Decolonisation

A co-creativity project in the workplace

I was delighted to be invited to Birmingham Business School recently, to assist with a co-creativity project conceived as part of a wider set of initiatives around decolonisation.

The remit was to bring together academics, professional services and students over the course of 2 days to work collectively on the creation of a large-scale piece of artwork that would ultimately be displayed in a prominent position within the school. The piece needed to be made in a collaborative way, and reflect the context, the ongoing challenges and conversations around decolonisation.

The wider initiative had been started some time ago and a significant amount of information was already available. This was used to suggest a relevant colour palette, but in terms of content and design it was very much a piece which needed to evolve and take shape over the 2 days.

Day 1 was organised as a drop-in printmaking workshop so that those with only 30 mins to spare could find a window of opportunity to take part in the initiative. Many participants stayed for longer and after a brief demonstration really engaged with finding a way to contribute a personal story or make their individual contribution to the piece. By the end of Day 1 we had over 150 prints to review. These were grouped by colour, tone and type of content ready for the start of Day 2.

Day 2 began with a small group brainstorming session with representatives from different groups participating in the project. This resulted in an outline plan for the composition of the 1m x 1m panel and notes on the key ideas and themes that we hoped to convey within different areas of the design. It was a busy day with different participants attending one-hour sessions throughout the day. Establishing this early vision and having some project members providing some continuity really helped and by the end of the day we reached a conclusion that the team were very pleased with.

The finished piece was unveiled at a School Assembly the following week. Individual contributors were delighted to identify their prints as part of the whole, and really felt that the piece successfully communicated the context and the vision for decolonisation.