First year BTEC Level 3 Fashion, Textiles & Costume students at Kingston College are working with Brixton-based Arts, Carnival and Cultural community organisation, Sunshine International Arts (S.i.A), on a live brief set by Artistic Director, Ray Mahabir. S.i.A, whose mission is to empower emerging artists in their creative lives, specialise in the art of carnival. They produce carnival costumes for the Notting Hill Carnival which will be the students’ key focus on this brief.
In January, the group visited Ray’s studio in Brixton where an exhibition had been especially put together to give them inspiration for the project. The brief is set around the theme of cultural identity through costume. Students will explore their cultural identity and create illustrations for costumes that could be used in the Notting Hill Carnival. Their work will be evaluated in person by Ray in April and he is keen to select a couple of designs for production.
