Orisesemaye Ukuti
Hi, I'm Maye - As a graphic design student and aspiring concept artist with a love for illustration, I like to use my work to address social issues through the art of storytelling.
Hi, I'm Maye - As a graphic design student and aspiring concept artist with a love for illustration, I like to use my work to address social issues through the art of storytelling.
Final Project
With this project, I aim to show that people of colour are allowed to be and should be presented more in the media.
I want to address the lack of diversity in certain film genres, and show that POC can fit within all genres, and shouldn’t just be used to tick boxes either. There have been many instances in big franchises and films where people of colour are pushed into the background, or not included at all. For example, John Boyega complained publicly about his role in Star Wars and how he was used in promotional posters to bring in audiences but didn’t end up being an important character at all. We know that having people of colour in films can and have had a positive impact – such as with the Little Mermaid live action, despite the backlash it got, gave little black girls the representation I wish I had as a child.
For this project, I chose to redesign Tangled – the Disney animated film based on the fairytale Rapunzel.
Above, we have character designs I illustrated – showing what the character of Rapunzel could look like if she were Indian. I researched into Indian culture – namely for the character design, the cultural clothing. In the first two designs, she is wearing a dhoti salwar suit. In the third and final design, she is wearing a lehenga choli – worn during special occasions and made up of a long skirt (lehenga), a cropped top/blouse (choli) and the scarf/shawl (dupatta).
More aspects of cultural significance is the green parrot, which in the original Tangled is a green chameleon, but in this case, I chose a parrot that symbolises Kamadeva – The Hindu God of love and beauty.
I also created posters for this redesign of Tangled, using the original font used in the 2010 movie, but created my own original illustrations, incorporating Indian culture into it. For example, on the walls I added rangoli – an artform originating in India made of bright colours and patterns, usually made during festivals. Rapunzel is also wearing the dhoti salwar I designed in the character designs, swinging from her long gold/dark hair within her tower.
Final Project
With this project, I wanted to address multiple societal issues – morality, societal classes, social injustice, poverty and how the rich often exploit those less fortunate than them to keep themselves afloat.
I created a graphic novel for this, writing and illustrating the first chapter. It is centred around an antagonistic vampire family in the late 1800s, who feast on the poor because they are aware of their privilege and know they can get away with it. I chose vampires because in literature they are often presented as rich and lacking in morality. The same can be applied to the rich in real life, who often gain their wealth through immoral means.
The family remains this way until a member of this upper-class family, Camile, grows close to someone from the lower class, and begins to feel guilt for their selfish nature.
