ONLINE COURSE
Multimedia Love Letter
Are you craving connection with others? When was the last time you felt seen and heard or expressed your feelings and gratitude towards your loved ones? It’s easy to feel isolated in these socially-distanced times. In this 8-session class, we will slow down together and get in touch with our senses and reflect on our relationship with ourselves and others with the goal of creating a multimedia “love letter” you can share. Through a series of prompts and exercises, students will learn visual-thinking strategies to analyze image structure and composition, practice the power of intentional gaze, and learn deep listening skills to make meaningful connections and build intimacy. We’ll utilize a blend of photography, video, text, sound, and storytelling to create a multimedia love letter using a website builder (no coding necessary).
This class will take place on a personal level; an open heart is required. This is not a technical class, but students will need a device that can record video and audio — anything from a smartphone to a Zoom recorder (we’ll go over basic recording and interviewing techniques).
Mengwen Cao is a Chinese-born, New York-based photographer, multimedia artist, and cultural organizer. As a queer immigrant, they use care and tenderness to explore the spaces between race, gender, and cultural identity. As a board member of Authority Collective and a founding member of Chinese Storytellers, Cao is championing diverse narratives and perspectives in the media industry.
Their projects have been featured in publications like The New York Times, NPR, and Neocha. They have participated in exhibitions including Photoville, Jimei Arles, and Lianzhou Foto Festival. They were selected as one of the six global talents in Asia by World Press Photo’s 6x6 program in 2020 and received NLGJA’s Excellence in Photojournalism Award in 2019. They were recognized by The Lit List in 2018 and PDN 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2019.
Mengwen teaches Multimedia Love Letter for StrudelmediaLive.