Meet our student-artist: Subha Mostafiz

Introduce yourself, your process for creating art, and any tools that you use to generate art

I am Subha Mostafiz, a sophomore student at Vanderbilt University majoring in Neuroscience and Physics with a minor in Data Science. I am an International student originating from Bangladesh. My medium of art communication is Dance and I have been using that for 17 years now! I don’t have any certain way of creating art or producing any kind of creative project, but what happens in my case is that I kind of get into that topic until I come up with something. It is not like sitting at a certain place and continuously brainstorming for hours and hours. For me, the best ideas come whenever I am not concentrating solely on that, but the topic resides inside my brain so whenever I am doing something else very attentively, I kind of figure out the most creative idea at that moment for my creative project. For my Vi4 AiR project, the best and most unique idea came to me just the day before the presentation day. And for the hub project, it came just two days ago. So, it can be said that deadline creates an adrenaline rush for me. I do love to work solely on my thoughts without anyone’s input and help in creating the art too! It kind of gives me the chance to bring perfection to my work all by myself and have the chance to criticize myself rather than criticize someone else. I like to create messy pages with messy ideas to form an organized thought! I would really like to thank the Artlab and the Vi4 AiR coordinators, Dr. Kendra Oliver and Jennifer Silverman, for arranging such a unique program which, after such a long time, gave me the chance to brush up my creative thought process.

What is storytelling and its role in science communication and art?

Storytelling is the process of narrating an event, complex activity, or theory in an artistic, humorous, and uplifting way that simply signifies the important aspect of that respective agenda. Stories have the power to engage, captivate, and connect with audiences on a deep level, making complex ideas and concepts more relatable and understandable. In the context of science communication, storytelling plays a crucial role in making scientific information accessible and engaging to a wide range of audiences. Science is often complex and abstract, filled with technical jargon and intricate concepts. By framing scientific ideas within a narrative structure, scientists and communicators can create a compelling and relatable context that helps the audience grasp the significance and implications of the research. In science communication, storytelling can Engage and Connect, Simplify Complex Concepts, Create Relevance, Evoke Emotions, and Enhance Memory. In art, storytelling is equally vital. Artists use stories to convey themes, ideas, and emotions through various creative mediums such as literature, visual arts, theater, film, and music. It can convey complex emotions, preserve culture, help in social commentary, inspire imagination, and reflect and express empathy. In both science communication and art, storytelling is a powerful tool for communication and connection. It enables the conveyance of ideas, experiences, and knowledge in a way that engages the audience, creates emotional resonance, and leaves a lasting impact.

What has it been like working on the hub projects?

It was my first time working on mixing two creative projects for one singular and similar aimed hub. But at the same time, it was genuinely fun as we had been continuously brainstorming to find an idea that could include both of the projects. As both of our projects were significantly different from each other because mine was concentrated on Dance and my hub partner, Chloe’s one was on graphics art it took us a lot of time and communication to find a really good way to integrate both of the projects. I believe the communication played a major role in our case as my project was inconsistent in the case of presentation, and as Chloe’s project work did not have a definite story kind of description like mine. But ultimately coming from two different backgrounds played off really well in my perspective as we both got the chance to witness, work and integrate to different kind of art such as I contributed with still movement pictures and Chloe with her comic-art skills. But the thing that really came true in my case and made me much more interested in creative work is that procrastination gives birth to creativity. This is fact proven my studies and in my case my procrastination helped with brainstorming.