‘stories are a way to convey emotion and experience’:
Meet Alexander!

This term, Story Island has welcomed a new guest artist into our school workshops  – Alexander Poljansek! Alexander is an emerging Nipaluna/Hobart-based comic artist. You may have seen his work published in (and indeed gracing the cover of) the latest edition of Island magazine, or come across his recent solo-anthology comic, Horses.

We love including visual artists in Story Island workshops. They give students the chance to have a go at different modes of storytelling, building visual storytelling skills alongside creative writing skills. Visual storytelling can be a more accessible ‘bridge’ into storytelling for some students; for others, it’s already a deep passion. Either way, having an artist in action in our workshops is a great opportunity to get some expert mentoring and inspiration, right there in the classroom.

Alexander was a natural in his first crack at the Story Island guest artist role. The Rokeby students warmed to him straight away! We have a hunch that this is because they’re around the same age that Alexander was when he first became interested in art.

‘I started drawing when I was 10 or 11 after seeing a close friend of mine get lots of attention for it! I decided that I could do that too, and soon discovered I really loved it.’

He loves visual storytelling because it combines his passion for visual arts with the tradition of telling stories, and feels that pictures are the ‘most intuitive form of communication’.  

‘For me, stories are a way to convey emotion and experience,’ Alexander says.

‘Stories allow you to connect with people and really make them feel something whether you are telling or receiving the story.

‘I love the versatility of visual communication. It can be used to speak to anyone despite their literacy level, age, language etc. – everyone can recognise and “read” pictures.’

As well as being a comic artist, Alexander is also a Media and Communications student at UTAS. With this background, he can see that there’s a lot of value in Story Island including visual storytelling skills as part of our work with young people.

‘Communication is incredibly important in life as it makes the basis of most if not all interactions you have with other people.

‘It’s very useful to be capable of communicating in many different ways and visual communication is a great tool in that arsenal.’

When it comes to inspiration for his own storytelling, Alexander draws inspiration from ‘everywhere’, and is always creating.

‘Largely the stories I tell are based on experiences I’ve had in my life, which I tweak to fit a fictional setting,’ he says.

‘I am also constantly looking at other art—whether that be paintings, movies, prose novels or comics—there are always little bits and pieces to be embraced and brought into the story.

‘I have a little notebook where I write down ideas as they come to me, which can be anywhere, and I’ll eventually go through and see if anything sticks out to me. Sometimes ideas can be used within a week, other times a couple of years can pass before they have an opportunity to shine.’

Alexander says that he loves pushing creative boundaries, sometimes using techniques that he finds interesting, but ‘that may be at odds with typical storytelling’. So he gives himself space for what he calls ‘lower stakes projects’, where he feels free to experiment and ‘really can go crazy’.

One of these is his daily comic Rockstar Mode. Alexander aims to draw a page (six panels) of this comic each day, posting the results on Instagram.

Alexander said his first workshop as a Story Island guest artist was ‘incredibly fun’:

It was so nice seeing all the kids get excited about writing and storytelling, particularly when I got to help them with some drawing. It’s amazing watching the stories flow out of kids after an initial moment of hesitation towards the start of the lesson. Even students who weren’t as comfortable writing seemed to have some good ideas after a little bit of conversing, which is great to see.

We’re thrilled to be working alongside Alexander and the Rokeby Primary students this term, and we can’t wait to see the stories that come from this dynamic collaboration!

Find more of Alexander’s work on Instagram: @hold.ye.horses