BLOG — Food Fight

Students from Years 9–12 from Liverpool Girls’ High School Gifted and Talented Program are participating in several workshops to develop a costume for local ‘Food Warrior’ Dany Ngov. Dany is Policy & Projects Officer, Community & Culture at Liverpool City Council.

Dany will wear the costume at the Food Fight event in Biggie Park, Saturday 30 April, where she’ll be “fighting” for food security strategies in local government.

The process of making the costume has been guided by MCA Artist Educators Nicole Barakat and Salote Tawale in a series of workshops at the school using creative strategies to explore the concept of a ‘Food Hero’ and then extend on it.

The starting point was a quick 10-minute workshop where students we given only paper to create and express their idea. Then an additional 5 minutes was given to exaggerate one element for impact. The superhero costume of Wonder Woman and also costumes from The Hunger Games adventure series were used as a reference-points for initial inspiration.

In smaller groups students have been given a specific element of the costume to develop for Dany – wings, shoulder armour, a shield, a cape, a belt and a sceptre. Everyday recycled materials such as fabrics, LEDs and food ephemera like paper plates, plastic knives & forks, and cupcake patties the students are being transformed into the Food Hero costume.

Zahra Noori and Dany Ngov in Liverpool Girls High School. Photo: Peter Johnson

Reflecting on these co-curricular workshops the students provided the following feedback sharing their gained experiences:

“Art brings people together”
“I have learnt how to turn old materials into something new”
“I have realised that the issue of food security is something that is relevant to our local area”
“[Before now] I was focused in drawing only but the program allowed me to be more creative than just drawing with a pencil.”

Many of the students also noted that working on a collaborative project also enhanced their creativity.