Simo Capecchi, Italy

Simonetta Capecchi completed her PhD degree at the University of Naples (Italy) in Architectural Drawing and she works as an illustrator. Simonetta has lectured and lead free-hand drawing courses for ten years at the Architecture Faculty of the University of Naples. She has been an instructor in Urban Sketchers Symposiums of Portland, Lisbon, Santo Domingo and Paraty. She holds Urban Sketchers Workshops annually in Naples and Volterra (Tuscany). Her sketchbooks have been included in many international exhibitions and featured in edited collections. She is a correspondent for Urban Sketchers from Naples, where she lives.

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Workshop Q: A Collective Reportage: Religions and Popular Devotion in Multicultural Singapore

Location: Waterloo St (Indian Temple)

Holding a sketchbook, drawing where people are working, playing or gathering, is a great chance to deal with a place and to get a closer connection with people around us, a good start for observing reality and telling a story. Drawing can be the best way we have to describe a place, to observe a phenomenon, to record an event or share a point of view. In this workshop we’ll focus on how to enhance the storytelling aspect of our sketches.

In Singapore I’m fascinated by the many religions that reflect the variety of cultures coexisting in the city. This can be a good subject for a sketched collective reportage. While in my last Symposium workshop we all reported the same process (the making of a liquor in a local distillery) with our many personal ways, this time in Singapore each one of us can report on a different aspect and together we can compose a more complete reportage,made of multiple points of view and approaches.

Popular devotion is an important aspect to understand a society and a country. In Waterloo street four religions are represented: Buddhism, Hinduism, Hebraism and Catholicism, and two Islam mosques are nearby. In a limited area we have different architectures to explore, various rituals and people to observe, and hopefully to be interviewed. Our group can work inside and around a single temple – each one can choose different views or details and find people to interview – or we can split in smaller groups, to draw in different temples and churches along the street: the Indian Sri Krishna Temple, the Chinese Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Maghaim Aboth Synagogue and St Peter and St Paul church.

Observe and interview people and/or report their own words, with clouds or texts next to their portraits is a very important part of the reportage. Drawings of different size can be combined on the same page, as to alternate details and general views. Creating a balance between drawings and texts, we give a rhythm to our sequence. A repetitive format or a variety of compositions can be adopted. We can complete the reportage collecting ephemera and other references to be glued on the page. 

More details.

For more information about the Symposium, including schedule and registration information, please visit the Symposium site.