Our tailor-made arts integrated learning project “Imagination Spongebobs – Hong Kong’s Past, Present and Future” was supported and helped by Nepalese artist Sony Rai.  The project starts with  the story of Daphne Mandel, the artist who created the visual art series of Hong Kong Time Rift and Cabinets of Memories. Through storytelling and facilitation, we worked to raise the students’ cultural sensitivity and awareness and foster their sense of  commitment to the place where they were born and live. The story of a foreigner who found a sense of belonging and purpose in Hong Kong through art making encouraged the students to view their surroundings through fresh eyes and think about the changes they could imagine from the past to the future, even the tiny things that otherwise might have been forgotten.

This introduction was followed by hands-on experience that combined the appreciation of the historical photos with collage art making  in order to help students enhance their visual literacy and visual thinking skills. At the same time onsite facilitation via inquiry-based learning was designed to connect the past with the future in their personal experience and to inspire them to broaden their perspectives and imagine new possibilities in their own stories.