From family history to the frontiers of technology, Middlesex creative students relish the freedom to explore

“I will carry my Middlesex lecturers’ teachings throughout my career,” says Cherise-Joseph Holloway

Humanoid cartoon flowers on a zebra crossing, a puffer fish in outsize tinted specs, a model opening the fridge in an exploding convenience store. Then another model miming taking a bite out of enormous, glossy cherries, and the cherries appearing to morph into bowling balls that roll across a cobbled path, startling a beautiful white horse which canters away.

Fashion, Communication and Styling graduate Lily Watson, who works under the creative name of Lily Moon, has turned her hand to AI to bring alive wildly imaginative ideas as memorable, slightly unsettling videos. Her work, along with the creations of other students, is on display at Middlesex's North London Degree Show until 28 July.

Lily always loved fashion and chose to study at Middlesex University despite winning a scholarship to another institution because she preferred the smaller class sizes and supportive lecturers who “help you personally and are generous with their contacts”.

Studying fashion styling, photography and videography in her first and second year gave her a “good eye and understanding” and were a vital underpinning to creating AI that is useful to industry, she says. She took the AI route as she had been learning how to use 3D creation software but was spending hours on a small piece of animation, and she was looking for a similar outcome at much quicker pace.

“I wanted my project to be future-focused,” Lily said. “With so much technological change happening around us, AI felt like an exciting area to explore. I searched online for interesting images and used tools, such as Higgsfield AI, to transform them into short videos focused on innovative brands. I like cool and varied brands such as Gentle Monster eyewear which has abstract designs and a youthful twist.” She wanted the results to “come across as a little strange or weird” to get a reaction from viewers.

In relation to concerns that AI will take away jobs, Lily argued that young people should embrace technological change and use it to their advantage, as she has done with her project. She said her Middlesex tutors were incredibly supportive of her choice to explore AI. About the programme overall, she said: “You have the freedom to explore different things and your own creativity. I tried everything, it was a fantastic learning experience.”

Film graduate Taiki Maruyama’s final major project was a 15-minute documentary about his grandfather Kazuo Tujimura, a horseracing commentator who passed away in Japan two years ago. It was the first close family death Taiki had experienced.

Making the film, Taiki said, was “like a mirror” as it enabled him to grieve and express his emotions about his grandfather in a way that is rare, almost taboo, in Japanese culture. Travelling back to Japan, through a process of interviews, conversations, and research, he set out to “figure out his actual human figure deeply – what kind of father was he to my mother and my aunt? How was he at the office?”

In the process, he explored the challenges and tragedies in Kazuo’s life, such as his own father dying young. The research soon led him to other family members, including one who was a film cameraman during World War Two. He is now working on a further family documentary focused on his great-grandfather.

Taiki started out at Middlesex making advertisements and comedy sequences, until documentary lecturer Vesna Lukic “gave me a new world,” he said. He worked on one of Vesna’s projects - a documentary on Age UK service users combined with delivering workshops on basic photography techniques. He praises the resources available at the kit hub and the advice and inspiration of the department’s “amazing technicians”.

He has enjoyed collaboration with students on other courses, for example, working with Dance and Music students. “If I’m in the Grove Building, I can see everyone’s artwork, architecture, and music. It’s useful for my work as well,” Taiki said.

Animation graduate Alisya Rashidi’s mixed media film Kembar Naga, combining stop motion and digital techniques, was inspired by a family story told by her relatives in Malaysia about twin brothers from a fishing village, separated at birth. One is swept away by a flood; the other survives and grows to adulthood. One day he decides to venture to sea because he feels he had no place on land. He is shipwrecked and soon comes face to face with a dragon - called ‘Naga’, a serpent-like creature in Malay, which he realises is his brother who has been following him.

An installation in Alisya’s degree show display, with hand-painted cut-outs of palm trees, waves and the silhouettes of houses on stilts, mounted on a stack of glass plates demonstrates how she achieves deep field of view in the background of the animation. She is drawn to traditional art styles; Kembar Naga is inspired by traditional South East Asian shadow puppetry known as Wayang kulit, and by the Batik wax on fabric technique.

Alisya was one three students to win the Phil Davies Award, given out each year by the Middlesex alumnus producer of Peppa Pig, which brings with it support from post-production sound company Fonic. The award “really helped me with this film - I didn’t have to worry about money when I was buying materials, and it gave me freedom,” Alisya said. “It put on a lot of pressure, but it seems [that] pushed me to finish the film”.

Alisya’s second year group project was selected in the student category at the London International Animation Festival (LIAF). Also mixed media, featuring a 2D character on a stop motion set, it has been playing on a screen in the Sheppard Library. After graduating, she plans to continue working on Kembar Naga, fine-tuning it, and submitting it to festivals.

Product Design graduate Cherise Joseph-Holloway has always cultivated a “particular love for play”, and specifically an interest in rollercoasters. Her final year project focuses on theme park merchandise, giving visitors a piece of the emotions they experience in the park to take home in the form of her ‘Thrill Pals’ character line.

This captures a visitor’s emotional journey using in-ride photos taken at the start, peak of intensity and end of each ride. Visitors can choose to receive their Thrill Pal in figurine form or as a digital animation.

Cherise said her lecturers “represent a huge part of what made Middlesex so enjoyable. Their teachings are things I will carry with me throughout my career”. For her final project, “they gave me the confidence to step out of my comfort zone and [incorporate] skillsets I had always wanted to learn, such as animation and digital sculpting”. She aspires to a role either on the research or design side of the toy industry, following a Master’s course in Ergonomics and Human Factors.

Meanwhile, course mate Sahar Sultan said one of the biggest highlights has been the wide range of projects she has worked on – “everything from industrial design to User Interface/User Experience, even augmented reality”. Her Degree Show project, SPIME, is a side table combining traditional craftsmanship with digital technology through a companion app, recording the table’s origins and lifetime journey. “Users can document memories, photographs, messages and updates, creating an evolving story that stays connected to the object as it moves between owners,” Sahar said. Harking back to a time when furniture passed down through families, and looking forward to a more sustainable future, “SPIME aims to extend the lifespan of furniture and encourage care, repair and long-term ownership”.

For her project for the adaptive reuse of the former Great Eastern Railway Electric Light Generating Station on Shoreditch High Street, Interior Design graduate Bryony Johnson was conscious of the local impact of gentrification and wanted to highlight the less visible demographic in the area, creating a space where they felt valued and part of the neighbourhood. Charity Sirlute, her chosen client, provides a space where young people can build skills and confidence through music, and she built on this with her project, which includes a vinyl swap and recording studio that offers training and is accessible day and night.

Bryony, a mature student, completed a Foundation Year at Middlesex that led her to pursue Interiors. “Each stage of the programme was supported by excellent tutors who provided exactly the guidance needed at that point in the journey,” Bryony said. She praised the wealth of industry knowledge and life experience that all her lecturers and tutors brought and said the facilities at Hendon campus allowed her to enjoy a holistic university experience throughout her time at Middlesex.

The North London Degree Show opened with a private view on Wednesday 10 June, including a catwalk fashion presentation by BA Fashion Design graduates. A showcase by Animation students was held on Tuesday 16 June, and the BA Film graduate showcase is at the Everyman Cinema Broadgate on Tuesday 23 June. The Degree Show exhibition is open to the public from 10 - 4pm on weekdays. until Tuesday 28 July.