Tell It In Colour

   When I left Northern Ireland I discovered I was actually a home bird and every time I return whether for weeks or days it inspires me. Sometimes it's the buildings, the countryside, the music and a lot of the time its the people. Northern Ireland's story is inspiring too but can often lead to people having a negative overview of the country. So what if a group of people set up a chain reaction of positivity in 'our wee country'. Well they are and I feel extremely privileged to be part of this group. We are called Tell It In Colour.
   Our purpose is to creatively reveal hope filled stories to inspire people and create a positive reaction which will hopefully snowball throughout the country. This began as a vision from my friend who works as a national news reporter. She became fed up reading bad and depressing stories so decided to look for hopeful stories she could share instead. This became website based and was given its name. A few years on we are now a think tank group of seven people who are revealing these hope stories through different creative strands such as music, art photography and audio visual. last Thursday we had our launch night in the cathedral quarter in Belfast. It was truly a big success where singer/songwriter Stewart McIlwrath performed the songs he has written for his first album which have been inspired by Tell It In Colour stories. Along with these songs we had people telling the stories behind them from the vintage stage as well as interactive art and photography.
   To invest in this group is to invest in the future of Northern Ireland- I think its about time we became a generation of people who tell good news stories about our land instead of focusing on the past and prolonging the hate that is ever present. We are not denying or ignoring the terrible things that happen from day to day and they need to be told but people need hope amongst that and we are trying to spread that through real life inspirational beautiful stories. We are giving these stories a stage and a voice that they don't usually have. We also have a Tell It In Colour poem that begins, "If Belfast had a voice would it sooth or scare?" Being involved in this hope movement inspires me every day and so I think its only right to base my final project around TIIC. The challenge will be creating designs that are narrative to Tell It In Colour as well as using the technology I have come to learn about in my degree this year to an exceptional standard. This is my final collection and the last hurdle of my education so no pressure!wish me luck!
  Below is a clip of our 'Stories of Life' event last week to give you more of an insight! (I'm the one holding the book)

http://www.u.tv/Lifestyle/Belfast-has-hopeful-stories-to-tell/a428f4ab-6615-4b68-a915-5c181034651b