The AVReQ x VCD was a collaborative flagship workshop series for the third year Visual Communication Design students in the Visual Arts Department at SU. The VCD course, coordinated by Karolien Perold-Bull, is based on the principles of drawing to make sense using information design, narrative illustration and print-making, and slow design. AVReQ’s MA Fellows Gratia Ilibagiza and Rabia Abba Omar led the workshop series. The first was an introduction to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in South Africa that focused on the forward to the TRC report and six chosen case-studies which the students engaged with throughout the term. The case studies profiled research information on Bheki Mlangeni, Jeffrey Benzien, Nokuthula Simelane, Phila Ndwandwe, Siphiwo Mthimkulu and Wallace McGregor. The second collaborative-workshop was guest-facilitated by famed actor and director Basil Appollis, who taught the students about the uses of set design, embodied practice and the power within one sentence in storytelling. The last iteration of the collaboration was a presentation of the students’ work in a reflective session. Students shared a creative array of portfolio work they had compiled during the series and the personal and material impact of process-ing the various afterlives of the TRC in the/ir present.

Written by Rabia Abba Omar & Gratia Ilibagiza