Animation, Arrivants & Activism: Joan Ashworth, Lee Shearman and Emily Haworth-Booth by Royal Drawing School published on 2020-06-18T13:10:56Z Please note that the animations referenced in this talk have been removed. The Royal Drawing School’s new virtual series exploring the theme of Artists in Isolation, past, present and future curated by Dr Claudia Tobin. The series features artists, curators, writers and museum directors in discussion every Wednesday throughout the Summer Term. Joan Ashworth, Lee Shearman and Emily Haworth-Booth discuss their different approaches to art and animation, activism and the role of drawing. Joan Ashworth and Lee Shearman Joan Ashworth and Lee Shearman will unfold their contribution to Stories in Transit, Marina Warner’s project working with refugees or 'arrivants' in Palermo, Sicily that uses storytelling and narrative games to exercise the imagination of the participants. The project continues slowly, at a distance, after the most recent visit in February 2020. Joan and Lee have worked with one of the stories, as told by Saifoudiny Diallo (Dine) -one of the young arrivants from Guinea. After an oral telling of the story, participants in the workshop made drawings in response to the narrative, which were then translated into articulated silhouette and translucent paper cut-out figures. Using this artwork as material for animation, participants filmed sequences using a variety of direct techniques. Joan and Lee will discuss the processes involved in creating the emerging film, screen clips, and reflect on the impact of the workshops on the participants and on future plans. Emily Haworth-Booth Emily will discuss her recent book projects and their common themes of political allegory, ecology and activism. Her 2018 children’s picture book, The King Who Banned The Dark, may be read as a cautionary tale about tyranny, fascism, and human attempts to control nature. The Last Tree, published this year, examines similar themes and considers how disconnection from nature leads to disconnected communities. Emily will refer to her own experience as an activist, how she uses activism as a plot point in her stories and how telling and drawing stories can be a kind of activism in itself. She will also show some images from from her graphic-novel-in-progress ‘Is it Still Raining? I Hadn’t Noticed,’ which explores climate anxiety and action. https://www.royaldrawingschool.org/lectures-events/animation-arrivants-activism-joan-ashworth-lee-shearman-and-emily-haworth-booth/
