My Rootz, You Picture It (Mijn Rootz, Jouw Beeld), is an artistic dive into cultural diversity
I developed this project in collaboration with Betty Zieltjens (2009/2010) and carried it out in close cooperation with COS Overijssel at two locations, ROC Deltion Zwolle and ROC van Twente. All fields of study were involved, from design to care, drama to photography, horeca management to stage design and from sound to lighting technicians. Our project was nominated for the Pluriform Prize in 2011.
Concept: Tinkering with how newcomers are perceived. An impression of another is quickly made however what if you dive deeper into the individual stories, can you still make easy judgments? The students who participated in this project represent the generation that must find ways to deal with the issues of multicultural diversity in society. My Rootz, You Picture It- was a penetrating experience in the field of personal perceptions and a positive cornerstone for the future. Students engaged in various art expressions including: Visual Arts, Theatre, and Music.
The practice: Deltion Students from the Art, Media and Design programs started delving into the personal story of an unknown other. They started to unravel the story of someone who had once decided to leave his roots (rootz)behind and start a whole new adventure in Overijssel, NL. The project started Wednesday, Oct. 13, on the Deltion College campus with an introductory Master Class.
Storytellers + artists. Five storytellers from: Congo, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Turkey and Iran shared their life stories/Roots to Deltion students. With the help of experienced artists in the disciplines: rap & spoken, mime/small art, painting, performance and photography, the students then unraveled the story step by step. The students turned this into an art expression in four sessions.
The final presentation The result was a series of artworks and performances, in which two lives converged; that of the storyteller and that of the creator of the artwork. The art expressions were presented by the students to the storytellers and the audience during a festive final presentation. This presentation took place Dec. 3 on the Deltion College campus.
This video is a final presentation of the project, made by the students of ROC Twente. The Rapsong you hear was created by students for the project under the direction of Glenn De Randamie (Typhoon) and Ali Reza Tahoeni (A.R.T.). Upgraders was a parallel program of the C.O.S. (also partner in the Rootz project)
Presentation by ROC Deltion. The rap, "Chickens, Horses, Cows," was created by Glenn de Randamie and Ali Reza Tahoeni along with the students as one of the workshops that were given. Other teachers who gave the workshop were: Hirhi Goulid (mime), Tali Farchi (presenting), Betty Zieltjens (photography) and me (painting). The storytellers Dian Paramita (Indonesia), Cengiz Iskili (Turkey), Henri Luzolo (Congo) and Anas Arieari (Afganistan) played a major role in the project, with their stories they laid the foundation for the students' artworks and expressions and took them into a world that was unknown to many of the students.