Westminster’s annual degree shows are a celebration and showcase of our creative students’ talent and hard work. The student work is a culmination of the skills and creative practices developed during their studies. The degree shows are highly anticipated amongst students, staff and industry guests every year.
Our Contemporary Media Practice BA provides students with skills in a range of media, combining traditional art school approaches with creative practice. The course focuses on multi-skilled production, and students can work across a range of media disciplines to prepare them for a wide variety of career options in the creative industries.
This year we spoke with Marie Baverstock a third-year Contemporary Media Practice BA student. Ahead of the showcase, Marie told us about her group project Free Movement with fellow students Mark Madsen and Karla Espinoza Lanche, their preparations for the show and aspirations for the future.
- What are you most excited about for the degree shows?
We are excited to showcase our final project and to be inspired by everyone else’s work. It will also be a great opportunity to meet new people and make connections.
- How has your course prepared you for your final project?
Throughout the course, we practiced and explored different roles within the media industry. We gained a lot of interdisciplinary skills which we put into practice during our final project.
- Tell us more about the activities you are involved in to help organise and prepare for your degree show
Within our course, we created a curation and promotion team. The curation team helped organise the layout of the exhibition with groups and their projects. We were part of the promotion team and were responsible for taking photos and footage of the work for promotional content, such as a trailer and social media posts during the run-up to the degree show.
- What has inspired your creative thinking and work so far towards your final project?
One of the biggest inspirations for our work was our families and their stories. One story that they all shared was their journey of migration. We wanted to tell this story in a way that could be understood by all. We chose to incorporate the language of music and dance in a 3-screen video installation because it is interpretive and universally understood. It allowed us to portray these stories visually, through physical movement rather than dialogue, breaking language barriers and opening lines of communication across varying cultures.
- What do you hope to achieve from your final project?
Our goal is to invite the audience to make their own connections with the narrative, as we explore themes of memory, resilience, and family. We also acknowledge and celebrate these experiences and cultures as well as challenge notions of stereotypes and prejudice around migration that are prevalent around the world.
This is also a chance for us to showcase our wide skill sets within a professional environment and to a professional audience.
- What are your plans for the future?
We hope to gain careers in the media industry, continuing to tell stories, especially of people whose voices are underrepresented. We also hope to continue developing our skills and grow as creatives.
- Is there anything else you would like to share about your final project or upcoming degree show?
All the students from Contemporary Media Practice BA have amazing and incredibly creative final projects and we look forward to sharing them with friends, family and those from the industry. The degree show will be a great representation of the wide range of creativity and skill set of our course members this year. We hope everyone who visits enjoys themselves and leaves inspired!
To find out more, please visit Westminster Degree Shows 2023 or watch our Westminster Degree Shows TikTok.
About the University of Westminster
As one of the most diverse universities in the UK, we are a global university with London energy with more than 19,000 students from 169 countries. To find out more about our courses, visit the University of Westminster website.
