April 2025
On a bright Friday morning at the Royal Academy of Arts, I had the joy of leading another Make & Connect workshop — this time inspired by the fantastical world of Victor Hugo. With over 80 incredible participants from diverse community groups, from people living with physical and cognitive disabilities, mental health difficulties, residents from a carer home to people with a lived experience of homelessness. The Royal Academy of Art's Clore Learning Centre was buzzing with energy, curiosity, and creativity.
Together, we explored Hugo’s lesser-known but completely mesmerising ink drawings — full of dreamscapes, fantasy creatures, and bold imagination. Using natural dye inks I’d brewed myself (oak gall, iron, and chlorophyllin), participants created their own A5 storybooks, weaving together personal narratives and alternative worlds.
Below showcases the activity sheets that helped guide the session and the participants to unlock their stories and visual identity.
We began the session by unlocking our imaginations with playful prompts:
🌀 What story do you want to tell?
🌍 What might your dreamscape look like?
🪄 How can you transform the everyday into the extraordinary?
From there, participants painted, splashed, and bled ink onto their pages using mindful techniques like ink-bleed — dropping ink into water to watch it dance and spread. It was gentle, expressive, and often surprising — a beautiful way to explore tactile storytelling and spark meaningful connection.
As a bonus treat, the participants had the opportunity to create their own natural dye ink to paint with and take home.
There’s something incredibly powerful about watching people of all ages and backgrounds lose themselves in creativity. Over the course of three hours, the room was filled with joyful conversation, and some truly magical handmade books. Each one told a unique story — of memory, of hope, of imagination.
As always, I left feeling full of gratitude. To be able to create and hold space like this — where people feel safe to play, explore and express — is such an honour.
Thank you to the RA’s brilliant Learning and Participation team, and to all the wonderful participants who poured their hearts into paper and ink. I can’t wait for the next one.
