Recently my Foundations classes watched and discussed Persepolis, the 2007 animated film based on Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novels of the same name. We compared the film to the graphic novel, in which Satrapi translates the important events of her life into a series of narrative images. Many of us concluded that the drawings in Persepolis often communicate ideas about what was going on in Iran at the time more effectively than the translated idioms.
Now we're doing a project called Found in Translation.
In this project you will consider an important event in your life and translate it into a work of art. You are encouraged to use some of the techniques we have practiced in this class to compose your project. To brainstorm, you are encouraged to use mind-mapping (like we used in the Fused Interest Project). To research, try analyzing works of art, music, or literature that are related to your idea (like we did in the Place a Jar Project). To execute your project with superior craftsmanship, use the standards we established in the perfection project.
Part of the restraint in the project will be to share your idea without narrating during the critique.I hope this TED lecture by Chimamanda Adichie adds another layer of interest to the discussion.
