Blog 2: Diversity during a Pandemic
Considering the recent global crisis, many things have changed as we learn to adapt to this new normal. In a time where people should be coming together for the greater good, there are still differences in worldviews that are driving us apart as a society. Having seen the issues we face today, I’ve have had the opportunity to reflect on how my work as a creative could be used to better the lives of others.
The Better Lives theme that resonates the most with me is diversity. As a Canadian-Chinese studying in London, I’ve always been proud of my roots and my experiences as a first-generation immigrant that make me who I am. Growing up in Canada, a country that prides itself in its diversity and views its multinationalism as one of is greatest strengths, I’ve never been ashamed of my ethnicity. Growing up as a part of an ethnic minority I hardly saw people that looked like myself in mainstream media and it has made me realize the importance of representation in an individual’s cultural identity. It’s fantastic that fashion media has made improvements towards diversity in recent years, but recent incidents have revealed the general western world’s underlying attitudes towards Asian minorities. I’ve experienced my own fair share of cultural shock in London; (more so in recent times) from all the subtle racist comments to getting weird looks, hearing horror stories from friends, reading about tragedies in the news, and seeing people post degrading misinformation on social media.
So what can I do about all of this?
As the world holds its breath in this time of uncertainty, I’m finding it quite difficult to fight the feelings of insignificance as our front-line responders are out there facing the real battle. Although technology has allowed us to continue our studies from all over the world, it’s not the same as picking-up exactly where we left off before Easter Break. Amid all the confusion, one of the reminders from my tutors that has kept me going is that, as creatives, we have the ability to make something out of nothing.
In my future work as a fashion illustrator, I want to address these collective issues and concerns that are often overlooked by mainstream fashion media. Through the image-making process, I want my audience to feel represented and understood. Issues regarding racism, cultural appropriation, and segregation can be sensitive subjects but through the use of social media and other forms of communication, I want to let others know that they’re not alone. Instead of using diversity conveniently in media, these differences should be celebrated. In doing so, we are capable of inspiring feelings of belonging and reassurance for those that may feel marginalized. By encouraging the conversation about something that shouldn’t be tolerated, we can stop this from becoming something is often normalized. This global pandemic has allowed me to consider how my work can be a means of improving the well being of others through diversity and social responsibility.
6th May 2020 @ 2:47 pm
For my final blog, I chose to peer review Elanka Jiang’s second blog on her reflection of the Better Lives themes titled “Blog 2: Diversity During a Pandemic”. I specifically chose Elanka’s because she wrote some interesting and well thought of points, as well as this, I also thought of a few things she could improve on for a more balanced peer review.
At the beginning of her blog Elanka talks about the current global crisis we are facing and mentions how this is a time where people should be uniting however there are still many differences in the world today that tear us apart as a society. I like the idea that she is relating to what is currently happening in the world and using it to tell the reader that the world still requires many changes.
Elanka then begins to mention that the better Lives theme that relates the most to her is diversity and starts to talk about her background which I think is an excellent approach when beginning to talk about this topic. She writes about how she has never been ashamed of her ethnicity being a Canadian-Chinese student however realises that although fashion media is making vast improvements to broaden their diversity within the industry, there are still unnecessary underlying attitudes towards Asian minorities in the western world. She gives a few examples from her recent times in London, expressing that she receives subtle racist comments to getting strange looks which I think is appalling.
Elanka asks “So what can I do about all of this” and asking a rhetorical question like this really engages with the reader making them think about the current topic she is talking about. Throughout her third paragraph a few certain words stood out to me that high lights the situation we are facing in the world today, “uncertainty”, “insignificance” and “confusion”.
Finally, looking at Elanka Jiang’s final paragraph, she talks about her future practice as a fashion illustrator. Whilst reading through this paragraph I could sense a lot of passion and emotion that went through Elanka’s writing. I think her drive to make the fashion industry a much more diverse and inclusive place is admirable; it’s truly needed everywhere. Although Elanka has written about diversity extremely well, I think she could have included some points and had spoken about the other two themes of the Better Lives unit (sustainability and social responsibility) within her blog. However, overall Elanka has written a well thought through second blog and I very much enjoyed reading it.
10th May 2020 @ 10:42 am
I read Elanka Jiang’s post blog2: Diversity during the pandemic and it really resonate with me. The reason I chose her blog post was I was thinking the same problems that she mentioned as an Asian living in London.
She first talks about her root and ethnicity, and how she is feeling about it. Then she shares her experience and what she saw in social media which is all racism toward Asian and how she felt about it. Then she tries to find what she can do as a media student, especially as a future fashion illustrator.
After reading her post, in my view, I felt sad about this insane racism happening towards all Asian living abroad and only Asians are taking care of this problem. I know that other people also know that racism is bad and those who are racist are wrong. However, they are not putting much attention on the racism happening due to this virus and sometimes they also do some racism by mistake not knowing that they actually did.
I strongly agree with her view that there are many posts saying degrading misinformation on social media and want to compliment on her sight that she had thought of these problems. I never thought about this problem before, but after reading her article, now I also think that this could be a big problem that should not be underestimated. People can easily believe in those misinformed posts without any doubt and it can provoke and enhance some racism problems, especially on the young generation who are closed to social media. This made me think that as a one of media student, what can I do to solve these problems.
Finally, looking at her last paragraph, she mentioned about how she will work in the future as a fashion illustrator. I could see how much she is taking care of this diversity problem and passionate about her creative work. I also could see that she is proud and confident about what she is doing now. Some of her plans inspired me what I can do in future as a fashion photographer. I can say that this is a good reflection writing written about diversity problem happening in this pandemic situation. It was really good that she wrote the things that are related to nowadays, so I could more easily resonate with her writing. However, it would be better if she had written about other two subjects, sustainability and social responsibility, but I think it can also be a good choice to focus on one subject more deeply rather than barely skimming the surface of all three subjects.