World Comics Workshop Fuelled by Plant Based Goodness!
In recent weeks the Interfaith Vegan Alliance has found itself providing a variety of food for various events, the latest being for participants of a comic workshop hosted by Oblong at the Woodhouse Community Centre and conducted by the Godfather of World Comics India Sharad Shama.
On day one we presented a mixed bean curry, chana masala, seasoned rice, salad trimmings, some veggie pasties, some humus dips, and range of sweets including chocolate brownies.
Day two was jacket potatoes, a veg bean filler, and/or chana filler, some humus based continental sandwiches, and cornmeal pudding. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food and we received lots of positive feedback. Sharad loved the Chana so much that he came back for seconds saying that he feels like he never left home as it tasted very similar to how it is prepared in his home town.
Well, the Alliance took so much positivity from Sharad’s workshop that we’d like to share Sharad’s ideas, and methods in order to help inspire people into action. By taking an important issue or particular problem/dilemma within a community and putting into comic format and sharing, we stand to shed light upon it which is crucial in resolving the problem. This could be anything from bad school dinners to how welfare cuts are affecting various groups. Sharad spoke of so many good things to come from people using this grassroots approach in evoking change with communities and across the world!
The comics are simple to create and do not require any elaborate skill, just a pen, paper and a message/story to represent. We will post full ‘how to’ instructions in the near future. The course ran for 12 hours over 2 days, but as Sharad suggested, that your first comic may take 6 hours to produce but your thirds or forth will only take 6 minuets as it becomes easier with practice.
By the end of the second session everyone who participated in the course (with the exception of one lady who didn’t turn up to the second session) managed to produce their own wall poster comic all of which were exhibited and praised at the end of the session.
And so, although we’re not well versed in conducting workshops, we are nevertheless up for the challenge and would like to invite anyone interested in working in a group to learn the various methods involved in producing these comics along to our vegucation sessions which are scheduled to run once a month at the Woodhouse Community Centre. Furthermore, for anyone interested in supporting the alliance through this medium of comic power, we’d like to welcome you on board and look forward to exchanging ideas and actions.