Creativity in the Lockdown Home: Crafting, Parenting, Researching

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Time: 12.00pm - 1.30pm
Price: free

Online

In this second event of a three-part series taking place over May–June on the theme of HOME, members of Kingston University's Visual and Material Culture Research Centre will be in conversation with guest speakers exploring various forms of creativity that emerged in the Covid-19 lockdown home, from crafting and its flourishing on social media to the challenges and opportunities presented by parenting while working from home. The conversations will be followed by a discussion and opportunity for audience questions. 

Craft at Home: Exploring Social Media Content Creation as a Craft

Has the recent popularity in domestic craft practice been influenced by social media? While the multiple lockdowns pushed more people towards their screens to connect and many used this unprecedented time at home to learn a craft, this period only accelerated an already growing phenomenon being fuelled by the Instagram craft community. Content creation is a creative output and making successful content for social media requires a unique set of skills and know-how. From the comfort of their couch and through the palms of their hands, crafters are not only making with material, but also using their mobile phones to upload content of their making for their social media feed. Making is a way of connecting and this discussion will feature a short talk by three content creators Daisy Bow du Toit (@daisybow_craft), Colette Bernard (TikTok @Artistcolette) and Emma Friedlander-Collins (Instagram @Steelandstitch) exploring connections between craft and social media, with a focus on the home as a site for this creative practice.

Child-led Creative Disruption in the Lockdown Family Home 

As well as the merger of spheres and the new visibility and acceptance of children in the background during defined ‘work' time in households lucky enough to be able to work from home, the Covid-19 lockdowns brought children and their rhythms to the fore of our everyday: having to rethink habits and priorities, learning to work together and play together, and embracing the collaborative meaning-making made possible by ‘letting go'. This discussion-based research event between researchers and parents Anna Johnson and Lina Hakim proposes to look into this phenomenon and, drawing on insights from the perspectives of the speakers' research interests and pursuits, to consider whether it might provide an opportunity to rethink the role of children as meaningful contributors in creative/research practice. 

For further information about this event:

Contact: Helena Bonett
Email: H.R.Bonett@kingston.ac.uk