The Future of Storytelling: A Glimpse into Camberwell College of Arts Postgraduate Work

It can be argued that a crucial part of an artist’s journey into defining their personal style is to include storytelling as a resource to complement their artwork.

Storytelling is the seed that timelessly keeps on growing, regardless of when an artwork was created. But then, how can it effortlessly be understood by an audience attempting to empathize with what is being presented to them?

Recently, this was what I learned after stepping into Camberwell College of Arts Postgraduate Showcase. The result of months of study and preparation, of questioning and exploring; resulting in an innovative and delightful collection which provided us, the public, with a glimpse of the future of storytelling.

And I don’t say this lightly, I am quite certain that many students were successful in defining new paths to share and retelling a story.

Nothing Much, Everyday By Yan Sansaengtham

A video installation projected inside of a home model, showcasing various everyday-life moments highlighting the value and expression found in the repetitiveness of our routines.

Sometimes somber, occasionally funny, this installation sets up a proposal on simultaneity as a visual resource

Nameless Flicker by Island. Projected on an inflatable pool, this mixed media telling of the artists Imaginarium and memories. Created using Blender, this immersive experience illustrated the possibilities of collaborating with emerging technologies to facilitate a stronger narrative. For me, Computational Art appeared as a dichotomy at first, perhaps because I see computational software as a mere transaction to achieve a result on my work, but through explorations like this one done by Island, is that we can understand how computer programs and software have transformed into a medium for expression.

Gwaith Taclus (precise work) by Hywel Morgan Davies.

The capture of a precise instant that perfectly sets in motion a story. By combining different mediums to achieve this print, Davies’ work proposes a transition from experience to timelessness. How does the medium support the context of what is being portrayed?

Kharkiv, Ukraine 1990-2000,2005 by Olesia Kryvolapova, recipient of the East London Printmakers Award.

Tender, nostalgic, and eternal. The depiction of childhood memories through print, woodcut and ceramic. A statement of the memories, the people, the landscapes, the animals, the moments, that carry on with us even though we find ourselves away from home.

The work by Kryvolapova gracefully reinterprets her world and memories, creating a heartwarming instant to anyone who witnesses it, as if we had experienced it all with her.

Cloying by Xijia Zhao.

Between dream and reality, hosting dualities made to coexist. This painting is a speculative narrative of the fragility of being human and the beauty that comes from being.

As someone who is reluctant about the use of AI in my practice, I must admit I was taken by surprise by Wei Yang’s creatin, Did You See Mee? a short film generated entirely through Midjourney.

And what amazed me the most was not the gruesome imagery conveying a narrative of reconstructing the artist’s memories, rather the ability to make me connect, to make me dream and feel like I was inside one of my own dreams. Often chaotic, nonlinear, and indescribable, Wei Yang, collaborated with the machine instead of allowing it to do the work for her, and this is where the future should be.

This piece truly stayed with me.

There is no denying that emerging technologies are becoming harder to incorporate, with so many of our usual software including AI features without giving us a choice, but from a storyteller’s perspective, I firmly believe we should turn it around to use these tools to favor us, not us feeding them to copycat an artist’s work. And for me, this is the goal of studying a Postgraduate degree, to challenge current narratives and introduce new manners that progress the state of the art.

A commendable achievement by the students at Camberwell College of Arts. may they all continue to explore the future of storytelling and push the boundaries of their creativity.

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