Inspire Empower Connect
See & Do is a global project promoting inclusivity based on the simple premise of ‘Monkey See Monkey Do’. For the majority of people it helps to ‘see it to be it’. There are the pioneers and trail blazers and then there are the rest of us who need a reference to inspire us to see what we can do and therefore be.
How we interpret and interact with the physical world around us is the result of how we think and that affects what we do. How we learn to use our bodies is a way of becoming members of society. Tradition lets us know what is appropriate in terms of our status, age and gender, but tradition isn’t always good for equality or health. All of this is transmitted across generations to make these mechanisms seem ‘normal’, eventually entering the realm of ‘natural’, but they are not.
Aims & Ambition: The somewhat ambitious aim of the project is to change personal and public perceptions and ideas around how and where we move. To normalise images of women being active, brave, strong, facing their fears and taking on new challenges. It is about contributing to and celebrating cultures of effort and creating a more balanced representation of activity. Monkey don’t See, Monkey don’t Do…
Inspiration: “SEE” The project will primarily focus on women by hoping to normalise images of them being active, outdoors, moving, being brave and facing their fears. See&Do documents those who are already active & creates opportunities for others to try. It is about ‘Seeing’ so that others are inspired to ‘Do’. Over time the project will widen to a larger discussion on age and sexuality as well as gender.
Empowerment: “DO” When we see what others can do it tells us that we can also therefore start to learn but sometimes it is not easy to know where or how to start. See&Do is working on developing a series of online courses to provide a way for people anywhere to know that they have a starting point. The first introductory level course ‘Strong Body Strong Mind’ will be released in Spring 2017.
Connection: None of the people featured in any of the videos, photos or blogs are any more special than the rest of us. We are all able and by sharing their stories and images we hope to connect more people to the idea of what is possible for everyone to achieve. Knowledge is power and knowing that there is someone out there who is already doing what you want to do connects us all to having a positive mindset to our own ability for creating positive change.
- The Team
- See&Do was set up and created by filmmaker, author, photographer and academic Julie Angel. Like all great creative endeavours nothing happens on its own. She invited several other talented individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds to help and support the project. MEET THE TEAM.
- How it Started
- September 2013 (that’s when I started to think about this project, it took a while but eventually the thoughts and timing to do something came together).Creating the playing field of our times. This project has been inspired by 2 events and 2 people –
1. Visual Anthropologist, climber, and friend Zofia Reych began a blog a while ago – ‘Up That Rock’. As part of this she was regularly posting photos of women climbing on her facebook group ‘Girls Go Climbing Strong‘. My almost daily exposure to these images was a joy and it was so refreshing to have the strong brave athletic accomplishments of women normlaised in my daily exposure to media. For this, I thank you Zof! …READ MORE
- Press & Media
- Julie Angel is regularly interviewed and invited to speak about See&Do as well as her own story of rediscovering the beauty of movement twelve years ago when she started researching and then training Parkour. Her transformative journey of self-improvement hasn’t stopped as she continues to explore other movement modalities and cultures such as MovNat and Buildering as well as maintaining her interest in how and where we move. Her academic background (she completed the world’s first Ph.D. on Parkour and documentary filmmaking) positions her in good stead to be equally comfortable talking to parkour practitioners, architects or consulting for the United Nations on the benefits of unregulated creative and physical play. READ MORE
- Inspiration
- We all need a little inspiration some times whether in the form of a story of success over adversity or of seeing someone our own age, size or ability achieve their goals. With words and images See&Do regularly provides inspiration and confirmation that we are able by sharing stories on the blog and images across social media from all over the world. When people ‘see’ they will begin to believe that they too can ‘do’. SEE AND READ MORE