#9 - Part II - Social Justice and Art: Black + White = Gray
Part II
Once the connection was made with a willing teacher for a collaboration my job was to institute a correspondence, which occurred months in advance of my departure for Finland. All that I knew about my prospective colleague was her name (Salla), and that her Google profile picture included a cartoon image of Batman slapping Robin. After my obligatory, introductory e-mail I moved into a detailed plan of what I could offer in the way of a lesson or unit if there was an interest to work together for a collaborative art project. I received a response from Salla that suggested that we could figure out the details when I arrived; I was told, “…it’s better to meet in person than to have e-mail conversations.” She’s right, I would much rather talk in person then try to hatch something out over an e-mail. I was, however, under some self-induced pressure to get the most out of this experience knowing that my time in Finland was limited, and that it wouldn’t be wasted on my prospective colleague and her students. There wasn’t a whole lot more I could do before I arrived in Finland, all I needed to do was get to the school and let it unfold.
With so much still to be determined, you can imagine how completely inadequate I felt when I had set out from my apartment for my second visit (of seven) to the school and missed my bus transfer, which inevitably would make me late. I sent Salla a frantic message apologetically explaining that I would not arrive on time and she responded ten minutes later with the message, “we don’t do stress here”. For all the anxiety I had in preparing for each of my visits to the schools and universities, I was repeatedly welcomed with a causal kindness that made my experiences enjoyable and meaningful. Looking back, I must have been a sight when I entered the building in a state of anxiety with sweat running down my forehead. EVERY building I entered while in Finland was warmer than the outside temperature by at least 50 degrees: schools, restaurants, museums, someone’s home, etc., So, after dressing in layers of clothes for the day and then walking extensively to my destination, I would enter a building and begin sweating almost immediately until my body temperature could adjust to room temperature. Pleasant, I know…but I suspect this explains why Finns like saunas.
Salla left it completely up to me on how our collaborative unit would be introduced. When the time came for me to introduce the unit, I did so by sharing examples of the work that was created from my own students before I departed for Finland. I also shared images from contemporary artists who explore social issues in their own work (see "Prelude" post). Salla stopped me only a few times when she felt like my descriptions needed a Finnish interpretation.
Once the connection was made with a willing teacher for a collaboration my job was to institute a correspondence, which occurred months in advance of my departure for Finland. All that I knew about my prospective colleague was her name (Salla), and that her Google profile picture included a cartoon image of Batman slapping Robin. After my obligatory, introductory e-mail I moved into a detailed plan of what I could offer in the way of a lesson or unit if there was an interest to work together for a collaborative art project. I received a response from Salla that suggested that we could figure out the details when I arrived; I was told, “…it’s better to meet in person than to have e-mail conversations.” She’s right, I would much rather talk in person then try to hatch something out over an e-mail. I was, however, under some self-induced pressure to get the most out of this experience knowing that my time in Finland was limited, and that it wouldn’t be wasted on my prospective colleague and her students. There wasn’t a whole lot more I could do before I arrived in Finland, all I needed to do was get to the school and let it unfold.
With so much still to be determined, you can imagine how completely inadequate I felt when I had set out from my apartment for my second visit (of seven) to the school and missed my bus transfer, which inevitably would make me late. I sent Salla a frantic message apologetically explaining that I would not arrive on time and she responded ten minutes later with the message, “we don’t do stress here”. For all the anxiety I had in preparing for each of my visits to the schools and universities, I was repeatedly welcomed with a causal kindness that made my experiences enjoyable and meaningful. Looking back, I must have been a sight when I entered the building in a state of anxiety with sweat running down my forehead. EVERY building I entered while in Finland was warmer than the outside temperature by at least 50 degrees: schools, restaurants, museums, someone’s home, etc., So, after dressing in layers of clothes for the day and then walking extensively to my destination, I would enter a building and begin sweating almost immediately until my body temperature could adjust to room temperature. Pleasant, I know…but I suspect this explains why Finns like saunas.
Salla left it completely up to me on how our collaborative unit would be introduced. When the time came for me to introduce the unit, I did so by sharing examples of the work that was created from my own students before I departed for Finland. I also shared images from contemporary artists who explore social issues in their own work (see "Prelude" post). Salla stopped me only a few times when she felt like my descriptions needed a Finnish interpretation.
After my introduction we had a healthy 15-20 minute open discussion in which the students expressed their ideas and thoughts on particular social issues that were relevant to their lives. The issues that were discussed included:
* Social Status – “being popular”
* Immigration - “foreigners taking the jobs of local people” (Turks and Arabs were mentioned)
* Terrorism (Arabs)
* Violence or “fear of the unknown” (Russia, “Predators”),
* Race “people of color”, and Age Discrimination. We talked to the students about why we have these perceptions and how they can impact the “other” person.
Based on this conversation, a list was generated on the board by Salla:
* Assumptions
* Stereotypes
* News
* Ideas
* Stories
* “Not Allowed”, “Restricted”
*As an interesting side note, several of these topics also surfaced when I spoke to an older group of students in the “Culture” course at the same school (see post #5 ). I would like to stress however, that these topics should not be taken out of context and used to generalize how Finns as a whole classify or regard certain groups of people.
While I was incredibly happy with how the class discussions unfolded I was uncertain as to how this would translate as an art-making project. We had a weekend to decide how this would happen and honestly, it was at this point that I was starting to think the project would not work. I did not think it was my place to suggest what materials should be used nor did I know where the students were in regards to skill-level. There was no time for Salla and myself to sit down and hash out our ideas so I waited out the weekend to hear whether she was interested in moving forward or perhaps move on to a different project altogether.
On Sunday evening I received an e-mail from Salla who thought the project would work best with her students as a stop-motion video, which was a bit of a concern as I had no experience in this medium. Salla, on the other hand, does teach stop-motion animation just not necessarily in the context that we were trying to approach it.
Salla suggested that the students would be best served if they worked in groups (of their choosing), created a storyboard, and then converted their ideas using (construction paper cut-out) to a stop-motion video. Not having experience in this area, I was looking forward to seeing this medium taught by an experienced art teacher.
After seven classes together, the two of us had conversations with the students to help them develop their ideas, think symbolically, and guide them through the storyboard process. Unfortunately, I was unable to see this process unfold to its completion. By the time I left the students had developed their storyboards and were working diligently on converting these stories through construction paper and colored pencils. Before I departed, I wrote down a general synopsis of each of the group’s topics:
* Social Status – “being popular”
* Immigration - “foreigners taking the jobs of local people” (Turks and Arabs were mentioned)
* Terrorism (Arabs)
* Violence or “fear of the unknown” (Russia, “Predators”),
* Race “people of color”, and Age Discrimination. We talked to the students about why we have these perceptions and how they can impact the “other” person.
Based on this conversation, a list was generated on the board by Salla:
* Assumptions
* Stereotypes
* News
* Ideas
* Stories
* “Not Allowed”, “Restricted”
*As an interesting side note, several of these topics also surfaced when I spoke to an older group of students in the “Culture” course at the same school (see post #5 ). I would like to stress however, that these topics should not be taken out of context and used to generalize how Finns as a whole classify or regard certain groups of people.
While I was incredibly happy with how the class discussions unfolded I was uncertain as to how this would translate as an art-making project. We had a weekend to decide how this would happen and honestly, it was at this point that I was starting to think the project would not work. I did not think it was my place to suggest what materials should be used nor did I know where the students were in regards to skill-level. There was no time for Salla and myself to sit down and hash out our ideas so I waited out the weekend to hear whether she was interested in moving forward or perhaps move on to a different project altogether.
On Sunday evening I received an e-mail from Salla who thought the project would work best with her students as a stop-motion video, which was a bit of a concern as I had no experience in this medium. Salla, on the other hand, does teach stop-motion animation just not necessarily in the context that we were trying to approach it.
Salla suggested that the students would be best served if they worked in groups (of their choosing), created a storyboard, and then converted their ideas using (construction paper cut-out) to a stop-motion video. Not having experience in this area, I was looking forward to seeing this medium taught by an experienced art teacher.
After seven classes together, the two of us had conversations with the students to help them develop their ideas, think symbolically, and guide them through the storyboard process. Unfortunately, I was unable to see this process unfold to its completion. By the time I left the students had developed their storyboards and were working diligently on converting these stories through construction paper and colored pencils. Before I departed, I wrote down a general synopsis of each of the group’s topics:
* One group of girls choose to symbolically use different colored eggs to depict how things may look different on the outside but that “we are all the same on the inside”. A brown and white egg were used to illustrate this and then cracked during the story to show how eggs are the same on the inside. At the end of the video the eggs are eaten by a dog.
* Another group of girls created a storyline that tackled the issue of social status. In this piece they illustrated several school girls wearing “popular” clothing and hanging together as a group. One girl, however, was depicted differently by wearing glasses, different clothes, different hair style, and was set apart from the “popular” crowd. In the end, the “odd” one left out was found to be the most interesting by the “cute” and “popular” guy.
* The final group of girls chose to illustrate several turtles playing outside that were making fun of another turtle. This turtle did not have a shell, and instead wore a sweater to cover up its body. The story transitions to another scene (the turtle’s home) where we see the turtle talking to his younger sister who he gave his shell to because she had “shell cancer”. When I asked about how they came to his idea, one of the girls explained that she had a family member who had cancer. The thoughtfulness of this story really took me by surprise.
* A group of boys chose to tackle assumptions that are made towards different cultural groups. In their story, an Arab man is selling avocados and as a man approaches he assumes the avocado is a grenade, making a further assumption that he is a terrorist.
* Finally, there was another group of boys who were unsatisfied with how their story was developing. It included a group of boys playing ice hockey (hey, it’s Finland!) whose game was interrupted when a boy of color came to join in the game.
Salla agreed to pass the videos along to me when they were completed, and three weeks later they arrived in my inbox. Check them out below! As a point of reference, students had class three times a week for 75 minute periods. Seeing these videos brought a tremendous amount of relief and excitement. Simply put, the collaboration worked, and I have much to be thankful for:
* Students - they were incredibly receptive to letting a stranger come into their school/classroom and were wonderful in their attentiveness and ability to reach within themselves. Although they all understood and spoke english, hearing it consistently from and American teacher in front of their classroom can be challenging and yet they were nothing more than polite and respectful.
* Salla - An incredible educator to take a chance and let me work with her throughout this experience. I am grateful for her knowledge, willingness and flexibility to make this project happen...because she too saw the benefits of getting her students to THINK. Thank you Salla!
* Another group of girls created a storyline that tackled the issue of social status. In this piece they illustrated several school girls wearing “popular” clothing and hanging together as a group. One girl, however, was depicted differently by wearing glasses, different clothes, different hair style, and was set apart from the “popular” crowd. In the end, the “odd” one left out was found to be the most interesting by the “cute” and “popular” guy.
* The final group of girls chose to illustrate several turtles playing outside that were making fun of another turtle. This turtle did not have a shell, and instead wore a sweater to cover up its body. The story transitions to another scene (the turtle’s home) where we see the turtle talking to his younger sister who he gave his shell to because she had “shell cancer”. When I asked about how they came to his idea, one of the girls explained that she had a family member who had cancer. The thoughtfulness of this story really took me by surprise.
* A group of boys chose to tackle assumptions that are made towards different cultural groups. In their story, an Arab man is selling avocados and as a man approaches he assumes the avocado is a grenade, making a further assumption that he is a terrorist.
* Finally, there was another group of boys who were unsatisfied with how their story was developing. It included a group of boys playing ice hockey (hey, it’s Finland!) whose game was interrupted when a boy of color came to join in the game.
Salla agreed to pass the videos along to me when they were completed, and three weeks later they arrived in my inbox. Check them out below! As a point of reference, students had class three times a week for 75 minute periods. Seeing these videos brought a tremendous amount of relief and excitement. Simply put, the collaboration worked, and I have much to be thankful for:
* Students - they were incredibly receptive to letting a stranger come into their school/classroom and were wonderful in their attentiveness and ability to reach within themselves. Although they all understood and spoke english, hearing it consistently from and American teacher in front of their classroom can be challenging and yet they were nothing more than polite and respectful.
* Salla - An incredible educator to take a chance and let me work with her throughout this experience. I am grateful for her knowledge, willingness and flexibility to make this project happen...because she too saw the benefits of getting her students to THINK. Thank you Salla!
Click the videos to play the student examples.
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