To kickoff our 8-week course, we began by asking each student what xenophobia means to them. We reviewed the work of Brooklyn-based Thai artist and activist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya and explored the relationship between art, activism, and community in her work. Students created a 20-minute sketch for their first art project choosing one three themes: phobia, community, and activism.

Students learned about how BIPOC artists such as Alexandra Bell and Wendy Red Star address racism and different forms of xenophobia (Islamophobia, homophobia, and transphobia into their work). Students applied what they learned about counter-narratives and the method of annotation into a brainstorm session for their second art project: creating a social media post responding to hate speech in the media.

In this lesson, students shared their works in progress and learned about how their classmates relate and respond to xenophobia. Students provided feedback for one another and asked each other questions about their pieces. We highlighted Liz Lerman's critical response process prior to critiques in order to guide students through it. Students then began to create criteria for their next project - a collaborative self-portrait. Students decided that the best way to combine our self-portraits would be in the style of a puzzle.

In week 4, students began their 2-D self-portraits and finalized the parameters of the project together. This project emphasized building dialogue and community. Through small breakout sessions, students shared their individual POVs and collectively shared them out to the entire class. Students learned about intersectionality in order to learn how to include any and all of their identities in their self-portraits.

Students continued to work on and finish up their self-portraits during lesson 5. Through low stakes risk taking and exploration, this project encouraged students to work with new materials and methods to represent important parts of their identity as it relates to their race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender identification, and (dis)ability. At the end of our lesson, students brainstormed on a slogan idea to overlay on our group self-portrait.

After the work we put in during weeks 5 and 6, our final puzzle piece collage was unveiled! After viewing our final image, students watched animations that have advocated against xenophobia. They also discussed ways in which animations, such as Pocahantas and Aladdin, fall short and play into stereotypes. This led us to our question: what makes an ad more effective than others? Students worked together to create criteria for text, color, form, etc. for their final project, which is an ad combatting Xenophobia.

Students researched artists who focus on diversity and inclusion in their artwork as part of their final project. They shared out their findings to the class and discussed key takeaways they could apply into their own work. Students also chose from a list of demos focusing on various techniques that they wanted to learn more about. Instructors went over short demos on typography sources, simple photo editing techniques using Pixlr, and creating GIFs!

Our last class provided us an opportunity to reflect upon and celebrate what we learned, discussed, and created during our time together. Students presented their final projects and discussed what they learned and enjoyed most about their individual projects. In closing, students created a poem about their experiences in the class and took a fun digital selfie as a memento.

Bee Siaotong is a first-generation Filipino American who lives in NYC. As a former multimedia digital designer, Bee is passionate about teaching art and design to both elementary and high school students with a student-centered, culturally relevant, and anti-racist approach. His practice and pedagogy is inspired by educators bell hooks, Bettina Love, and Olivia Gude.

Bee's website

Melissa Khaimova is a first-generation artist and educator born and raised in South Brooklyn. Her personal work focuses on identity, the body, and the self. She loves working with students of all ages and enjoys learning new mediums with and from her students.