From Wangechi Mutu to Romare Bearden, Black artists employ collaging methods to assemble seemingly disparate forms and narratives that articulate the fragmentary experiences of contemporary life. As Tina M. Campt writes in A Black Gaze (2021), we view collaging as a mechanism that “produces radical forms of witnessing that reject traditional ways of seeing blackness – ways of seeing that historically depict blackness only in a subordinate relation to whiteness.”

In this interdisciplinary lesson, students will utilize public domain images and text-guided image editing (inpainting/outpainting) to develop digital collages that explore and express identity within the context of contemporary Hip Hop culture. This lesson is designed to be conducted over three sessions, but it can be modified to fit into a single session. Below are the lesson objectives:

1. Students will explore concepts of identity and how family, ancestry, ethnicity, religion or community play a part in the identity of a chosen Hip Hop artist.
2. To demonstrate an understanding of the process of “sampling" in Hip Hop, and its application in collaging.
3. Summarize in writing the intended message behind a visual work of art.

NOTE: Some Hip Hop-related resources might include explicit content. Be sure review all to determine classroom appropriateness.

PREREQUISITES: This lesson is best completed following lessons on prompt design amd traditional collaging techniques. DOWNLOAD THE HIP HOP LESSON PLAN (PDF)

VIEW THE FULL DOCUMENT HERE

Session 1 introduces students to the lesson's key concepts: Hip Hop and modes of identification, and the process of digital collaging using advanced text-guided image editing (inpainting/outpainting) in Adobe Firefly.

1. Invite students to share names of Hip Hop artists that they believe are relevant/important for young people to know. Write ALL responses on the board.
2. Listen carefully to students’ responses and validate their contributions. Ways to do this involve connecting a response with an artist mentioned by other students, or linking a response to trending news about the artist.

Ask the following questions. Write/use stickers/draw students' responses next to the artist's name on the board. You may ask ALL questions, in part or adjust as needed.

1. Share a word that comes to mind when you think of (insert artist name).
2. How does their family/ethnicity/religion/location influence their (insert artist name) identity?
   
   For Educator: Please mention ONLY ONE of the aforementioned influences per question.
3. What objects/places/textures/shapes/colors do you associate with (insert artist name)?
   
   For Educator: Please mention ONLY ONE of the aforementioned associations per question.
4. What makes (insert artist name) (dis)similar to (insert another artist's name)?

1. SHARE: Now that we've explored the various elements that contribute to the identity of our chosen Hip Hop artists, we can visually represent these various elements in a single collage. Just as traditional collages combine different physical materials to tell a story, digital collaging allows us to assemble and layer images and text.
2. SHOW: A completed digital collage. Discuss how the collage incorporates various visual elements to convey the artist's identity. For students who have completed prior lessons in principles of design, focus on those principles. Otherwise, leave the discussion open-ended.
3. ASK: What images were used to create this collage? How are the images arranged? What message do you think is conveyed with this collage?

1. Use an image search engine (Google Images/Internet Archive/Wikimedia Commons/Flicker) to find a portrait of a Hip Hop artist. Ask students to suggest a name.
2. Save the image with a unique name for easy retrieval.
3. Open Adobe Firefly, upload the saved image to Adobe Firefly, and emphasize the technical focus: two functions that allow for the addition, subtraction and substitution of visual elements in semantically plausible ways.
4. Outpainting Demonstration: To fill in external regions. Explain that outpainting is a technique used to generate plausible visual content beyond the boundaries within vertical/horizontal directions.
   
   Demonstrate how to use outpainting to extend the image and create new visual elements around the existing portrait.
   
   Always begin with outpainting to expand the canvas and work area. Once canvas is expanded, inpaint over the original and artificially expanded regions.
5. Inpainting Demonstration: To fill in internal regions. Explain that inpainting is a technique executed within the boundaries of an existing image. The process entails adding, modifying or substituting regional visual attributes by searching for plausible replacements using text-based instructions while keeping the rest of the image intact.
   
   Demonstrate how to use inpainting to edit and enhance specific regions within the image.
   
   Go to our guide to inpainting and outpainting in Adobe Firefly. Our guide is process based and therefore can be applied to other text-guided image editting tools.

Once images are saved, share the conceptualization worksheet (see link below). The worksheet prompts students to articulate their reasons for choosing a specific artist, provide citations for the downaloaded portrait (link/website name/photographer name) and outline preliminary ideas for visual elements that will constitute inpainting/outpainting regions.

OPTIONAL: Play instrumental tracks of clean, contemporary Hip Hop music in the background while students develop collage. DOWNLOAD THE CONCEPTUALIZATION WORKSHEET

Begin the lesson by stating session 2 goals: to generate the collages conceptualized in session 1 using localized and/or globalized inpainting and outpainting while preserving visual attributes in the original input image.

1. ASK: What visual characteristics might students modify? What visual attributes might exist beyond the confines of an image? In what ways might students expand the image? Horizontally? Vertically? Write ALL responses on the board.
2. Listen carefully to students’ responses and validate their contributions. Ways to do this involve connecting a response with modifications mentioned by other students.

1. Repeat session 1 demo: outpaint to lay out canvas, then inpaint to add, subtract or substitute visual elements. For students who have completed prior lessons in principles of design, focus on those principles. Otherwise, leave open-ended.
2. Develop three distinct collages with no less than five visual elements generated using inpainting and outpainting.
3. Save each collage with a unique name for easy retrieval.
4. Ensure files are saved/submitted in shared folder with Educaator access. The files will be printed for the next session.

OPTIONAL: Play instrumental tracks of clean, contemporary Hip Hop music in the background while students complete the worksheet.

Student evaluation remains indispensable. Following the execution, students will evaluate the collage for text-image alignment and reconstruction fidelity.

1. Formative
2. Summative