Victoria University of Wellington’s Visual Narrative Lab
Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington is Aotearoa New Zealand’s globally ranked capital city university.
To support growing interest in visual storytelling Te Herenga Waka has introduced the Visual Narrative Lab, a creative initiative that explores visual storytelling across various media. While not bound to a specific physical space, this lab serves as a conceptual hub, uniting writers and designers working in comics, animation, games, and more to shape the future of storytelling in our media-rich environment.
The initiative encourages collaboration among local storytellers, researchers, and students, focusing on visual narrative forms like comics, animation, and games. Its mission is to enhance the study and application of these mediums in research, education, and industry, welcoming cross-disciplinary projects that include world-building, video game writing, and tabletop role-playing design.
“In recent years, the Universities’ Design School has become a hotbed of research and creative activity around visual storytelling,” says Dylan Horrocks, one of the lab’s founding members and a renowned graphic novelist.
“A student’s graphic novel is set to be published in October, while others have received international awards for their comics, featured on sites like The Spinoff and Pantograph Punch. Graduates are illustrating children’s books and magazines, as well as publishing poetry journals and comics anthologies.”
To integrate professionals into the learning environment, the lab will host a variety of activities, a practice the school has consistently pursued.
To celebrate the launch, the Visual Narrative Lab hosted Message in a Bottle, an exciting cross-disciplinary panel event. Renowned creators like Jonathan King (filmmaker and comic creator), Casey Lucas-Quaid (author and game writer), Michael Sands (role-playing game designer), Ned Wenlock (animator and illustrator), and Jem Yoshioka (illustrator and comic artist) all shared insights into capturing stories across forms. Moderated by Senior Lecturer Raqi Syed, the event inspired creators from all fields.
“Our goal is to create a space where students and professionals alike can play at the boundaries of storytelling forms,” says Dr Zach Dodson, coordinator of the new Master of Fine Arts (Creative Practice) in Visual Narrative (MFA) programme.
“The new literacy of our moment is multimodal, and writers who can speak the visual and interactive language of today are poised to harness the emotional power of storytelling.”
The MFA is a unique programme in Aotearoa New Zealand that invites students to master the art of visual storytelling. Designed similarly to a creative writing degree, the MFA caters to artists who seek to craft compelling narratives using various visual media. Students will collaborate with peers from Film, Theatre, Music, and Animation to create dynamic, cross-media projects.
Find out more about tertiary study options across Aotearoa New Zealand on our Design Schools page and for more information about the Visual Narrative Lab, the MFA program, and upcoming events, visit visualnarrativelab.nz
Image by Dylan Horrocks.
