Story Sanctuary
The Client
True Story Tent
TST is a platform that supports and encourages the sharing of true personal stories from the Middle East.
@truestorytent
Story Sanctuary was the first collaboration between True Story Tent and the Salaam Space Yoga Studio to bring a holistic approach to story telling, experimenting with what the benefits of meditation and yoga could do to the receptivity and expression of the story tellers. Creating an immersive experience that guided the audience with meditation and breathing exercises towards empathetic listening and vulnerable sharing. Unlike the usual TST events this event was a half day event that included a shared meal at the end of the day. I was commissioned by both TST and SSY to create artwork for the poster as well as some cards to go along with the exercises they had planned for the event.
September 2019
Deliverable: One 1080 x 1080 px or 1:1 artwork, Set of double sided cards
Function: Events Poster, and the cards were used during the exercises to instill the concepts of receiving and expressing
Uses: Social Media Advertising, Instagram Poster, Cards.
Theme: Story Sanctuary
Client requirements: Artist has creative freedom, as long as the theme was reflected in final artwork.
Medium: Gouache and watercolor painting and black marker.
For the poster, I was very inspired by the studio itself. Located in the beautiful beachside village of Qantab, the studio was an old Omani home that had been renovated and brought back to life while still maintaining its authentic charm, so I decided to go with an image of one of the doorways that lead into one of the main practicing spaces of the studio and instead of replicating the space within give it an ethereal space like painted backdrop to let the audience know that they are in for a magical experience in a magical space. The shades of blue were inspired by the ocean as well as the blue doors and shutters that can be found within the studio.
The keywords for the cards were Expressive and Receptive. Each side of the card needed to represent that. I ended up going with the metaphor of water being our words and expressing being the act of pouring out of a jug and receiving like filling a cup. I ended up going through a lot of trial and error when it came to these cards, I really loved the look of the first painting I made and since I was going to need about 24 double sided cards I decided to try to get them printed.
After printing the colors turned out to be extremely dull and there was barely any contrast between the “water” and the background, I ended up going back and forth with the printers changing the colors in photoshop but at the end it was the print quality and the type of paper I wanted to use that was just not working in my favor. So I tried to see if I could improvise. I tried to paint on a few of the printed cards, but something was telling me that was not it. I took a few steps back and decided to simplify.
Using a simple black outline to create the shapes of the glass and jar allowed for the “water” to be the highlight of the image. Each one was hand drawn and painted.
Expressive
Receptive
Final True Story Tent poster, edited by Abdullah Al Maawali