UTOPIA
Creative workshops in schools + exhibition of new worksImage credit: Utopia Exhibition, 2024. Photographer: Samantha Barahona.
Utopia was a series of art-making workshops aimed at exploring ideas of peace and wellbeing in our society through the eyes of young people that ran in 2024.
The project used the Cultural Wellbeing Framework, designed by academic Karin Louise, as a guide to initiate conversations about peace and wellbeing.
Students from Liverpool Boys and Liverpool Girls high schools were supported to create their own artwork on peace and wellbeing in a series of co-designed workshops led by Emmanuel Asante. As a young Australian Ghanaian artist, Emmanuel wants to challenge the emergence of a divisive political and social rhetoric that pervades much of our lives through social media. Instead, he wants to inspire future leaders to reimagine a more peaceful future through the medium of art making.
Young people engaged in conversations around creative practice, how art influences our cultural well-being, and how all of these relate to issues of global wellbeing. Emmanuel Asante also created his own works based on peace and well-being. Bankstown Arts Centre hosted a 6-week long exhibition from March 8 to April 27, 2024.
CREDITS
WSU Program Partner: Dr Karin Louise
CuriousWorks Creative Producer: Samantha Barahona, assisted by Andrea Nealy
This project was led by Emmanuel Asante who worked with students from Liverpool Boys and Liverpool Girls High Schools. It was funded by Western Sydney University and produced by CuriousWorks. The Utopia exhibition was presented by Bankstown Arts Centre.
The project used the Cultural Wellbeing Framework, designed by academic Karin Louise, as a guide to initiate conversations about peace and wellbeing.
Students from Liverpool Boys and Liverpool Girls high schools were supported to create their own artwork on peace and wellbeing in a series of co-designed workshops led by Emmanuel Asante. As a young Australian Ghanaian artist, Emmanuel wants to challenge the emergence of a divisive political and social rhetoric that pervades much of our lives through social media. Instead, he wants to inspire future leaders to reimagine a more peaceful future through the medium of art making.
Young people engaged in conversations around creative practice, how art influences our cultural well-being, and how all of these relate to issues of global wellbeing. Emmanuel Asante also created his own works based on peace and well-being. Bankstown Arts Centre hosted a 6-week long exhibition from March 8 to April 27, 2024.
CREDITS
WSU Program Partner: Dr Karin Louise
CuriousWorks Creative Producer: Samantha Barahona, assisted by Andrea Nealy
This project was led by Emmanuel Asante who worked with students from Liverpool Boys and Liverpool Girls High Schools. It was funded by Western Sydney University and produced by CuriousWorks. The Utopia exhibition was presented by Bankstown Arts Centre.