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  • Immagine del redattoreSundarii

Teaching

Aggiornamento: 7 mag 2018

Two teaching exercises have influenced particularly the making of my film in terms of methodology, theory and focus.

Firstly, on the first lecture, we were asked to walk around the classroom and explore objects from different positions. Subsequently, we chose a spot in the classroom to lay down, closed our eyes and thought back to the past month of our lives. It was in the very memory of those events that answered my question of what topic should I treat in my film. The imaginative and reminiscent journey accompanied by the evocative words of our professor were definitive in my choice: it was there and then that I was sure: I would make a film about survival. Subsequently, we walked around campus for about 20 minutes, in order to help us find an object, person or thing that would inspire us to choose our film topic. It was a sunny day and for the whole time I looked at the sky that is for me a source of joy and serenity. Finally, back in the classroom we drew on a big paper our recent journey around campus and the object we had chosen as the main subject for our film. I drew the darkness coming up from the ground, back and purple with colour pastels and charks. This represented my childhood and most of my life. Then, on the opposite top of the page, I drew a huge sun, yellow at the core but then expanding to every color as I drew it bigger and bigger. The final project was a huge sun that over shone the darkness at the bottom. The two were not completely separated but rather were mingling together when they met. Nevertheless the sun winning over the dark, which stayed marginal at bottom of the page. The drawing represented the light that had recently come to my life, defyting the darkness that previously overwhelmed me completely. The sun not only represented an actual sun, the good, the happiness but also myself. I am the sun of my life, as I defeated much darkness and saved myself from the abyss of depression and pain. Hence, I became the subject of my film. Finally, as I used coloured chalks, when holding the drawing from the ground to show the class, the remaining of the chalk fell down to a second paper that I put underneath my original drawing, hence creating a second art work in the form of a coloured raimbow line. I did not do it on purpose, but for me this represented the unexpected and positive influences that my film could have on others.

Secondly, I was influenced by the teaching method on lecture 3, when we all sat down in couples at the opposite ends of a series of tables. Each table had a poster which depicted a theoretical perspective or topic. Person 1, would talk about their project ideas to person 2, who in turn would give advice. Person two was compared to a therapist as they had to help person 1 to frame their project within the anthropological theory that they were holding on the post. As well as giving feedback and general tips on the film. Subsequently, the therapists would rotate to the next patient. In this way, everyone would get different feedback and all theoretical perspectives were explored for each patient. This has influenced my project focus, theory and method very deeply, as I decided to be my own therapist: by making a film about what makes me happy I got to rediscover my very favorite things (dancing, singing, eating, going to the beach). Hence, the movie itself has served as a therapy to my life, also because it allowed me to open up about my past as well as to develop new technological editing and recording skills. The ability to see university work and personal growth as concomitant as well as being able to consider an academic assessment as a therapy was only possible thanks to this very exercises and the general structure of the course: innovative, interdisciplinary as it combined art, theatrical and I believe psychoanalytical modes of work (i.e. patient/ therapist talks )and open to new ways of thinking and creating anthropology. The visual representations of my thoughts and ideas has been deeply stimulating and helpful to both think about and develop my project in artistic terms. As well as making the coursework more fun and pleasant. It is indeed not exaggerating to say that this course has been a therapy for me and a breath of fresh air as I got to experience a new kind of academia: one that goes beyond its pre-established, boring and colonial limits and dares to explore art, self-reflexivity, self-growth and therapy as a way to discover ourselves and our world in a much more true, deep and useful way; one that is not binded to getting good grades but rather to become better and happier people.


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The start

Even though I had no idea of what I was going to do the film about when I entered the classroom last week, I did as I left it. The idea hit me in the middle of the class. During our first seminar our

Keep going

After taking a break from filming and focusing on my wellbeing more, I feel more calm and equilibrated. I am learning to manage depression thanks to my favourite therapist, Jayne, who is so beautiful,

Challenges

In the past month I have been working towards a project where I am both the subject and film director. It is hard. It is hard to schedule my times within a very busy week. It is hard to both record t

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