This joint project between MMU and Hyde Community Action sees women from the British Bangladeshi community in Hyde (Greater Manchester) exploring their own life stories and the historical narratives of their communities through workshops on life history, cross-cultural storytelling and digital skills, as well as visits to Manchester Museum, the Whitworth Art Gallery and MMU Special Collections to engage with collections. The women will use a simple online comics creation tool to communicate their own multimedia story using photographs; drawings; and text and sound in any language.
To share the comics more widely, we are organising a celebration event for the local community and showcasing the project at local and national events and festivals including Oldham Libraries; Rochdale Literature and Ideas Festival; and the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. We will also be running sessions in local schools and a workshop for teaching/social work students in autumn 2017. One of the project outputs will be a resource pack to encourage and support other organisations wishing to undertake similar activities.
Graphic lives: telling Bangladeshi migrant women’s stories through graphic narratives has been supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to widen representations of migrant heritage in order to raise awareness; change attitudes and behaviours; and ultimately, improve understanding and cohesion.
Read the comics created by the women:
The comics are also available at: https://issuu.com/happinessdragon
You can see more of the project activities in this booklet:
If you would like to try making comics for yourself, this pack has instructions for all the activities we did:
Below is a list of the events we’ll be at over the next few months. Do come along if you can – and please share with other people/networks you think would be interested.
| Event | Date | Location |
| Oldham Libraries workshop | Saturday 30th September, 10.30-12.00 | Oldham Central Library: http://www.oldham-council.co.uk/libevent/events/view/united-kingdom/oldham/oldham-library/graphic-lives-telling-life-stories-through-comics free, but please book a place |
| Lakes Comics Festival | Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th October | Kendal Clock Tower: https://www.comicartfestival.com/ |
| Rochdale Literature & Ideas Festival workshop | Saturday 21st October, 11.00-3.00 | 4 workshops at Karvan travelling caravan: http://rochdaleliteraturefestival.co.uk/whats-on/emma-dawson-varughese-karvan/ |
| Workshop and display @ MMU | Wednesday 15th November | Workshop: Special Collections, 11-00-12.30 (free, but please pre-book):https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/graphic-lives-telling-life-stories-through-comics-tickets-37251256511
Display: All Saints Campus, room TBC, 12.45-2.00 |
| Celebration event at Hyde Town Hall | Saturday 25th Nov, 12-00-3.00 | Please email s.mcnicol@mmu.ac.uk if you would like an invitation |