RecWorks Ltd organised an Unconference this November, a participant-driven meeting that allows developers to come together for a full day of discussions, sharing experiences, learning and spending time with our peers in the industry. I created these mini online flyers for the event.
I'm very happy to reveal that from the 9th December, my graphic novel A Journey to Motherhood will be published as a series on the Graphic Medicine blog. You will be able to discover a new chapter every two weeks on Mondays: https://www.graphicmedicine.org/
A Journey to Motherhood is an autobiographical comic book diary depicting with humour (but not without cynicism) the fun and less fun bits of maternity, from pregnancy to toddler years. Written and illustrated by Camille Aubry, the graphic novel was twice long listed for the Laydeez do Comics Prize in 2018 and 2019. A black & white limited long extract (32 pages) was launched at the ELCAF festival this year. It was exhibited at the Representing Realness show in London this summer and sits on the bookshelf of the Homerton Hospital NHS Library. Now sold-out, Graphic Medicine and Camille Aubry have announced that they will reveal A Journey to Motherhood in its entirety, 66 pages in colour, through a blog series with a chapter published every fortnight from ??
Following a bi-national French-British family living in East London, A Journey to Motherhood shines a light on a particularly tricky part of adulthood in a post-referendum UK. It makes testimony to all the aspects of society that one witnesses when becoming a parent such as maternity, childcare, working parents, health, finance and education. It is a rebellion against the “how-to” parenting guide and the injunction to be a perfect mother. Unapologetically cynical and honest, A Journey to Motherhood shows what a terrifying as well as eye opening experience parenthood can be, whilst denouncing the hypocrisy of western societies that continuously penalise young families and the people who are, in essence, our future: children.
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure to sit down with Lauren Boxall, Kirsty MacLeod and Ella, three students from the UWE Graphic Design course. They are currently working on a second-year project exploring Bristol’s creatives. The outcome from this project will be shared on the ‘Out There’ website (http://disquisition.co.uk/out-there/), a collection of interviews with creatives. They created this lovely publication inspired from our talk. The future of Bristol creativity is in safe hands!!
Scribing for the Health Digital Platforms conference at the School of Business, University of Sussex and Brighton
Growing up I used to be told off by my teachers for doodling in my exercise books instead of writing. Today it is my job: I am a professional sketchnoter, or scribe. I document events, conferences, concerts, meetings, presentations and pitches with live drawings, either by hand or digitally.
What was once denigrated and considered as childish is now being recognised as a powerful communication tool. Better yet, it is trendy. The biggest corporations are now using scribes to record their meetings, conferences and seminars with live drawings. Fashion brands commission them to animate their shows and retail events. Beyond the trend, the scribing input gives various events organisers a unique way to engage and collaborate with their audience as well as giving them a powerful visual memory of their event that highlight key thoughts and ideas.
What make a good scribe aren’t necessarily their drawing skills, but rather their ability to listen and synthesise visually, their wit, humour and empathy being essential assets. When scribing I draw spontaneously, taking inspiration directly from what is being said or done, thus offering an enhanced live experience to participants. The visuals created during the event can be projected or posted on social media channels as they are produced, but also finessed afterwards to create communication materials.
I have always been a scribe. At school it was the only way for me to focus and to process what I was being told, which makes the fact that I was being told off about it a bit ironic. Now I am wondering… if the stigma is progressively being removed from doodling, could we teach this skill at school? Some people, a lot of us actually, learn better with images and through them feel more connected to what we live. Can scribing promote equality and diversity during the process of learning? These are just some food for thoughts, but one thing is clear: doodling is definitely the way forward.
This month I was extremely lucky to be invited by the Knowle West Media Centre to take part in two workshop focusing on AI. With ‘Guess Who?’, an initiative led by Ellie Foreman and Rachel Smith, I learned more about facial recognition systems and their limitations, especially when it comes to diversity. With ‘Becoming an AI activist’, a workshop led by artists and creative technologists Coral Manton and Birgitte Aga, I discovered more about how conversational AI could be used for protest. Visual representations of AI are often blue and masculine. Chat bots often use women voices, yet the conversations are mainly created by men. If our bodies and voices are being used, how can women reclaim AI? Find out more about this amazing project here.
I have been working on the graphic novel A Journey to Motherhood on and off for a few years now, and self-published a long extract for the ELCAF festival in June. I am now half-way through the project and exploring how I can get it out to the public. You can read a review of the extract here.
This year for the #Inktober challenge I decided to post one comic strip or illustration on the subject of periods per day. There was (a tiny bit of) science, fun facts and hard truths. I chose this topic because periods are still stigmatised in our societies. It was also an opportunity for me to share work from amazing artists, activists and organisations whose work I admire.
Why Periods?
What is it actually
On period poverty
Conversations about period must be inclusive.
On free bleeding
On period positivity and power
On stigmatisation
It’s fine to say the word ‘period’.
On PMS
About endometriosis
About the menopause
A personal period story…
Here are the artists, activists and organisations that inspired most of these comic strips:
Just because the #Inktober challenge ended on Halloween…
