Abstract

Imagine, you’re a tutor guiding a Black fashion student on a project about their ancestry. As the tutorials go on, it’s evident you lack the needed knowledge of their heritage to provide effective feedback. Short on time for research, you’re hesitant to comment on cultural aspects beyond your expertise. Fashion FeedBLACK bridges this gap, aiming to facilitate understanding between tutors and Black fashion students in tutorials, navigating cultural disparities.

Session and activities

Tutors will be asked to watch a short 20 minute documentary titled ‘The Room of Silence’ by Eloise Sherrid. A short documentary about race, identity and marginalisation at the Rhode Island School of Design. Filmed in 2016 it presents interviews with students who often receive ‘silence’ as feedback from tutors when engaging in projects surrounding their ancestry and the harmful effects it can cause. Though it was presented to staff at RISD, no changes were made. This will be presented with the hope it will ignite a real change within tutors at UAL and start as a talking point to lead into speaking about the workshop Fashion FeedBLACK conducted with current UAL Black fashion students. Presenting the feedback Black students have gotten from tutors in their tutorials/crits in a publication we have created and the different ways they believe tutors could improve by engaging with their work. This will be an open dialogue for tutors to respond and engage with for them to analyse and critique the feedback they give on projects surrounding ancestry.