Bio
Noah Hanyue Qin is a 4th-year student at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus (UTSC) who is taking a double major in Studio Art and Mental Health Studies. As a feminist Chinese international student who is also a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she employs this foundation for inspiration to express her thoughts through painting, drawing and video production. Creating fan art is another influence and has prompted her to experiment with different softwares and various media.
She is particularly interested in creating new meanings through alteration of different popular culture tropes. Her personal experiences with cultural differences and mental health struggles have inspired her to focus on topics of self-identification, gender equality, mental health issues and sexuality. She is the founder of Égouts de Paris Musical Club, Director of Graphic Design for jack.org UTSC, she was the Branding Director for ARTSIDEOUT2018, and was the Marketing & Public Relations Assistant for Department of Arts, Culture and Media (ACM) at UTSC during the summer of 2018. She has participated in group exhibitions at ARTSIDEOUT, 1265 Gallery and Annual ACM Studio Art Exhibition on UTSC campus.
Questionaire
Why did you get involved in this project?
I worked with professor Onodera before and trusted her recommendations. I found this project a great opportunity for me to practice my video related skills, especially under current epidemic where we are all physically distanced. The "blind" collaborate production got me excited. It gave me enough space and motivated me to complete my part in a creative manner.
Did the one week turn-around for the work help or hinder your creativity?
It definitely helped with my creativity. I'm the kind of person who needs a deadline to push me to work and finish something, otherwise I would get stuck in the finalizing stage and barely publishing anything. This collaboration method and the 1 week deadline had pushed me and inspired me to creatively respond to the previous work and produce something of mine to pass along.
How did you feel about working on a project where you didn’t know who you were collaborating with?
I think by adding onto the project that was handed to me without knowing who did the previous parts and their initial intentions, the project became really exciting and unpredictable. I felt less burdened because I had limited clips or a direction to work with, so it was easier for me to focus on being creative. This is the main drive for me to participate in this project.
Has being involved in the project changed your thoughts on creativity?
This project didn't change my thoughts on creativity because this is what I consider to be one of the ideal ways to get inspired from others while pushed myself to do as much as possible.
If you worked on several videos, what kept you coming back for more and how many did you do?
I only did 5 of them due to my tight schedule. I would say this method of working blindly while collaborating with other people who are also passionate about video production is exciting and the main reason that I kept coming back for more.