Imagining Peace through Digital Collage Art

2nd August 2021

Author

Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP) and Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia organised an online workshop on the use of digital collage art for storytelling. The workshop was held in 3 days taken place in July 2021 using Zoom. It was attended by 35 young people (between 13-21 years) who are affiliated with 4 non-profit organisations (Yayasan Bina Matahari Bangsa, Wahana Visi Indonesia, Red Nose Foundation, Yayasan Bandungwangi) and 3 Children’s Forum (Forum Anak Budi Mulia, Cibesut, Cibesel) based in Jakarta. In addition to that, the sessions were attended by MAP Indonesia team and social workers from Child Protection Agency (LPA) Jakarta. The digital collage art workshop was facilitated by Vina Puspita (PhD student) and Nilla S.D. Iustitiani (MAP Indonesia team).

The digital collage art workshop (also called “Kolase Bercerita”) sought to introduce collage art for creative and imaginative storytelling. Collage art as a visual art form relies on the technique of cut out and paste, composing different forms of shapes and images, thus creating a new whole. This technique is someway liberating as the process of making a collage is fluid, without predetermined result, and doesn’t require any trained art skills (i.e. drawing skill). Moreover, playing with image deconstruction and deformation stimulates the mind in connecting ideas and coming up with meanings. Collage art is, therefore, seen as a potential art form that could foster young people’s creativity while at the same time gives them a space for telling stories and building critical thoughts.

The workshop is part of a series of art skills workshops that MAP Indonesia young people identified as interest. The others are theatre, film, and music. It was preluded by photovoice (taking and sharing stories) during MAP Indonesia baseline study and photo collage sessions with the young people. These activities were very welcomed in that young people took pictures of areas (e.g. street corners, alley) and icons (e.g. signs, trees, money) from which they could share meanings for them, history of places, or their dreams. The ‘raw’ pictures were starters in the Kolase Bercerita workshop; materials for the young people to start their digital collage making.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the workshop was held online. Participants created their collage art digitally, using an image editing application. As most of the participants joined the workshop using their mobile phones, a mobile-friendly editing application (app) “PicsArt” was used as the tool to create digital collage art. PicsArt is a free photo editing app that offers tools to cut out, add photos, text, graphics and stickers. The app functions almost similarly with the manual collage art making, although the experience of materiality is rather different. A few days before the workshop started, facilitators provided some video tutorials to introduce PicsArt to the participants. Participants could take time to familiarise them self with the app’s editing tools and how to operate it. Additionally, participants had small exercises, which we called as ‘missions’, to practice in between the workshop days. A variety of platforms were also utilised during the workshop to enable engagement between participants and participants-facilitators, synchronously and asynchronously. While the uploaded tutorial video was published on You tube, during the course of the workshop missions were running in Padlet and WhatsApp; they were used as artwork drop-off spaces for sharing, seeking feedback, comments, and appreciation.

On the first day, participants were introduced to collage art and PicsArt app, followed by a short exercise using PicsArt on their mobile phones. On the second day, the sessions focused on the use of collage art for storytelling and advocacy. Participants created a collage about an issue that he/she or their community would like to raise. In the process of collage-making, young people were invited to use their own photo that depicts their community or neighbourhood, then to think what they would like to cut out or add to make it a better place. They could add other photos to combine with, or add any available stickers or graphics to the image that supports their ideas. Towards the end of the day, some of them showed their collage progress and shared their stories to the group. The topics arose were ranging from issues of mental health, family, education, environment, not to mention the struggles during COVID-19.

On the last day, participants discussed some possibilities to collaborate and they suggested working together on three main issues of concern to most (stories ‘about me’, ‘about my environment’, and ‘about my hope’). Following that, the participants were divided into 3 breakout rooms to continue their discussions on the collaborative collage-making. Young people and facilitators then explored options to present their collage artworks to wider audience and especially, policy makers. They decided to showcase their collage artworks via Instagram and a virtual exhibition on Kunstmatrix. MAP Indonesia with the support of LPA aim to facilitate young people to present their voices though collage art they have created in an audience with local policymakers and child protection activists in Jakarta.

Learning to use an editing app (PicsArt) that is mobile phone-friendly to create a collage was one of the experiences that participants liked the most. According to them, they gained new knowledge in operating the app. While some have already been using PicsArt for editing their selfie photos, the majority was excited about the possibility to develop collage image for social message. In addition to that, the new editing skill gained from the workshop aspires them to learn/ practice more, as a participant stated below:

Moreover, the process of creating a collage invited them to think and talk about their feelings, including sensitive topics that are usually not shared openly with others. Beyond that, their engagement in the workshop strengthen their sense of place to where they live, as stated by a participant:

Finally, the workshop allowed participants to meet young people from other organisations. While the limitation of physical interaction due to the online mode of workshop was also addressed by young people, the workshop still gave them opportunities to build connections, share stories and learn from each other, as one of the participants stated:

“I am excited to meet new friends from other organisations. I think other participants’ creations are very inspiring. I then learned that everyone has their own struggles and dreams. I feel not so alone.”