Akossi Kouadio chose Student in the Telecourse Center for plenty of reasons, but two main reasons stood out: composition and context.
"I really liked the composition of the photo; the setup of the individual and the TV," he said. "What also interested me was how the context of the photo isn't entirely clear. The person could be writing for many reasons [while] referring to the program they are viewing."
The photograph tugged at his interests and motivated him to branch away from his usual cartoon-like, stylized approach and explore realism with graphite pencils, woodless graphite pencils, and graphite powder.
While working on this project, he kept jumping back and forth between feeling proud of it and hating it — a common struggle among artists and creators alike. Once he was done, he came away with one important lesson: "I simply need to trust the process and see it to the end."
Unknown
c. 1970s
Black-and-white photography
A student watching a video at the Telecourse Center, which was located on the second floor of the Hagemeyer Learning Resources Center. Telecourses were self-paced educational programs recorded on videotape for students to watch at home or on campus and used in combination with related readings and assignments. Some of the subjects available as telecourses included living skills, American politics, consumer education, fundamentals of writing, and general psychology.
Akossi Kouadio
2023
Graphite pencils, woodless graphite pencils, and graphite powder on drawing paper (18 x 24 in)
Akossi chose graphite in Repeat After Me to achieve a more realistic, detailed quality and used a variety of techniques to plot the composition, create precise yet subtle lines, and obtain different values to enhance the depth.
Akossi Kouadio started creating and exploring his artistic side as a young child. Today, his go-to medium is digital and describes his style as cartoony and stylized. Kouadio is currently pursuing an Associate in Fine Arts degree at Central Piedmont Community College, where he decided to further his education after receiving High School Equivalency (HSE) instruction. He plans to work towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in digital media at another institution and eventually pursue a career as an animator.