Eli Lavett

MDes Communication Design 2019

Eli Lavett is originally from New York (USA) and graduated from MDes Communication Design with a Distinction, focusing his study in a lens based Photography and moving image practice.

“In my experience, there are few things as terrifying as stepping out of your comfort zone — but by that same token, there are very few things as rewarding. My decision to leave America to study in Glasgow was one such step, and I doubt I’d be who I am today if I hadn’t taken it.

Were the GSA community less supportive, or my own cohort less tight-knit, the move across the Atlantic might’ve been a lot more difficult. But within a matter of weeks, the Glasgow School of Art — and moreover, Glasgow itself — had come to feel like a second home. The size of the course and the structure of our studies made for a student-driven environment, underlined by strong working relationships and encouragement from peers.

The artistic scene within GSA is very much a reflection of the scene within the city itself: tenacious and distinct, plucky in the face of tragedy and individual to the very end. It’s the kind of creativity that inspires, and brings the best out of people. On the MDes Communication Design course, it was this creative spirit that brought a new level of thoughtfulness to both me and my work. It armed me with the ability to tackle briefs and think more iteratively, preparing me to be not only a designer, but a professional as well.

I have GSA to thank for my many friendships and love of the UK. Equipped with a far more developed portfolio of work and sufficiently thorough understanding of design, I am continuing my academic pursuits within the country, picking up were I left off in Glasgow”.

– Eli Lavett

You can view more of Eli Lavett’s work here.

Eli Lavett is a visual artist from Brooklyn, currently based out of the United Kingdom. His work centers around analog photography, moving image, and writing in the third person. He has a BFA in Film & Television from New York University, and an graduated with Distinction from MDes Communication Design in 2019.

“…But these memories aren’t conventional, not like the way I might remember a family vacation to Mexico or graduating from the twelfth grade. They’re crisp, almost eidetic in some aspects, and hazy in others. What sticks out are the individual moments, some lasting only a fraction of a second. It’s the way these memories have imprinted themselves so deeply within my psyche that threatens to keep me up at night. A single anxious phrase uttered by my mother or father, debris sweeping over lower Manhattan like a pyroclastic flow, the bodies falling from the tower.”

The Things We Saw is a moving-image piece which is an exploration of memory and sociodrama, and how they relate to my experiences with the September 11th attacks in New York.

The photographic work is part of a serious of works documenting family roots in Malaysia and the growing tensions with migrants in the USA called Pergi Keililing Kota.