STATEMENT

The group I was apart of was called JC Hope. It was made up of only two members, myself and Jonah from Creative Writing. We are two people whose lives have both come into contact with somebody who has commited suicide, teen suicide especially - more than once. With all these suicides happening and young lives being taken by their own hands, we want to reach out to the youth and let the world know the realness of teen suicide and that it is happening right in our backyards. People need to realise that just because its not happening right in front of you, doesnt mean its not happening. Our goal is to raise awareness of the high percentage of suicide rates, with New Zealand having the second highest male & female youth suicide death rate out of 13 countries. The role I played in our group was visual artist/graphic designer. I contributed to our group by taking Jonah's poem and turning it from worded art to visual art by creating suicide awareness posters. I also contributed through the use of my communication skills, graphic design/photoshop knowledge, people skills and listening skills. I have a passion for the youth. Even though I am still young, I am a leader at the Soar Dance Programme right around the corner from here, at Crosspower Ministries or the old Dziah Dance Studios. The programme is aimed at the youth of South Auckland and helps them get off the streets and into a positive environment, where they can share their passion for dance in a safe and loving community. I believe that these young people are the souls of our future and to see such young kids throw away their lives really saddens me. I want our project to be able to make a difference. Let them know that there is help out there and people you can approach so they dont feel so lonely. Some things I enjoyed while working with Jonah was actually being able to collaborate with someone outside of my art class. We usually just stick to ourselves but being able to see somebody elses art and passion in another form, which in his case is words, is so cool. It was a struggle having to communicate with Jonah though. We only ever saw eachother in classtime and outside of class, I would be really busy. I would email designs but not hear back. I learnt that I need to be more firm and understand that my work is a reflection on myself as well as the group. If I dont like something then I need to speak up or just change it because at the end of the day, I am the visual artist and if it doesnt look visually appealing, thats on me. I think my experience collabing with Jonah was the way it was because of our lack of communication and lack of motivation on my half. I wasnt fully committed to the project and as a result, I produced half-hearted work.  In regards to our project, I think if I were motivated to come to class and get my work done, I would have been more prepared for this assignment. To be completely honest, I never really turned up to class because I have some personal issues regarding me not liking a certain lecturer and not having any friends in my class, but I have realised that these feelings have a major impact on my education and they are things I have to overcome in order for me to better myself as an artist and as a student. I need to put my feelings behind me and be more professional about the situation. I think working in collaboration is definitely a challenge. You are always going to have clashes, especially coming from two completely different art majors. It also helps you keep an open mind. I used to think that words were just words but they are so much more than that. Words are powerful and they can be used to influence and inspire thousands if used in the right way. It was a good experience being able to work with somebody because I usually work by myself on my projects.