Visiting Research Fellow, Edina Husanovic, reports on the latest workshop for the Drawing Migrations project which took place on the 19 November 2021.

 

I’m currently working on the preliminary stages of a research project titled ‘Migration and Drawing’, which aims to investigate the benefits of drawing for the residents of Brighton who have been strongly impacted by their experience of migration.

My art practice has often involved working collaboratively to explore the themes of identity and belonging, and ‘Migration and Drawing’ builds on my previous PhD practice-as-research that employed collaborative drawing and participatory re-mapping of the relationships between the “Coloniser/Researcher” and the “Colonised/ Other”.

Recently, I had a pleasure of leading a workshop at the university which invited students and staff to explore how drawing in collaboration with others can open up new insights into emotionally significant journeys, such as leaving home or arriving in a completely new environment. This was particularly significant as the most of participants were MA students from China, who have recently come to UK and Brighton, who commented: ’I think I have the answer of where is home of migrants or any of us is. It’s just a kind of feeling.’ ‘I thought more about home and calmed down when drawing. Sense of belonging and the route.’ ‘The beautiful things I meet are on the way.’

We started by using dynamic and unusual ways of drawing to focus attention both inwards, to reflect on our unique journeys, and outwards, to work together with a partner and the group. They reflected:

‘I enjoyed closing of the eyes and using the left hand. Turning inwards and trying to imagine one’s journey was really interesting. It wasn’t about the skill or representation but the journey.’    ‘This way of drawing is amazing, like releasing my emotion and all of my pressures’  ‘It made me feel really relaxed and forget all drawing rules. Just thinking and drawing free’.

 

In the second part of the workshop we went outside to trace drawing patterns with our footsteps, in meditative and exploratory ways. The participants commented: ‘I enjoyed the last part a lot which gives us real experience as migrants walking towards unknown places. Migration map offers us step to somewhere we might feel safe but steps are hard to move onto, and the workshop gave us right experience to feel that pressure behind the steps we need to move’.

You can see videos here and here, and read more about the project on the Drawing Migrations blog: https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/drawingmigration/2021/11/25/drawing-migrations-session-19-11-21/

– Edina Husanovic

Print Friendly, PDF & Email