Communication Design School of Design
Lizzie Eidson
I am interested in themes of identity, race and culture. I find often within my practice, it becomes an outlet or tool to explore and connect with these parts of my identity. This year I have created my own West African fabric. I have also shown interest in creating illustrated books, collaborative zines and film posters. Printmaking remains a constant throughout my work, as what interests me is not just the final outcome but the printing process itself and I’ve loved experimenting with traditional methods of printing to expand my own methods of communication.
Dual Perspectives
Dual Perspectives is a mixed-media project using textile and intaglio printing methods combined to design my own cultural fabric.
In African culture, fabric can be used as historical documents and plays an important role in festivities and ceremonies. Through cloth a story can be told and within this project, I wanted to explore the narrative of my own personal identity being both British and West African. I looked at traditions between both British and African cultures through print and posed questions of what being Black and British would look like through textiles. I also explored elements of my family’s cultural history to use as symbolism within the final fabric, such as mining memorabilia from my family history of mining Blue John and traditional West African Andinkra symbols of family and unity.
Within this project, I experimented with traditional methods of wax printing with African batik and acid etching over the top of this fabric to bring both of these ideas together. Fabric is available to purchase by the meter upon request.
JamSkate/SkateJam
I created a series of prints that form two illustrated books JamSkate and SkateJam. This work gives an insight into an exciting subculture within the Black community – roller skating. I’ve explored the presence of rollerskating embedded within Black history and its influence towards a shift in the resurgence of rollerskating among POC youth today through interviews with POC skaters and archival research. Through the use of print and sculptural elements, I’ve explored the idea of a book as a physical object. ‘JamSkate’ and ‘SkateJam’ is a love letter to this overlooked and often disregarded part of Black culture. JamSkate is a collection of archival research and illustrations in response to a series of interviews. SkateJam follows a personal narrative through my journey of relearning to roller-skate. The book is hand-bound and a mix of printing methods from original dry-point etchings.
Sambizanga
I created a film poster for Sambizanga by Sarah Maldoror. The film is based on a true story and at its core follows a woman’s journey for her husband after his arrest which is the catalyst for a national uprising. Many of the cast members were involved in anti-colonial resistance and are non-professional actors – the film gives an authentic insight into their lives and their environments/the reality of African liberation.
I wanted to capture the themes of motherhood, journey, community and liberation within my poster. Unlike other posters of the film, I featured the Mother as the main focal point within my poster as it is her journey we follow throughout the film. Patterns and prints are featured throughout the traditional dress worn by people in the film and I feel give a sense of community. To reach the final outcome of the poster I started drawing patterns I’d seen from the film and experimenting with collage to distort stills from the image when creating my final composition
I created a large-scale acid etching for my poster with letterpress type over the top.
Three Bee Hair Extended
Extending an illustrated book I started in previous years, ‘Three Bee Hair’ takes the reader through a trip to the hair shop and offers insight into black culture, community, aesthetics and a big part of our identity, our hair. Being of West African heritage myself, I’ve always had an interesting relationship with my hair as I see it as a way to express myself and my identity. The history of afro hair and the styles worn have lots of historical roots and is something that is a huge topic of conversation but also, something that unites us within the community.
The original version of this book was entirely dry-point etched and I have created a risograph extended version printed at Good Press. The book features an acrylic afro-comb cover and is french folded and spiral bound.
MOZAIC
MOZAIC is a collaborative visual-based zine that aims to celebrate and uplift BIPOC creativity. This is our first release of 2024 and in an attempt to ensure a collaborative community of BIPOC creatives exists within the walls of GSA, we wanted to give these people a platform. Our first issue is themed around our title and the concept of a mosaic: small fragments that when put together form a larger whole. By bringing BIPOC works together we’ve created our own visual mosaic and we are so grateful to our contributors for being a part of our zine.
To formulate our first issue, we held an experimental print workshop in the Caseroom which encouraged the community to interact with our zine. Many of the outcomes from this workshop made it’s way into the final issue.
The zine features work from BIPOC students at GSA from all disciplines, and this is a collaborative project with Lizzie Eidson as Creative Director/Illustrator and Tania Rodrigues as Lead Graphic Designer. This issue was printed and supported by NewspaperClub and a percentage of all the proceeds will be going towards a POC charity.
Project Links
