7-10 IDEAS: MEMORY AND TRACE

1) Symbols of My World

Using My Le Thi’s works “4 Colours” and “Naked Ricefield” students will undertake an investigation of their immediate environment, looking at how the images and colours around them can operate as signs or symbols to tell about them and their beliefs. The unit will focus on the act of choice – what the artist selects – and how these can work as universal and/or highly personal symbols. Students will make artworks that both reflect and comment on aspects of their environment.

2) Put Yourself in My Shoes

Students will look at how artists have used their work to empathise with the concerns and beliefs of others. They will consider how art can be used as a social and political tool – as didactic narrative and as subtle subversion. They will investigate the work of artists who have challenged the viewer to consider their place in the world – who use art to convey a distinct point of view. In their artmaking, students will explore the potential for exposition in their image making.

3) Walk a Mile in My Shoes

Refer to the Stage 5 Synopsis Document provided for more information.

4) Safe Haven

Students will explore, through research and artmaking, the sense of security that comes with “belonging”. They will look at this on a world level, through national and cultural identity, considering the ways in which nations celebrate their unique nature. Ideas such as the national flag, emblem, anthem and dress will be explored. On a more personal level, membership of clubs, sporting groups, social cliques, musical groups or styles, and an emphasis on fashion trends could be explored. In their artmaking students will create their own “safe haven” – an imaginary nation or group to which they or others can belong. They will design their own symbols and talismans to represent this group.

Download a 7-10 program synopsis for this theme (MS Word 64kb)