All 115 students who showcased were photographed by Andrea Capello. Please let me know if you would like to view the additional student work not pictured in the presentation slides and I can send you the link to this content directly. This link will not include any student work in the case of students who have opted out of their photos being shared.
Our year co-ordinator also uploaded additional documentation of the showcase onto the course instagram (all photographs by Andrea Capello) —
Instagram story highlights: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18065856505718521/
Instagram post 1/6: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFnWkTzgTiY/?img_index=1
Instagram post 2/6: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFnW6LfAaYV/?img_index=1
Instagram post 3/6: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFnXSRiAlLv/?img_index=1
Instagram post 4/6: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFnXhxstlQT/?img_index=1
Instagram post 5/6: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFnYVYZtEBt/?img_index=1
Instagram post 6/6: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFnYd0dNNJb/?img_index=1
I would also like to include here some observations from colleagues, gathered through my data collection:
“One student said the Formative Assessment Session felt like being in a club, in a good way”
“When I spoke to my tutees, several said they were scared and very nervous before the catwalk but as soon as they went through the curtain they really loved it. These were particularly shy students, and we spoke a bit about that moment of passing through the curtain and how nothing else could be done at that point so they were able to just surrender to the moment. All agreed that pushing through those uncomfortable feelings was worth it for the experience.
From my perspective – it was such a positive experience for everyone involved and the format of the formative as an event was very successful (I think we had a healthy level of participation, no complaints), students supported each other and the atmosphere was one of sheer joy! Look at the crowd in all the photos, everyone is smiling!!”
“On the Pigeon – This is Tiangyang [Ma] – they started looking at ideas of ‘beauty’ in the city, while discovering London as a new place they have recently moved to and looking for links to ‘taste’ in their new and previous home. They started looking at views that people found ‘tasteful’ or ‘beautiful’ but then also started to think about why not everyone finds the same meaning using those descriptions. They then started drawing birds that most people find beautiful and there tasteful – particularly ducks and swans. But then also found that they were more drawn to pigeons…..It probably strays a bit away from taste at points, but it’s been an interesting journey and the outcome is amazing – and will be even more so if they can complete something beak-ey….
Then, on another interesting conversation we’ve had [with] – Sam Vasquez – They have found this project really interesting as its helped them completely clarify their interests in fashion and image making as they were not 100% sure if they should have been studying fashion or illustration as they have such a big interest in fashion. But because of the way this project has asked students to consider the cat walk/wearable/performative elements as presentation, its clarified that these are interests for Sam, but that the image making and visually communicating Fashion/music/culture and identity is what they really want to do and fashion is maybe quite limiting to this, but on our course they can still work with wearable things, but in a more communicative and flexible way[…]
Also, just one more on how this project – maybe not just the outcome, but the process of exploring and theoretical and visual exploration has really helped […] – Josie [Sarfo] – when they started, they were really unsure, unconfident and not making anything. But by the end of this, they have made so much good work, using so many processes, and made this outcome which is really ambitious and really good, and has built on a use of screenprinting using stencils, but making something that could be worked on a lot outside of the workshops because of booking constraints, but is completely evolved from working through a process which wouldn’t have happened in the previous unit that ran at the same time[…]”
I will analyse these findings during the Action Research Project presentation and Q&A, where I will also be wearing this t-shirt (created by me, using the some of the leftover making materials from the BRANDING and BOOTLEGGING workshop [a preparatory workshop held ahead of the catwalk showcase]):
(Does this t-shirt count as meta-data?)