Applications are currently open for the 2019 intake for the BA Honours in Visual Communication program. The year-long degree is designed to produce industry-ready innovative critical thinkers who are able to create meaningful and professionally executed work, which can challenge conventional visual communication thinking. The degree comprises three subjects: Creative Practice, Contextual Studies and Visual Studies. Within Creative Practice students work closely with their lecturer to produce a body of work within their major (Graphic Design, Photography, Art Direction, Illustration or Multimedia). The Honours course coordinator is Dr Annabelle Wienand.
Students learn how to drive their own creative practice using a creative production cycle to structure and guide their project. This year students have explored a range of themes linked to personal interests and future career plans such as food security.
Contextual Studies aims to expose students to the global socio-economic and environmental challenges we face in our time. Class presentations broaden student knowledge by encouraging them to explore the interrelations between political economics, ethics, power relations, technology, democracy, activism and design. This year the students were profoundly affected by the course and many of them chose to explore design solutions to existing social and environmental challenges.
Visual Studies builds on the undergraduate curriculum and develops their ability to critically engage with visual communication. Given the smaller class size, the teaching requires students to reflect on the class presentations and academic readings. The Honours Visual Studies curriculum is intent on increasing awareness of African creativity and& theory and placing it in conversation with Western knowledge and visual culture. This year students have really engaged with the ideas and questions raised by the course and have developed their skills by drawing on Critical Theory and personal research to grapple with the challenges presented by our time and place.
As part of their studies, the Honours students also undertook a field trip to Zimbabwe during the mid-year break this year. The rationale of the trip to Harare was to connect the Honours students to with creative students from a different context for a short-term collaborative project. The idea was to extend learning beyond theory and the classroom; to learn by being immersed in a different space, a different context with different problems, and to negotiate collaboration with creative students outside of what they are used to. Peer to peer collaborative projects across geography and context are crucial in giving our institution and students proper perspective about the continent and its creative impetus and ideas which are currently attracting global attention. “We envisioned this trip as an experience that would inspire and ignite new perspectives as well as encourage critical thinking. The Honours trip has proven to be the right mix of research, fun and experience that left the students with a sense of awe” said Dr Mike Mavura. It has also seen collaborations happening as well as the creation of a network across borders.
The essence of the Honours learning journey, however, is about connecting people and placing them within the larger African context. Ultimately, creativity is to be seen as a tool to connect people.
Students interested in joining the Honours program for 2019 can visit our website: www.stellenboschacademy.co.za or call Louise van Wyk on (021) 880 2623.
