CUT-PASTE-AND REFLECT Workshop

What possibilities would have happened if patriarchy had never existed in the world?

My mom will probably keep a good job in her 20s, have her own home in her 30s, have a retirement plan in her 40s, and is currently enjoying her old age without waiting for money to be transferred from me; Because she's not getting married only to find herself divorced anyway after agreeing to resign-or-get divorced for earning income more than her ex-husband in middle 1990s.

Truly it is one of a trillion good possibilities that will happen, even if it means I will never be born.

In this relaxed collage workshop, I would like to invite you who are marginalized, forgotten, ostracized because of the irrational standards that must be achieved in order to fit into patriarchal society, to reflect and discuss (cut-and-paste) women’s issue through collage-making.

(I will also tell you a little about UGLY, previous zine series project about the patriarchal representation of Indonesian women in print media in the 2000s.)

The results of this workshop will be a special part in the follow-up project chapter which is also part of a series of my final project in MA Graphic Communication Design, UAL. The workshop is open to all genders. No collage experience needed. Materials and tools are prepared, you may bring your own. Works can be taken home after I scan them for riso-printing. Attendees may leave their e-mail so I can send the compiled works in PDF once the final project is done. :)

To keep it in mind, the works will be printed and shared for public as the part of the publication, and also publicly displayed on UAL Graduate Showcase 2023 in Central Saint Martins, King’s Cross as part of the final project, so you may ask for anonymous if you’re not comfortable to share your personal information.
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Instagram posters

Story from the Workshop Day

Above, is the poster for workshop that Dellana of @publizinggg and Ioana of @artizineuk facilitated at St. Margaret's House, an arts health charity located in Bethnal Green. On the 13th of May 2023, ten women-identifying who attended the workshop, give respond to the main question by creating experimental collages using paper waste and riso print paper scraps from Central Saint Martins Publication Studio. 

Left: Workshop venue / Right: Workshop kit, materials, and tools set up for participants

Left: Workshop participants / Right: Introduction session (all images taken and posted with permission)

Left: Collage making process /  Center: (from left to right) Ioana, Dellana, and Fildzah in front of the Create Place / Right: Collage making process

Everyone received a mini workshop kit that included a mini guide book, a set of worksheets, a set of found images, and wasted paper. Participants shared their ideas based on the premise: “What possibilities would have happened if patriarchy had never existed in the world?” They expressed their thoughts through experimental collage-making. 

Inside a Mini Guide Booklet: An introduction about the project I am working, and a short explanation about riso print technique. Some of the partcipants are not familiar with riso print or any editing soft- ware, this booklet aimed to help the partcipants to know what we want to achieve in the workshop. There is also a worksheet that aimed to record participants stories in their original handwritings. I put 3 prompts inside the worksheet, one of them is to make participants interacting with other participants.

During the workshop, we also provided insights into the riso print technique and explained why we utilized two sheets of paper to create layered collages. The collages outputs consisted of two separate layers, serving as two masters in the riso print process. We placed the images on thick paper to be printed with violet ink, while the thin tracing paper was printed with fluorescent pink ink.

Workshop kit for participants

Workshop kit details

Some participants are showing their creations and telling the stories behind their works

At the end of the session, some participants told the story behind their collages and discuss it with other participants. As the outcomes, the scanned text printed separately from the scanned collages using the riso printing method. To achieve a delicate layered effect, I opted for sixties paper, 100 gsm, for the stories/text, and redeem 240 gsm for the collages.

Finished riso-printed workshop output

Left: Scanned handwritten story by Jewel Boothe / Right: A collage work story by Dini Darmawan

Left: Story in text format, scanned and riso-printed / Right: Stories translated into a two layers collage works, riso-printed

Left: Closer preview  / Right: Unbound pages

Actually, this is my first time attempting the idea of creating a collage using two layers. There are also some technical reasons behind this decision. Firstly, it enables a quicker and easier color separation process since the layers are already separated. Secondly, I wanted to avoid burdening participants with additional work on their valuable Saturday evenings, such as bringing a laptop solely for the workshop.