Our project with purpleSTARS, Rosetta Arts, and Living Maps aims to help students in primary school map their lives through sensory experiences, such as the tactile, olfactory, and more.
Our partners and the Rix Centre have been working with students at Starlane Primary School over the course of five sessions. The idea is to work with artists from our partner organisations to use materials in sensory workshops mapping everyday experiences for students. Through these workshops, students learn how to describe the feelings of home. Typically, these workshops have happened at museums, with the focus on making collections more inclusive, accessible and sensory friendly.
The workshops are bringing a real sensory experience to what students experience everyday, helping them advocate for themselves by being able to better describe their world and map out experiences.
One workshop has students using clay to describe the sensory feelings of being home through tactile surfaces. Paul, one of our partner participants, summed it up as follows
The ordinary becomes extraordinary
Paul Christian, purpleSTARS
To help map the extraordinary, Rix Wikis are used to document the workshops. Using the Wiki, students can upload pictures, video, and text about the workshops and discuss their experiences creating living maps through sensory experiences. Learn more about our partners and this project below.
Leonard Zaleski, Rix Centre intern