Drawing the body – Life Drawing with Badra Aji

Thu 16 Oct 2025
5:30pm

This is a past program.
Main exhibition gallery
$10 - $25 + GST

5.30 – 8.30pm

Join artist Badra Aji in this unique life drawing workshop coinciding with the exhibition, Tschabalala Self: Skin Tight

The drawing workshop invites participants to re-engage with drawing through a fresh and expressive lens. Designed to move beyond traditional likeness, the session focuses on the quality, character, and emotional depth of line. Through a mix of guided exercises and open exploration, participants will experiment with line, contour, and mark-making—embracing the human form as a catalyst for personal interpretation rather than technical replication.

Participants will be encouraged to tap into their own visual language, discovering new ways to translate observation into expressive forms. Whether refining existing skills or seeking new approaches, this workshop provides a rich space for creative risk-taking and artistic growth.

This workshop is part of our series of teacher professional learning programs and is open to teachers and the general public.

Learning intentions

  • Connect curriculum expectations with creative practice in real-world teaching
  • Build confidence in creative experimentation with materials and techniques to support student understanding of visual language and conceptual thinking
  • Strengthen technical skills in the use of drawing materials and techniques to communicate personal or expressive interpretations of the human form.
  • Explore the application of art elements and principles (such as line, texture, and composition) in relation to the human figure.
  • Explore how personal, cultural, and social influences shape the way we draw and interpret the human figure to support teachers to lead rich, research-informed teaching strategies.
  • Reflect on how the skills and insights from this workshop can be integrated into primary and secondary classroom practice, allowing students to explore their own expressive approaches to life drawing.
  • Support teachers to critically reflect on their own practice and student learning


Where: ACCA


Tickets:

General Public: $25
Student Teacher $10 + GST
Teacher $15 + GST
Free for regional teachers


Recommended for Primary and Secondary Visual Art Teachers. Pre-Service Teachers are also welcome.

Regional teachers: we’re pleased to be offering a limited number of free spots! To secure a limited free ticket please email ACCA Education, and tell us a little about yourself and your school community.


ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Badra Aji

Badra Aji works primarily with drawing and video. He uses his practice to contemplate his life experiences, creating work which becomes the tangible artefact of this process. Drawing from his own experience of immigrating to Australia, Aji purposefully positions the viewer as an outsider by creating a disjuncture between imagery and language. Poetic and rich in personal symbolism, his work is instilled with political undertone. 

Aji graduated from the VCA with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing and Printmaking in 2016 and has been actively exhibiting since. His work has been recognized nationally through major art prizes, including being a finalist in the Ramsay Art Prize, the Dobell Drawing Prize, and the Paul Guest Prize, as well as receiving the Majlis Travelling Scholarship.

Recommended for Primary and Secondary Visual Art Teachers and Student Teachers

AITSL Australian Professional Standards for Teachers:
Standard 2: Know the content and how to teach it
(2.1) Apply knowledge of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area to develop engaging teaching activities.Standard 6: Engage in professional learning
(6.2) Participate in learning to update knowledge and practice, targeted to professional needs and school and/or system priorities.
(6.4) Undertake professional learning programs designed to address identified student learning needs.Standard 6: Professional Engagement
Standard 6: Professional Engagement
(7.4) Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities

Generously supported by