Yingsi is a BA Illustration tutee who has been a concern from the start. Her first project was particularly unexciting however ungraded, so she successfully passed by achieving a D standard. She focused on hackers as she related to them as outsiders, reportedly being an outsider herself. She made some interesting points on her padlet but did little research to back it up. However, the project illustrated her openness to talk about darker characters.
Unit 2 was more problematic, there was little work and a written account of her spiralling mental health. Her padlet became a countdown of distress, detailing her struggle to get anything done. The main task was a 1500 word essay about an editorial illustration. Students assessed an image’s communication using a framework based on Gillian Rose’s ‘Visual Methodologies’ 1. Yingsi’s was about mental health and she deemed it strongly unsuccessful. Her point however was more about the over subscription of mental health in a wider context. Arguing mental health is being marketed in an unnuanced way wherein all levels are treated as equal. The concern myself and my year leader (Joh) had, is that this theme had made her clearly unhappy and unable to complete enough work to pass.
Joh and I then stepped in. Unit 3 had begun and she was focussing on Lam Kor-Wan (a serial killer who kept his victims’ sexual organs in Tupperware in his home). We met her and discussed the mental health support that is available as she is clearly struggling. Unfortunately, she made it clear she has had unsuccessful support in the past and no faith in the process. She mentioned she draws as a cathartic process so I suggested art therapy and surprisingly she sounded quite interested.
We weren’t able to tell her she hadn’t passed but were essentially preparing her for it. When she asked if she’d failed, I replied, ‘There are definitely some things missing’. Which in hindsight left too little to the imagination. Joh then voiced her concerns over her unit 3 being as distressing as unit 2. To which she replied, ‘Don’t worry I’m not going to go out and kill anyone’. Although said in jest I can imagine she probably thought that’s what we were worried about.
In a later group tutorial, she explained how she related to the murderer comparing how he kept body parts to her obsessive life drawing. She believes she is collecting in the same obsessive way, but through less gruesome means. Although definitely morbid, I did quite like this idea and most importantly, she was excited about doing the work.
So, in conclusion I learnt it’s not our place to decide what themes work best for students. What’s more important is showing support without imposing control. Just because a student’s project is morbid doesn’t necessarily mean its harmful to the student. Part of creating a ‘safe space’ means allowing students to express themselves however they like. And if there is any truth in post-traumatic growth 2 even breakdowns have their value.
Bibliography:
1: Rose, G. (2016). Visual methodologies : an introduction to researching with visual materials. Los Angeles Etc.: Sage.
2: Kaufman, S.B. (2020). Post-Traumatic Growth: Finding Meaning and Creativity in Adversity. [online] Scientific American Blog Network. Available at: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/post-traumatic-growth-finding-meaning-and-creativity-in-adversity/.