Project Proposal - The paper bird.

Project Proposal – Project name –  T h e   P a p e r   B i r d.

The aim of this project will be to help the refugees and asylum seekers build and promote a community. It is a project that would suit all ages enabling everyone to participate, but I aim also for the project to raise awareness of the crisis and eliminate the negative stigmas that are associated by some in society towards refugees and asylum seekers. The project should be fun and joyful for all involved and together they will produce several pieces of work as a collective that hopefully will make them proud and solidify friendships.

 The final piece will revolve around the concept of the bird. The bird will symbolise freedom and the congregation of a community. The paper birds, once patterns are designed, printed and made, will hang in an instillation incorporating everyone’s bird. Patterns with two colours will all be decided by the participants so the bird can be distinct to the individual. However, colour choice may be slightly restricted due to the printing process of the birds, but colour swatches will be provided including a range of colours, so they can pick their favourite. In addition, the swatches will give them an idea of how the colours will look when printed. As well as the birds, there will be two-large scale screen prints that will involve drawings that the refugees have done in relation to a theme.

Each session will be dedicated to a specific task, each session is a hour long.

First session – Designing the patterns. Each person will be given two sheets of paper one for each side of the bird and several materials of their choice to draw with and create their patterns. The result session- they will have finished their designs, these will be scanned on digitally, transfer to printing screens and printed in the chosen colour in my time at college.

Second session – The bird patterns will have been printed and ready to fold. The younger members of the group may need more support with this but should be very easy to achieve in a session, maybe less. If the birds have been finished early, then I will set them the next task of writing a note of a dream or goal they should attach to their bird and attach to the instillation.

Third session – This will be the session when they do the drawings associated with the theme of their past to their aspiration. I will then edit them together digitally and print. Once printed I can bring it into you when finished.

For the short animation that I plan to make, it will be based around the birds and the individuals who made them. For this I would really like to speak to some of the participants and ask them about their stories and how they find living in the UK. The animation then will be passed onto you to apply to any websites or social media platforms you wish and I shall be posting it on a blog that I have to document the work for my degree.

 The college do have ethics guidelines that I will be following ensuring that the individuals involved will be treated with respect, dignity and complete confidentially if wished for. I will also address any policies and guidelines you have as an organisation. I will be meeting with tutors beforehand to ensure that the guidelines are being met and to gain ethical approval. As a result, aspects, may have to be adapted depending on the feedback given.

Any changes or ideas that you would like to add to this project are more than welcome as I would love for this project to be a collaboration between the participants, you and me. Especially when it comes to the design of the instillation.