Dubai Women's College celebrates 'Stories of the Past'

Stories of the Past is a showcase of visual imagery exploring the local Emirati history and traditions through design, photographic, sound, video and language skills.

The exhibition provided the students with the opportunity to research and discover some interesting stories from the local Emirati past and unearth some old aspects of UAE society and present them in a creative, integrated project.

The journey started with a field trip to the Dubai Museum and the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding and the Bastakia area where student began to develop storylines to be incorporated into both graphic imagery and video production.

The project was totally integrated between all departments and required students to take photos for their photographic database, take notes on presentations, make sketches of interesting objects, textures, interesting observations, make sound recordings from the local surroundings and finally put together a printed visual documentary and short, creative video of the story they chose.

The end result of the project is a dynamic mix of both still and moving visuals.

Margo Tummel, Graphic Design Faculty at DWC noted:

"It is significant to provide our students with opportunities that connect them with their own past in order to help them understand the present and have a vision for the future. I was amazed by the creativity of the students and their abilities to tell stories in artistic ways. This has been a fantastic opportunity for students to explore their creativity in new and interesting ways. The results are fantastic - even the students have been surprised at themselves, realizing just how creative and imaginative they can when given a bit of instruction and the opportunity to experiment. We are discovering just how talented the young Emiratis are".

All Year one Applied Communications students participated in the exhibition and screening event which was attended by other students, faculty, and family members.

Students' projects covered issues including Al Yola, Marriage, UAE Women, Thoob and Berga, Al Yazrh, Al Khous, Um Al Dwais, and Ghost Punishment.

"These young women are our future leaders and visionaries and the work they produced for this project makes me confident they will do nothing short of setting the world of UAE media on fire with their talent. They inspire me and give me hope in better tomorrow," said Shammi Samano, Media Production faculty at DWC.