WALKING AND DWELLING: MAKING A DAILY PROVOCATION, BUILDING A COMMUNAL PLACE AND BECOMING AN ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

This visual essay incorporates the researcher’s own a/r/tographical living inquiry into her daily walk. Through her daily walking experience, the researcher created different provocations in order to answer the question. “How might it be possible to make time to experience being in the moment and dwelling with the natural materials whilst walking?” This research took the form of a selfstudy in which she reflected on her own daily walking and provocation journal. The researcher used two forms of arts-based research methodology; “a/r/tography as living inquiries” and “aesthetic-based research (ARB) as pedagogy”. In order to find answers to the research question, the researcher committed herself to being and dwelling, in inquiries, and to allow herself to maintain an open mind. Through this living inquiry, the researcher learned how an act of “commitment” (ongoing living inquiry) and “contiguity” helped her to understand the importance of “the relationship between art and graphy, that is between the art form and writing within or about the phenomenon”. This relational inquiry enabled her to locate herself “in the space of the inbetween to create self- sustaining interrelating identities that inform, enhance, evoke and/or provoke one another” and to become an A/r/tographer. In conclusion, this research impressed upon her the profound value of living inquiries and being in lived experiences because it has given her an awareness of the impact of the process rather than the outcomes

Keywords