On 10th and 11th January 2020 The National Space Centre will be collaborating with Leicester College to present ‘Oddity to Mars’, an exciting and immersive exhibition dedicated to David Bowie.

Students across textiles, make-up, fashion and photography have been enlisted to collaborate on a project involving recreating the most cherished images from Bowie’s “experimental phase”, known for its fascinating and diverse visual narrative.

The task has involved each creative area developing interconnected pieces to celebrate some of Bowie’s most iconic looks including those featured on albums such as ‘Aladdin Sane’, ‘Low’ and more recently, ‘Blackstar’.

We spent some time behind the scenes with students to try and gain an insight into the project itself and how they would be putting the skills they learnt on the course into practice.

The process begins at textiles where we met students creating eye-catching individual patchwork squares to be linked as part of a larger piece and displayed at the event, each square dedicated to the reinterpretation of a different iconic David Bowie album cover.

Then, we move on to level 2 media make-up and hair students who are hard at work recreating these Bowie ‘looks’ on their fellow students using techniques in creative hair and make-up that they have learnt on their course.

‘I’ve always wanted to be involved in make-up and the course was the only one in Leicester that offered everything I wanted to do. I didn’t know about David Bowie before we started this project but it’s given me an amazing insight into how a make-up artist works’. Jess, level-2 media and make-up student.

Once the renowned Bowie album cover styles had been developed in hair and make-up, including Ziggy Stardust, Low and Aladdin Sane, it is up to level 3 photography students to capture these subjects in a backdrop of their choice around the local area. The students pick a site that would reflect the style best and direct all aspects of the shoot themselves.

When speaking to those involved, they found the aesthetic and experimental style to be an exciting opportunity to utilise their skills;

‘I have ADHD so photography lets me move away from being classroom-based and gives me the chance to be more creative. Projects like the Bowie one bring out my creative side, let me learn to use new equipment and pick up new skills to continue to make me a better photographer. I’ve heard his music but the colour of his looks is really eye-catching.’ Sahib, level 3 photography.

‘The photography for the Bowie project has let us experiment with different colours and locations, try different things and it’s put us in a good mood.’ Sabaa, level 3 photography.

If you’d like to see more of the work from our textiles, photography and hair and make-up students in this project, be sure to attend the ‘Oddity to Mars’ exhibition at The National Space Centre this Friday and Saturday from 19:00.

https://spacecentre.co.uk/event/bowie-oddity-to-mars/#NSCBowieExpo2020