8 minute read
FoAD hosts a webinar on how to draft a research proposal
by Softcopy
Rowe’s Top Five 2022 Interior Design Trends: 5
Dual-Purpose Rooms - The pandemic has resulted in our homes becoming the main settings of our lives: where we work, sleep, and socialize which has influenced the majority of the home design trends for 2022. Every inch of our home must serve some sort of purpose whether it be a functional or aesthetic one. As we get into another year of COVID-19 variants, our living spaces continue to double as our work rooms. Rooms will be designed for multi-functionality and adaptability; i.e. guest rooms fitted with desks, bedrooms equipped with exercise equipment.
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Elevated Outdoor Areas and furniture -
Entertaining spaces had taken a backseat but in 2022, homeowners are reinvesting in their entertaining spaces. Outdoor furniture will become more sophisticated and refined as we continue to spend more time entertaining outdoors. Our patios become extensions of our interior décor.
Calming Natural and comfortable
Interiors - People need healing spaces that are restorative and calming. Earthy tones of greens to be paired with other nature-inspired colours—like blues, warm browns, and soft greys. Overall, people want a cozy look and feel in 2022. Expect to see cosy textiles, subtle colours, and soft-edged pieces.
Curvy furniture and organic shaped
design - As we continue to shift away from straight-lined minimalism and toward cosier interiors, our furniture is getting softer and more sculptural. 2022 is going to be full of round-edged, organically shaped furniture providing an environment of comfort and calm.
Sustainability - which will hopefully continue as a leading design trend forever. People are more conscious about how environmentally friendly their purchases are. This could mean repurposing old furniture, shopping and supporting local furniture and product designers instead of mass-produced replicas from China and buying responsibly sourced items.
African artists’
use of postmodernity and its implications
SOFTCOPY REPORTER
Ahmadu Bello University’s Professor Duniya Giles Gambo. Photo Supplied.
As part of its International Guest Talk series the Faculty of Arts and Design’s Research Office hosted a webinar titled, ‘Contemporary African Artists’ Response to Post-Modernist Trends and Its Implications for Effective Artistic Growth’. The webinar was headlined by Nigeria’s Professor Duniya Giles Gambo whose presentation gave a detailed explanation of post-modernity, how African artists have used it to their advantage over the years and its implications.
Prof Gambo said in embracing post-modernism artists suddenly realise that they are not local citizens anymore but are global citizens. They speak to international issues using purely post-modernist forms and materials.
According to Prof Gambo some of the implications for Africans of post-modernity are that larger African societies such as ordinary people in society who before even the advent of post-modernity was struggling to relate to some of the modern concepts are largely alienated by post-modernist trends.
“This alienation is despite the fact that post-modernist trends are very important in establishing African artists’ capacities and ingenuity as equals to the rest of the counterparts around the world,” said Prof Gambo.
The second implication he talked about is the dependence of African artists who are post-modernists on western grants, fellowships and residences of which in his opinion are sometimes a form of manipulation. freedom because in most African societies-I am not sure about the situation in South Africa- but in Nigeria for instance you can hardly get a grant or fellowship or residency to express yourself so if become completely a post-modernist artist then you are likely not going to survive if you remember the modern circumstances that we are in like lack of energy, you need money to pay for this and all of that and you cannot get grants to survive then it has an implication,” he said.
Prof Gambo is a Professor of Art History and Criticism at Nigeria’s Ahmadu Bello University. His research explores the intersections of visual and theatre arts, with a focus on their multidisciplinary potentials for community interventions, education and development. His research findings and perspectives have been widely published in different catalogues, book chapters, and reputable journals in the areas of human rights, modern Nigerian arts, environmental studies and design, African studies, language, arts and humanities, as well as, contemporary art practice and theory.
Dr Maleshoane Rapeane-Mathonsi and Dr Philippa Kethro at the FoAD Staff Awards in 2018. File photo.
FoAD HOSTS
a webinar on how to draft a research proposal
WAHEEDA PETERS
The Faculty of Arts and Design (FoAD) recently hosted a Postgraduate Research webinar via Microsoft Teams. Former Visual Communication Design lecturer Dr Philippa Kethro gave a presentation titled: ‘Your Research Purpose and Your Research Proposal’. Dr Kethro focused on how a person can develop their research idea and how to make it worthy of a research proposal that will be accepted.
She explained the three components of a research purpose which is what the focus or topic is all about, the aim, goal or problem and the significance or motivation. “In Arts and Design, we tend to focus more on sociological or social problems or problems involving the relationship between people and images or people, media and PR people as well as writing. So it’s not always that you’re going to solve a problem. Sometimes you rather just going to ask questions but you will have a particular aim in mind for answering those questions,” she said.
Dr Kethro gave examples of research topics, expanding on them and giving insight into research theories which are defined as holding transferable applications to other settings, contexts, populations and possibly time periods. “Theories usually refer to ideas that predict: if this, then that will follow, show reasons for variation, explain how and why something happens as well as show how to improve things,” she said.
Dr Kethro spoke on background theories such as the racial reconciliation study. “We could use identity theory; we could use community theory. These are specific detailed theories that are already available as a starting point for you to explore further,” she said.
She also spoke on translational or middle range theory, looking at role expectations, dialogical theory, which is general but not as broad as grand theories and is not as broad as a grand theory and is not focused down like a background theory.
Furthermore, Dr Kethro highlighted that reading is a very active process. “Everything you read comes from a whole list of other sources, so often tells you what you still need to read. Be very selective while being very sure you are not leaving out important stuff. It’s a balancing act. The abstract and key words may tell you how relevant an article is but your focus may change as you read,” she said.
She relayed its best to read the conclusion, the abstract, scan headings and then read between these. She added that the researcher needs to look for what motivated what ‘they say’.
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