SB1 - Initial Research: Beni

I had come across this as a youtube channel a few years ago covering personal topics of Nadir ( who owns Beni Space) in a long format documentary style which has gained traction and popularity across various communities which were one of their initial aims.  Their manifesto includes :

BENI is a journey. An experiment. An intention. 

BENI hopes to join old with the new, giving space to the generation-Y millennial who has an appetite for meaningful aesthetics.

BENI steers away from narcissism, consumerism and superficiality. We believe in an action grounded in good intentions.

BENI aims to devise beautiful visuals that reflect and define youth culture - global, cosmopolitan, beautiful - and enrich it with value. Whatever that might be.

Nadir releases episodes every few months or so which have been very well edited and makes them accessible on sites on youtube. He documents his travels across various countries - including those which have some kind of personal connection to him through his family/friend or cultural upbringing.  

SB1 - Initial Research: Shy Bairns

Another group which I am interested in looking into can include Shy Bairns. I had heard of their work briefly through Instagram as well as being aware of Erin's work with Nest Magazine at the university. When I heard that they were going to be at strange perfume I thought that this would be a nice opportunity to interact with their work and see what they have been working on since they've graduated as well as talking to them and got some advice about the university as well. 

This collective is a multidisciplinary group which specialises with DIY workshops and publications. One of the main reasons why I was attracted to their work was the evident DIY nature of the way that their work has been produced: whether its screen-printed tote bags, using collage and mixed media within their publications to incorporating print methods which produce really nice textured results like Risograph. 

As well as this I like the fact that some of their work explores topics within the LGBTQ+ community as I am a part of that community myself, I appreciated the fact that they have some more educational zines to help those wanting to learn a bit more about appropriate terminology to use when speaking to people as well as things which aren't that well known. I would like to be able to discover and learn more things about the LGBTQ+ community within the area that I live in as well as find people who share similar values and upbringing within Asian communities as well and I think by talking to Shy Bairns, I would be able to get a good start into where I should start looking as well as finding out some information about their processes as well. 

SB1 - Initial Research: Daikon

 Designer and collectives I have been interested in at the moment can include those which are trying to do thing to shed a light on topics which aren't necessarily being talked about. Things which relate to myself within the work is something which encourages myself to include this within my own practice as well as wanting to find other things that creatives are doing related to this. 

Some examples of practitioners who I am currently interested in and are doing these things can include:

Daikon:
This is a collective of South East/East Asian women and non-binary people who create submission based zines including Asian voices which are often underrepresented and undervalued in mainstream political and feminist discourse. One of the key aims of highlighting issues that we face is to empower others by highlighting collective frustrations and nuances of our international nuances by building a wider platform for solidarity. 

*Aspects took from the Manifesto 

I had come about this collective via social media through other mutual accounts and I found their work particularly interesting as I haven't seen much in the media covering the issues that people in Asian communities face. Coming from a South Asian background, this was quite exciting to find others who also find this to be the case as well. I had found out not too long ago that they were coming to the North to take part in some print fairs and considering I don't live too far away from Manchester, I had to go visit - more to interact with the people behind the collective as well as being able to see their zines and interact with their physical work and talk to them about that as well. 

Something which was raised today in a talk by visiting professionals from Village bookstore was the diversity and evident community within the self-publishing bubble as it is a very close-knit group including people supporting other creatives.  This is already evident from one of the print fairs that I had attended that day I went to Manchester - Over Here  Zine Fest especially. 


This was the first event to be held in the North ( as far as I'm aware) to just solely be focused on providing exposure on those coming from BAME and working-class background including work focused on art, publishing, activism, and collaboration between communities.  This was a very interesting event to go to as I got in, I instantly felt comfortable seeing people from similar backgrounds as mine and it made me feel motivated in a way to see work that they had produced by more that one individual.  I was able to meet the second half of the Daikon group as I had visited the Strange Perfume Print Fair before this where some of the group had recognised me as at strange Perfume we had discussed a potential collaboration and they had shared my socials with their whole group over a group chat which I had found to be quite flattering ngl. 

At the time I wasn't aware of the Creative report brief so it was very convinced that I had this interaction and brought up the consideration for a collaboration as they liked the look of my work on my Instagram. I do also want to make the point that I haven't solely chosen this group as I interacted with them and we said that we could collaborate as I often visit print fairs in the north and south and I was quite lucky to have this interaction with this group. 

The Witworth - Manchester

One of the main exhibitions which had caught my attention was the one titled Thread Bearing Witness by Alice Kettle. This exhibition had been discussed quite a bit by a lot of my peers and I was really confused initially as to why there was so much popularity and interest over some 'textile pieces'. As I went round and viewed the various pieces and read the descriptions that had been put alongside these pieces I understand why a lot of people wanted to see these pieces of work because of the contextual meaning behind the pieces of work. I had also flicked through the publication which had been created by Kettle containing her findings with working whilst working with refugees and incorporating their accounts of culture and things that they have faced whilst migrating from country to country. 

I think this was something that was quite important to have included within the gallery as well as other accessible spaces to include work covering topics like this as although these topics are discussed and shown on news outlets and programs, they do sometimes present a one-sided view of what is happening with migrants but being able to immerse yourself in an environment like this exhibition where there are large scale pieces of work containing very sensitive topics and things that have happened including the Blue piece especially as it had highlights of neon orange in the sea which had been embroidered to represent the lifejackets which had been left in the sea whilst people were trying to reach for safety. 

I was only able to find out this information by asking one of the gallery staff to tell me more about the pieces of work and how they interlinked together. She had informed of the collaborative aspect of this work. This can include working with people across the UK to stitch a small tree which has been added to a picnic at the Whitworth to represent their solidarity with refugees 'binding them to a movement of people who care whilst thinking about rootedness'. Getting refugees in the north-west to take part in the drawing workshop.  As well as this encouraging a group that they have worked closely with called English Chat ran by Syrian women which have been meeting, drawing and stitching things which have contributed to a quilt they have made collectively as well as sending messages out to the resident of the Pikpa camp in Lesvos.

This collective of workshops, as well as others, have contributed to three pieces of work which was initially the aim in order to act as a starting point to build creative relationships between people and continue the development of exciting collaborations too. 

I was really intrigued by the publication which had been made alongside this so I had decided to buy it as I really liked the considerations which had been made to the finishing of the paper as well as considerations made for layout, imagery and binding methods. 

Designer Speed Dating

I thought that this was a really interesting task as this is something in our group which hasn't been emphasised enough. Although within our group when we are set into out smaller crit/induction groups we are fairly comfortable with each other but outside of sessions, these kinds of interactions don't really happen outside of our smaller friendship groups. 

Whilst this task was happening I met a variety of people I may have passed by and not been able to have an actual interaction with them which I thought was really cool. I found out some info on misconceptions I may have had with certain people as well as finding out people with similar opinions on things I enjoy and do. This is something that I have tried to develop outside of the university as well as attending events held by the uni like when going to social events organised by the uni like the LGBTQ meetup at a Coffee shop a few weeks ago I had met a couple of Illustration and Animation students in their Third Year where we discussed out different practices and found things that we had in common which was really nice as I found listening to the different processes which take place on another course within the university to be quite interesting. As this interaction took place we had exchanged our socials afterward and they had offered some support on some things I was struggling on as well as offering help if I needed any help when it came to things I may be interested in doing outside of Graphic Design. 

This task reminded myself of the interactions I have had whilst visiting the Strange Perfume print fair as well as the Over Here Zine Fest. The reason why I found these events appealing to go to was that they included individuals from a similar background to myself so being able to talk to people about their work whilst and the context behind them. One group of people which I found particularly useful speaking to was the collective called Daikon. I was able to speak to all of them across the two print fairs and whilst I was flicking through their zines they were really encouraging with wanting to speak to me which I especially at the strange perfume festival, even though part of myself wanted to visit it for the content; I also wanted to go to see how people include and involve aspects of their identity into their work. This was quite overwhelming especially at Strange Perfume as I have hardly visited any events like that surrounding LGBTQ+ although the people at the stalls made me feel very comfortable whilst I was talking to them about their work. 

Whilst at the table for Daikon I had spoken about the struggle with being able to find representation or events locally for those from south Asian backgrounds who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. They had highlighted some of these issues that they had themselves and how they use their zines as a platform for Asian voices which can be quite often underrepresented in mainstream culture. As we were talking we talked about the kind of subjects they had also studied in their degrees and what I was doing as well. We had also exchanged our socials and they had invited me to contribute some work when they call out for submissions for their zines as they thought that some of the things that I had mentioned as well as the work I had posted on my Instagram would suit their publications. 

I think attending events like this as well as interacting with the people who are there is really important for myself as well as for my practice as well because sometimes viewing work online for research can often get quite boring and being able to actually interact with people and find out the contextual definitions behind their work can be very useful to know.