‘Creative industries seminar’

 

‘Creative industries seminar’

With Toby Warner

Black history walks London

 

 On entering the main theatre and being given the handout for the seminar I immediately thought to myself that this, yet again, is going to be another one of those assemblies that had bored me to death all the way through high school and Sixth Form College. Throughout my school and sixth form years I had been given the same boring assemblies and talks about the same kind of boring, uninteresting, un-affective subjects. Toby Warner changed this.

This seminar was not at all boring, far from it actually. Full to the brim of information unheard and unseen before with an extremely confident, comfortable and charming speaker meant that I found myself wanting to be sat there listening. With my ears opened wide to every word spoken I didn’t feel as if time was at all wasted, which is the norm for me when sitting through two hour seminars.

In the two hours Warner spoke about the portrayal of black peoples in the media and other Medias and did a marvellous job at gauging my attention by specifically focusing on my subject specialism of art, which I was very thankful for.  He began his lecture by introducing a series of images ‘found on Google’ that spanned back throughout history. These pieces of timed artworks depicted men and women of black ethnicity in highly regarded and respected positions such as saints and priests., which dated back as early as the 1400’s.

Such artwork being unknown to me, this was mind blowing but also rather shocking and upsetting at the same time. It was horrible to think that these images had been held back from being shown to us as we grew up, for no arguable reason. Even now, as I am completing my further college year, nearing higher education and university, I still see a lack of if not any images such as those I was shown sitting in Warners seminar.

Warner did a momentous job of opening my eyes to the racial unjust and racism that we today live in. I shall use such thoughts that Warner provoked and helped create inside me not only within my practice, helping it grow that extra layer, but also in my day by day life and how I look at things.

I would say if you ever had a chance as to watch one of Warners lectures or partake in one of his walks or shows then definitely take that chance, with both hands, because honestly, it will totally change the way you see things. It did for me.