The idea that fine art teachers are teachers because they are not successful artists, or they are teachers just because that helps to support financially their practice it is something that often one hears.

I cannot put into words the privilege that it is for me to ´teach` art. How great it is to meet my students, talk to them about art, to discuss art and see their work.

I am doing this from a personal point of view. From a point of positionally. Perhaps because I see it as an extension of my art practice.

I recently read one of the most inspiring texts about teaching in fine art: Creative curricula: Developing inclusion projects informed by states of identity, alienation, and I am lucky enough to work with the person who wrote it: Lorrice Douglas.

In this research paper, Lorrice “aims to identify some of the characteristics of alienation that culturally or ethnically diverse arts students may be vulnerable to (for example, being required to exhaustively explain one’s identity or choices), and looks at how an inclusion project might help to increase students’ quality of life on the course and their opportunities”.

The project refers “to students of colour, students of ethnically diverse backgrounds or culturally diverse backgrounds, including students perceived as white who did not identify as white British or as European.”

Lorrice writes about the influence that the tutor can have in establishing a safe and inclusive space, through talking about their own identity and their role within the institution.

Among other things, one of the reason that I liked so much what I read is because it has an element of practicality. It is something that can be put in practice within the environment in fine art.

Looking at the data presented in one of our seminars Data stories and epistemic donuts by Jheni Arboine & Siobhan Clay:

the attainment gap is improving since 2015/16, but there are still differences in the past year.

This seminar generated passionate discussion among us.

(One wouldn’t expect less then that coming from Jheni. We studied together on the MA Fine Art, the we worked together in exhibitions and are currently working on a CCW project. It is always a pleasure to be in her company.)

It is an important issue, not just for UAL, but for many institutions, to reduce the ethnicity attainment gap and to make sure that everyone feels included and has the same opportunities.

Because of my role as a tutor, and at a personal level, I feel that it is so important that I have a deeper understanding of an inclusive curriculum.

I have been expanding my artistic and teaching practice/ research beyond Eurocentric references with focus on decolonise it; as a tutor, I have been giving my students references from varied backgrounds and ethnicities.

However it is not just providing and sharing a decolonized research to the students. Lorrice writes, and I thought it was particularly insightful (my edit and emphasis in bold) that “a student might not fully utilize a resource, but (sometimes) just knowing that somebody was there who they can identify with and that the person knew them by name, could contribute towards them feeling a little less isolated.”

A few pages ahead, she adds that: her “first response to lessening alienation is to consider the territory in which it occurs: to observe diligently its dynamics, and to better understand the triggers that cause fine art students to experience it. When working within institutional settings with long associations with social hierarchies it is useful to start with an environment small enough that we can influence in a positive and inclusive way.”

There’s still a long road to walk towards a fair system, but I was very glad to see that I am working with such passionate and intelligent people. These seminars shed light into important issues of our times and this research paper shares fundamental approaches that can be used now to make a difference in the near future.