And the winner is…
If the Black Excellence Prize says anything, it is that “We see you in a white-centric education system and we have created a space for you to shine on your own terms.” As our first winner Joy Julius explains to Caryn Franklin, this has been a part of a healing experience.
With thanks to Ivory Campbell - photography and models, David Alajiki and Adekemi Tej.
“I got the competition sent to me by two of my tutors and they were really keen for me to enter. When I realised it was linked to Graduate Fashion Week, I thought this could be a great opportunity for me. My concept is so personal and as a person of colour my approach is not always understood. The excitement of having three judges of colour who could see me and my ideas from a different perspective was something I didn’t want to miss. When I entered the room and saw people like me, I had so much confidence that these judges would see my work and understand my thinking. It was a very important moment.
When I entered the room and saw people like me. I had so much confidence that these judges would see my work and understand my thinking. It was a very important moment.
Joy Julius, winner of the Black Excellence Prize in association with FACE and Graduate Fashion Week 2021.
Judges: Bianca Saunders, Karen Binns and Benita Odogwu-Atkinson
Studying in an environment where there aren’t a lot of people of colour, should be advantageous as I’m both fluent in the western culture as well as my own Nigerian heritage. But unfortunately I sometimes feel like I have to shut down parts of me and immerse myself in western culture in order to be accepted.
Now I know I’m not the only one who feels this way it is empowering. My Kingston tutor Michelle Muirhead has been amazing. She is a woman of colour and a FACE member. She told us all about FACE and I might not have understood the FACE Excellence Prize in the same way if she hadn’t been there for me. Just as importantly, she has created a space for us as Black and Brown students to reflect on our experience. I’ve never had that before. The biggest help was realising that the struggles I was having on my own, are the same for other Black and Brown creatives.
Studying in an environment where there aren’t a lot of people of colour, should be advantageous as I’m both fluent in the western culture as well as my own Nigerian heritage.
This has made a huge difference. It feels so good to have another tutor who is like us and really understands our experience. This can help us stay strong. Maxine Vernon is a technician of colour and she has been so supportive both on a skills level and a personal level. People who know what it feels like to be isolated and misunderstood in the workplace are vital. And thank you course leader David Frizell, who was very supportive and really appreciated my illustration and also nagged me to enter the FACE competition. A thank you to my tutor Todd Lynn who pushed me and supported me through this difficult year, during the lockdown and also once back on site. And finally Caroline Alexander has been incredible throughout my whole academic journey. She has been so supportive and like a mentor to me.
People who know what it feels like to be isolated and misunderstood in the workplace are vital.
I’ve always been a very eager student. At Kingston University, we have industry competitions which are a part of our course, for a chance to win an internship or a placement. The tutors make a selection of student’s work that they then put forward to be seen by industry professionals. As my skills grew and I got more confident with my work, I knew my work had was good enough to make the selection, but I was not selected. I finally got frustrated so I went to ask why. My tutors told me it was grade related, so I took note of that.
The next competition was the Tommy Hilfiger 1 year scholarship in Amsterdam, once again, my work wasn’t selected to be shown, and this time and I had one of the highest grade for that project. So, I went back, knocking on the door with the question why? Only to be told that it was a mistake and that they had forgotten to put me on the list. Finally, I was added to the end of the selection list last minute and actually ended up being the only winner of the scholarship. If I hadn’t had the confidence to ask for an explanation, I would have been overlooked and missed out on this fantastic opportunity.
Us Black and POC students sometimes make excuses for why our work isn’t been seen and put forward, even when we have good grades. The worry is that it feels like there might be conscious or subconscious biases involved, where tutors feel that they relate to the work of students with similar cultural backgrounds and a similar design narrative, which is a completely normal thing. And when it comes to us, people of colour, we often feel like our work isn’t always appreciated or understood in the same way. That can explain why we aren’t always put forward for opportunities and sometimes, we are forgotten.
And when it comes to us, people of colour, we often feel like our work isn’t always appreciated or understood in the same way.
This unfortunately happens to a lot of us. It sometimes feels like a coincidence or an isolated case, but when you get to speak with other people of colour the experiences are so similar that it leaves room for questions.
One other example is that ‘cultural,’ exploration is prioritised. There is subtle pressure to do cultural driven research into our work as Black and POC students. Of course, tutors just want to help, but it’s hard for them to acknowledge that they don’t have enough of an overview of what that really means, and sometimes in terms of how to help the student broaden their cultural research properly. This means that sometimes we are left to get on with it by ourselves, without much help.
The research can be quite complex as things like cultural appropriation also exists within countries in Africa too. You cannot just lift silhouette from another culture as you please. But some tutors don’t know that, and think we have a free pass to use anything we like from cultures and use it as we please because we are African.
Also exploring my ‘Culture’ though my work is also more complex it seems, as there is more to me than they realise. I grew up in Switzerland, I have lived in Germany, now I have been in London for a while and I’ve only been back to Nigeria a couple of times since I left as a child. I speak fluent French and passable German as well as a Nigerian language which is Yoruba. Yes, I’m Nigerian to the core but I’m also Swiss. There is so much more to me than my skin-tone. Assumptions about me through connections to my cultural background are limiting.
Yes, I’m Nigerian to the core but I’m also Swiss. There is so much more to me than my skin-tone. Assumptions about me through connections to my cultural background are limiting.
All my experiences make me who I am and so exploring my culture shouldn’t be the first thing a tutor should say to me when starting a new project. These are the things I have heard tutors say during crits, to Black and POC students including myself. Why didn’t you explore your heritage for this project, something you understand a bit more of. Or… You should think about westernising your cultural designs and research in order to make your design ‘less like costume.’ At the time I did not understand why I felt so uncomfortable, I’m glad I do now. I do wonder if other European students get told that as well?
Abeokuta (Refuge amongst rock) is a town my Dad took us to when we went back to Nigeria for holiday. It’s full of history, we had a guided tour up the big rock/hill as it was now set up for tourists. We were able to see the whole town, it was so incredible.
My choice to create my graduate collection around Nigeria, the political movement and protests against SARS, that took place in 2020 was a very personal project to me. I felt personally connected to that event and my brother and sister were in Nigeria at the time and I was always worried for them. So I felt like I needed to create awareness, express myself, and respond to it and through my art.
It was not because I felt pushed or pressured to explore my heritage and culture, but because I felt like it, and I had a tutor that was supportive of the idea and that’s the difference.
It is important to let students really dig into their experiences and to seek out what topic is important to them, that freedom that everyone has, we need to feel that we are guided in the same exact ways as non-poc students, without presumptions or stereotyping.
We need to feel that we are guided in the same exact ways as non-poc students, without presumptions or stereotyping
Winning awards confirms I’m on the right path, but I have so much to learn so I’m not resting. The Black Excellence Prize is a wonderful thing, but I know how people can be at times, some think it’s just a Black thing and that’s why I won, and question the value of the award. When actually that's the problem, why does an award like this need to exist today. That's why the conversations need to happen.
I don’t feel like this award is just mine, it’s strange how I feel about it. I did win this award and I’m so grateful, but it feels like it's the start of conversations that others need to pay close attention to.
So thank you FACE I’m on an adventure as part of my drive to be my authentic self. Nigeria has a special place in my heart because my brother is there and I’d like to make a design label with him. I have an opportunity here to start something with a friend of mine a former graduate of Kingston. She is an East African Muslim and I’m from West Africa and of no religious denomination. We are drawn to work together. Perhaps we will link up with my brother and create jobs within Nigeria that help people in need. I’d love to take my manufacturing home and help those on low incomes. The drive to link these two worlds together – sourcing from Nigeria perhaps finding audience over this side of the world is who I am.
And don’t take no for an answer. Ask questions. Show how ambitious you are. Ask how you can improve, make sure you get the time you deserve with your tutors.
I am getting stronger and daring to dream. Michelle has helped us all to see that we need tools like resilience and persistence if we intend to succeed. I’d tell other young creatives of colour to find their group and speak their truth. You’ll realise that there is a lot of things you have in common, and you can help each other out.
And don’t take no for an answer. Ask questions. Show how ambitious you are. Ask how you can improve, make sure you get the time you deserve with your tutors. Then you have leverage when they say no. You can ask why because you’ve done everything that they have asked. Believe in yourself and others will believe in you too.” Contact Joy directly on instagram @joyjulius_
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