As artists, when we have a deeper understanding of ideas that govern the world: our art can tell better stories. Light and Life Academy took an approach towards widening this understanding by introducing the Group Research Project for Batch-20.
The batch was divided into 6 teams of 6 and each team was given a topic – Communication, Racism, Simplicity, Peace, Leadership and Relationship. The assignment was to look-up videos on their respective topics on ted.com, find a video that resonated the most with them and present an analysis along with their findings to the class. The idea behind this was that by researching, analysing and interpreting these topics; the collective vision of the class on these world-affecting ideas could be widened. Since, the groups consisted of people from different backgrounds and places, it added an extra layer of varying perspective to the mix.
Preparing for the activity, we brought along varying points of views on the same topic with each member of a group coming out and speaking to the class. Thereby, even in one group the ideas had different slivers of experiences and understanding.
While the goal of the project was – to introduce and sensitise ourselves with these ideas, it unlocked something else – the potential of different people with different thought processes coming together and creating a common message. It has also inspired us to come up with some project ideas that we will soon be working on.
The Group Research Project not only helped us come together as a team, it initiated us on a path of greater understanding. Such that, we as photographers, can communicate our ideas better, understand different people, foster relationships, help spread awareness through our pictures and make the world a better place.
If not us, who; if not now, when.
– Written by Vedant Sharma, Student, Batch 20.
Here are some thoughts from other students of Batch 20
‘To work in a group and commonly work towards making something collectively was a wonderful feeling. We as a group thought it’d be amazing if we try and bring some smiles to people’s faces. Each one of us brought one or the other input to the presentation and everyone had a different way of communicating what we were supposed to say. It was a very fun experience and I hope we get more such opportunities.’ – Kaartik, Batch 20(Group – Communication)
‘The research project was an opportunity to interact and get to know our fellow classmates. This project was focused on the humanity part of oneself. It made us realise what and how we can do something to be a good human. Going through all the ted talks and knowing the stories of different people was the best part all the presentations. ‘ – Shruti, Batch 20(Group – Relationships)
‘It’s always a challenging and fun experience to work in a group, to know different point of views regarding one single topic. I really had a great time doing this research, got to know about a different side of the people I was already friends with. Also, it was such an enriching experience, to learn from different groups about different topics from an absolutely different point of view. Looking forward to more such interesting projects in the coming days.’ – Pallavi, Batch 20(Group – Simplicity)