choice. (Mediums can be discussed and decided at the time as a collective).

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