D-Lab: Discovery students learn about using collage as a medium for communicating stories and as a method of therapy. Lars Hasselbad Torres, from the IDEAS Global Challenge, came in this week to do an adaptation of a Peace Tiles Workshop with this years D-Lab Freshmen. It started out with a small conversation about what art is and analyzing a quote by Robert Rauschenberg.
Lars introduced collage as one form of art that is great for expression, as it affords people the opportunity to stich together imagery and texture in a way that mirrors how we remember the past and imagine the future. He then talked about how this is used as a form of therapy with children who have overcome great obstacles, like being child soldiers, in Uganda. Lars and I then asked the students to consider and visualize their own stories of encountering obstacles and how focusing on something important in their lives allowed them overcome it. We are hoping to send the work that the students produce to one of the communities that Amy and Kofi are working with as I write this. Amy and Kofi will in turn bring the tiles that the students in Uganda create, to MIT. Read Lars recount of the class here.
