T21 Club

T21 club is my response to an activism brief where we had to use a print method to create an asset as well as a video. This cause is close to my heart as I work in a care home for down syndrome adults. Through a new scheme that is going to be rolled out across the UK testing for down syndrome babies is decreasing the numbers of babies born, only 1 out 10 diagnoses foetuses with DS are born. Through my research, I found that a lot of this is to do with the lack of support given to parents of DS babies as well as the medial negative terminology surrounding the issue. My solution to this was to make a foundation to support expecting parents who have been diagnosed with Down syndrome.

I was able to get a lot of primary research by interviewing a mother of a DS baby which was very insightful. I also read a dissertation in the language used around the diagnosis and how that affected the parents choice. Along with internet research, this enabled me to have a well-rounded view.

I think a lot through mood boards and drawing, this helps me clear ideas and refrain them. For this project, I decided to use Lino as it was a print technique I could use at home, due to the pandemic. To help me with this process I experimented on Procreate and thought about the process of Lino whilst drawing. I found face studies helpful as well as flour swatching. The majority of this project is based on a poem called ‘welcome to Amsterdam’ which is a poem about disability and parenting. A lot of the design then followed a dutch aesthetic. I created lots of experiments that helped me think both for the animation and the print asset.