Stories of Home: Norwich Illustration students explore culture, identity and memory

Students from the BA (Hons) Illustration course at Norwich University of the Arts have produced a striking exhibition of work, exploring community heritage and visual storytelling.

Stories of Home was developed in collaboration with the School of Global Development at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and charity The Bridge Plus+.

The project invited Norwich students to respond to stories by writer Tuaila Milanca, whose work is inspired by her experiences growing up in the Balanta community of Guinea-Bissau.

The second year students used a variety of visual storytelling techniques to reimagine Milanca’s stories Baptida’s Escape and The Forest Ruler, including comics, graphic novel extracts and sequential illustration.

They worked with Dr. Maria Abranches, an anthropologist from the School of Global Development at UEA, to develop their approaches. They also had the chance to share their work with Milanca, using her feedback to make the finishing touches to their interpretations.  

A shortlisted selection of work was exhibited at Norwich University’s Bank Plain building this month. Four winners were announced at the showcase: Lois Farnsworth, Jesamine Scales, Heidi Caruana and Jessica Tucker.

Lois Farnworth, extract from ‘Baptida’s Escape’

Speaking about the project, Lois Farnsworth, one of the winning students, said:

“It feels really nice that my work is going to be seen by people and also held to account. I felt very privileged to be able to speak to Tuaila. I wanted to make sure my work was true to their stories but also brought in some of my own approach to illustration.”

Christian Petersen, BA (Hons) Illustration lecturer, added:

“The second year is an opportunity for our illustrators to lift their gaze, look outwards, and apply what they have learned, to advocate and raise awareness around social, environmental or climate-related questions.

“The Stories of Home project was an opportunity to do this through visual storytelling, while expressing and developing the students’ individual creative voices.”