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Writing workshop
I welcome everyone into the workshop.
With my students there’s no need to introducing each other so we chat informally for a few minutes.
We start 5 min after with the icebreaker.
They write uninterruptedly for 5 minutes about anything that comes to their mind. Some of my students wrote about the weather, their breakfast, their cats, their mental health, what they could see from their window.
We share. There’s often crossovers and it makes it a good introduction of writing and personal.
we go for the next exercise.
Choose a paragraph from a piece of text (it can be a stanza of a poem, a chorus of a song, a paragraph from book, a sentence from a review). It can be from a book you are reading now; from an exhibition you saw last week, etc.
You start by copying exactly what is written and then you continue what´s written in the same style, the same tense with the idea of incorporating your interests.
We then share with each other and this opens up a conversation of ways of writing. What forms of writing can we do in our practices?
We also posted what are the emojis that we most use =)
We then move one to the exercise that is making their writing and practice.
I encourage the students to write while they are discussing the topics and to finalise it at home.
Some of the topics are from the Unit Guidelines of Unit 3 BA Fine Art and some are from a session on PGCert by Laura Knight.
Reflective Report
Vlog, listen and see clicking on the link: The Reflective Report on the Artefact on Post-humanism.
Bibliography:
Active Dashboards. (2022) Attainment Rates. Available at: https://dashboards.arts.ac.uk/dashboard/ActiveDashboards/DashboardPage.aspx?dashboardid=29c2e5b2-f8c5-4c3b-a5ad-5a27ad4ace4b&dashcontextid=637782926407938749&resetFilt=true. (Accessed: 20 July 2022)
Aloi, G. (2022) ´”The Milk of Dreams”: A Posthuman Revolutions at the 59th Venice Biennale`. Flash Art. 55. (No.339, Summer), 35.
Donszelman, B. (2015) ´Art college and the postcolonial encounter: Student diversity within he “sociality of learning`. In Hatton, K. (ed) Towards an Inclusive Arts Education. London: Trentham Books, 104.
Friere, P. (1970) ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’. London: Continuum
HAVILAN, V. S. (2008) ´Things get glossed over: rearticulating the silencing power of whiteness in education`, University of Michigan. Article first published online: February 1, 2008; Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487107310751 (Accessed: 12 July 2022).
Idowu, Dr Bernadine (2022), ´Decolonising Higher Education, by Dr Danielle Tran, Dr Bernadine Idowu and Nelly Kibirige` . MA – PGcert cross-programme session, UAL, Online
Jackson, L. Dialogic Pedagogy for Social Justice: A Critical Examination. Stud Philos Educ 27, 137–148 (2008). Published: 29 January 2008. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-007-9085-8 (Accessed: 22 July, 2022).
Leanne Grice, (2022). Student learning, Understanding the impact and effectiveness of Unit 1 on the overall student experience, UAL Education Conference 2022, 12 July Online.
Knight, L. (2022) ‘Visualising Practices’. MA/PGCert Academic Practice, UAL, Online.
McMillan, M. (2015) ´Pedagogy of the workshop: An “Expert-intuitive” practice`. In Hatton, K. (ed) Towards an Inclusive Arts Education. London: Trentham Books, 78-80.
Shades of Noir (2020) ‘Creating Safe Spaces’ Available at: https://issuu.com/teachingwithinson/docs/creating_safe_spaces_2018_web (Accessed: 22 July 2022).
Race
What is race? Accordingly to the Critical Race Theory (CRT), “race and races are products of social thought and relations. Not objective, inherent, or fixed, they correspond to no biological or genetic reality; rather, races are categories that society invents, manipulates, or retires when convenient. People with common origins share certain physical traits, of course, such as skin color, physique, and hair texture. But these constitute only an extremely small portion of their genetic endowment, are dwarfed by that which we have in common, and have little or nothing to do with distinctly human, higher-order traits, such as personality, intelligence, and moral behaviour.”
Our first resource is the Shades of Noir (SoN).
It has been great to learn more and more about SoN. It is a very rich resource, with different information and rooted on human experience. In a very short description, it was created by Aisha Richards and it is an independent program that supports: Curriculum design; Pedagogies of social justice through representation; Cultural currency; Accessible knowledge
I have known Shades of Noir since last year, when I was working with the tutor Ocean Baulcombe-Toppin and she shared with me a few links of the online resources. This year I have been having the opportunity to delve into it and research the work it has been done through them. I had already the opportunity to share the terms of reference from SoN around disability with one of my students who was working about issues of inclusion and accessibility.
Throughout this year, I have been advising my students to create their own glossary of terms that are meaningful or interesting for them and, as an example, I showed them the SoN key terms.
I found inspiring listen to Dr Bernadine, on the MA – PGcert cross-programme session on ‘Decolonising Higher Education’, by Dr Danielle Tran, Dr Bernadine Idowu and Nelly Kibirige, when Dr Bernadine said to talk to the students:”ask the students rather than make them feel they need to fit the pocket; ask the students what they want.”.
Reflecting on how can I integrate the research/work students are doing in this subject, I have been emphasising with my students the benefits of peer reviews “Feedback from peers is more likely to be given in language they can understand and causes them to review and question their personal beliefs. Peer feedback may be available more speedily than tutor feedback, and ensures they gain more than one perspective on their work.”(p.29, The Higher Education Academy, 2013). Every term, there’s a session on peer feedback, here the students have the opportunity to share their work in progress and discuss it with their colleagues.
In addition, at the end of each Unit I ask the students for feedback, e.g: something they liked about the unit and something they didn’t like, or they feel it can be changed. I feel that there’s so much value on the thoughts that the students have.
The second resource, A Pedagogy of Social Justice Education: Social Identity Theory, Intersectionality, and Empowerment by Aaron J. Hahn Tapper
Social Identity Theory (SIT) “recognizes the disparities in societal opportunities, resources, and long-term outcomes among marginalized groups”.
One of the core pillars/theory behind this pedagogy from Paulo Freire and his notions on social justice. Freire “contends that education provides venues for students to achieve freedom, both intellectual and physical—the indispensable condition for the quest for human completion”. To do so, Freire underlines that the students ´identities have to be taken in consideration while, the programmes aim to have students teaching each other about “social identities and and intergroup dynamics using critical thought. Here the role of the teacher is facilitating and “guiding students through the process”.
Further down it is explored the relation between Social Identity Theory and Intergroup Encounters. In 1954, Allport come out with one of the fist theories from the field of intergroup education called the contact hypothesis. This theory presupposed that “if individuals identifying with particular groups in conflict interact with one another in a positively structured environment, they have an opportunity to reevaluate their relations with one another such that one-time enemies can become acquaintances or even allies.”
Over time there has been more critiques than support to this theory with arguments such as “if an intergroup encounter is superficial, the interaction will at best be problematic and at worst will leave the two groups in a state of poorer relations than before the contact took place”…”Sometimes such non ideal environments create situations where an intentionally designed encounter results in physical violence between two groups where previously there existed only verbal aggression or no visible relation whatsoever.”
Schollars such as Gordon Allport and Bernard Kramer say that these encounters have to reflect equality. However, others assert that even if all the conditions are equal, “the reality outside the room cannot be controlled, which inevitably shape power dynamics within any given experiment for the works”.
It suggested that it is missing “an exploration of social identities (in contrast to individual identities), power relations, and the relationship between the two (Sonnenschein, Halabi, and Friedman 1998; Abu-Nimer 1999; Maoz 2000a, 2000b; Halabi 2004b).”
In conclusion, The Pedagogy of Social Justice Education is committed to a “moderate form of SIT” which “posits that intergroup encounters must be approached in and through students larger social identities”, since these “structured intergroup encounters reflect or are influenced by the dynamics that exist between the communities… in the larger societies.”
I understand that the reality outside cannot be controlled, however what can I do in my classroom to support social justice?
Considering intergroup education reminded me of one event that I believe it was very successful this year on the Y1 BA fine Art – the fête – it took place before the off site shows. Here the students had an opportunity to speak with other groups, and with tutors about the shows; Advertise their shows to other groups and gather information about other shows; Circulate to see what other groups are doing, co-ordinate private views with them; and organise cross-overs for crits with other groups.
The students were were organised in groups chosen by themselves with similar identities, affinities or common practices. At They felt responsible and for the organisation, because they produced lovely flyers and cooked amazing food. I felt even though, it was in a very institutional room the students were at ease and felt ownership on their actions.
Yesterday, I had the privilege to help with a session on Social Justice organised by Miriam Elgon. In the first part of the session, led by Jheni Airbone, we were asked to introduced ourselves through the lens of Nature, for example, saying the season where we were born; the context of nature in our childhood; How important it is to us now and in what way are we contributing to minimise climate change, etc. Everyone was so at peace introducing themselves. It was so inspiring to listen to what others have to say. That immediately establish common ground. And from then on collaboration have started.
I was thinking that it is such a lovely ice breaker too, that I might do it with my students.
After that there was case studies in harassment and racism. This was discussed in groups and after that ideas to create a policy were discussed. I feel this should be extended to all the courses and each course should reflect on their polices.
Or next resource is Witness: unconscious bias by Josephine Kwhali, part of the UCU black members’ standing committee oral history project.
Josephine questions the unconscious bias in this era, after so many policies and strategies, increasing diversity, what it will take to the unconscious to become conscious? And, if it is unconscious it is a concern and she asks what else do we have to do?
Institutions consciously made some changes to address certain issues like gender representation to improve their profile, however not enough to reach out for example to black minority women or working class women. Josephine says that a “little bit of consciousness might be very welcome” as someone that is black and women.
This made me think of what Professor Shirley Anne Tate and Damien Page wrote about unconscious bias in Whiteliness and institutional racism: Hiding behind (un)conscious bias.: “unconscious bias is an alibi to diminish the recognition, analysis and salience of white supremacy in order to maintain it. This alibi is a wilful silencing which as a political act maintains white innocence at the same time as it enables a white ‘will to forget’ anti-Black and people of colour racism.”
In the same article, one way of dealing with these issues, suggested by Charles Mills (1997), Sullivan and Tuana (2007:2): “[…] tracing what is not known and the politics of such ignorance should be a key element of epistemological and social and political analyses, for it has the potential to reveal the role of power in the construction of what is known and provide a lens for the political values at work in our knowledge practices. […] [We should pay attention to] the epistemically complex processes of the production and maintenance of ignorance.”
Throughout the short videoJosephine Kwhali unveils that she become aware of racism at the age of 4. I was are left with the question how did this happened?
Our next resource is Art and Design is‘Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design’ Finnigan and Richards 2016.
“Art and design is one of the disciplines with the highest percentages of students leaving with no award (6%) with a disproportionate difference between White students (6%) and Black student groups (Black British Caribbean 9%, Black or Black British African 13%, other Black backgrounds 10%). “
Three main questions emerge from this research linked to specifically to Art and Design:
Why do particular background characteristics of students create disadvantage across the Art and Design disciplinary context? What is happening within the subject discipline of Art and Design to heighten levels of vulnerability leading to lower continuation and or lower attainment rates? What types of activities and interventions are taking place to impact the over-arching differing attainment and retention of students of colour in Art and Design subjects?”
As a tutor group leader on the first year of the BA fine Art, am I contributing to decrease those numbers mentioned ahead? And what am doing?
Going back again to the MA – PGcert cross-programme session on ‘Decolonising Higher Education’, by Dr Danielle Tran, Dr Bernadine Idowu and Nelly Kibirige, now that we are reaching the end of this academic year I am reflecting on each question below, in the TRAAC framework by Dr Danielle Tran:
I have been reflecting, since the beginning of the academic year on the assessment part of the course and how can I make sure I am supportive to the students and fair.
On 4.4. Assessment in Art and Design it is discussed that the group crit is a core practice on assessment and feedback is given in front of an audience.
“The ‘crit’ can be a very intimidating experience for the students, although it is a formative opportunity for them to gain feedback on their work. The ‘crit’ should be seen as a process wherein the community supports the individual to create their work. The work of Blythman, Orr and Blair (2009) which critiques this assessment process also provides a useful guide for Art and Design tutors to use to make more explicit this form of assessment and for it to be used in a more supportive way.
All in all, this form of assessment could have some part to play in the retention and attainment of Art and Design students across the three years, but specifically within the first year of their studies.”
I feel I still have a long way to learn, and perhaps it will be a continuous journey throughout my academic practice. However, I remember being a student and thinking that words matter. And there were words from tutors that really helped me taking my practice further and gave me confidence in risk taking, while others just shut me down and diminished my self-esteem. I feel that next year, in my tutor groups I will talk about the crit, what it is and how it can be helpful. I will also talk about ways of encouraging peers to explore further and critiquing the work in a positive way.
Thinking and questioning now the “pedagogy of ambiguity”in 4.2. Art and Design pedagogies.
I wonder if it has to be counter balanced with doing something the students feel comfortable doing. Too much ambiguity can be counterproductive? And is this ambiguity favouring a certain class of students already confident in themselves? What about less confident students, that too much uncertainty could only cause stress?
In the report it is written that “… students in their first year of study are constantly looking for certainty and reassurance, while staff are encouraging ambiguity and risk taking and expecting a tacit knowledge of how the subject is delivered. They rely on their tutors for guidance and for evaluation of the quality of their work. ”
Thinking about certainty and reassurance at the same time of embracing ambiguity reminded me of a conversation I had with a fine art colleague: we were talking about the idea of encouraging the students on the 1st year to not finish a single work and keep experimentation on. To be specific in the brief, to keek experimentation and researching on all the time during the first year. We haven´t reach a conclusion, but we were wondering if brief like this could work.
O que é isso do privilégio branco? / What is that of the white privilege?
There’s a different feeling when reading in Portuguese. The words have a different meaning and there’s definitely a better understand of concepts that go beyond words such as white privilege. Words whose meaning goes beyond finding synonyms.
It is difficult to explain but if one things that the issue is not being address in the UK, in other countries like Portugal it is miles away from here.
The history, the museums, the schools do not mention slavery, colonialism, or at least the whole story, the statues in the cities show the conquests but not the oppression.
My favourite uncle, Henrique Souto who, born in Mozambique, who unfortunately passed away in 2014 a few months before I emigrated to the UK was one of my biggest sources of inspiration. We would talk for hours about racism and his life. He was a senior Lecturer at University, but when he arrived to Portugal, he said that “they put me to clean bathrooms because I was black”. He was one of the most intelligent people I ever met and I am very grateful that I had him in my life.
The article by M.Lima (who I would like to know more about, but a simple google search was not enough) resonates with me for the obviously reason that is written in Portuguese but also because I felt identified with what was written there. It was great to be able to read it in Portuguese. I underlined above the words I felt identified because the author also talks about the opposite: of feeling that one does not belong because the colour of their skin, language or class, for example.
It was good having this feeling, how great a Portuguese person talking about the things that I am also talking about too! I am reading what this person wrote and I feel it is so inspiring!
It made me think that my colleagues and my students should have the same feeling too. They should have the opportunity to feel inspired when they attend classes, they should have the opportunity to feel they belong when they see, talk or listen to people.
As the author wrote “dizer que todas as pessoas brancas são racistas pose serious um erro e pode ofender mute gente, embora eu como mulher branca e ativista antirracista esteja disposta a admitir que a minha socialização, o meu crescimento, enquanto branca em Portugal me condicionou de tal modo que é provável que involuntariamente o seja. É a minha opinião que espresso com tristeza embora sem sentimento de culpa.
Mas dizer que todas as pessoas brancas são privilegiadas não é uma opinião, é um facto. Esse privilégio só desaparecerá quando houver uma mudança profunda… . Mas é possível abdicar já de um outro privilégio que é o do silêncio.” *
*”To say that all white people are racist might be a mistake and might offend many people, although I, as a white woman and an anti-racist activist, am willing to admit that my socialization, my growth, as a white person in Portugal, conditioned me in such a way that it is likely that I am unintentionally. It is my opinion which I express with sadness but without feeling of guilt.
But to say that all white people are privileged is not an opinion, it is a fact. This privilege will only disappear when there is a profound change… . But it is possible to give up another privilege, which is that of silence.”
Bibliography
Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic. 2001. Critical race theory. New York University Press.
Finnigan, T. and Richards, A., (2016) ‘Retention and attainment in the disciplines: art and design’. York: Higher Education Academy, Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/retention-and-attainment-disciplines-art-and-design (Accessed: 28 June 2022).
HEA Feedback toolkit, 2013. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/hea-feedback-toolkit (Accessed: 29 June 2022)
Tate, S.A. and Page, D. (2018) ‘Whiteliness and institutional racism: Hiding behind (un) conscious bias’. Ethics and Education, 13(1), pp.141-155. Available at: https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/4621/1/WhitelinessandInstitutionalRacismAM-TATE.pdf (Accessed: 29 June 2022).
Shades of Noir [website] (2010) Available at: www.shadesofnoir.org.uk (Accessed: 29 May 2022).
Shades of Noir (2018) ‘Peekaboo we see you: Whiteness’. Available at http://shadesofnoir.org.uk/peekaboo-we-see-you-whiteness/ (Accessed: 29 June 2022).
Faith
I’ve come across the Quiet Capsule Design Project – CSM when I was pregnant, back in 2019. My days while working in the Learning Zone were long and sometimes would finish late. At that time, the Learning Zone didn’t have an office and once, I used the Quiet Capsule Design Project to rest.
Having been a founder member of the Studio and Project Space Maxilla in West London, a space for artists and the community around, my main thinking was to create a space with a sense of belonging and community based. I am aware that working within buildings that have a certain history can trigger reactions and exclusion. Often the universities spaces and the rooms are linked with questions of power and hierarchies and my first steps to reduce those reactions is to consider the environment for my sessions with my students; I arrange the space where everyone is at the same level and I sit side by side with my students.
Lorrice Douglas, a senior lecturer and my colleague on the fine art course wrote “The fundamental nature of alienation is feeling somehow different and unsure of where to turn to for connection and understanding from others. In terms of the arts education environment it can mean avoiding situations that may be (anticipated as) further damaging or disparaging, for example shared studio spaces, workshops or showing up for crits. It can mean seeing or even knowing one’s commonalities with others and at times enjoying these, but also experiencing them as all too fleeting. It is feeling unsure of acceptance. If one is experiencing alienation, the risk of taking part in activities with people one feels one shares little ‘common ground’ with can feel like a gamble. What as arts educators can we do to lessen this?” (Douglas, 2018).
In our next resource, Religion in Britain, the Multiculturalism section reflects on an up to date concept of equality, that is based on the respect for difference and accommodation of the difference in the public space. Here, it highlights that “Instead of creating a sharp distinction between the public sphere of rights and civic relations and a private sphere (of male–female relations, sexual orientations or religious beliefs), we acknowledge that the public sphere reflects various norms and interests of, for example, masculinity, heterosexuality, Anglophones, Christians, and that equality therefore requires the abandonment of the pretence of ‘difference-blindness’ and allowing others, the marginalised minorities, to also be visible and explicitly accommodated in the public sphere”.
In the public sphere section, mentions a growing presence of non-Christian religions or Christian churches as a result of immigration. Further on, it says that “Higher education institutions will need to ensure that members of minority faiths are treated with appropriate respect and accommodation by other students and staff”. However, there is little understanding on religion now days in higher education and a new concept emerged because of that – “religious literacy”. As stated in here, “Many decision-makers in Britain today are ‘illiterate’ when it comes to people of faith and their motivations and symbolic worlds.”. As a way forward ‘religious literacy’ must not be understood in a narrowly religious way but in a context of wider social divisions and group power relations, especially racism, ethno-religious exclusions and inclusions, and the struggle for multicultural equality.
In the Religion and dissent in universities section it was interesting to read and to reflect on how it an be liberating for some students the discussion of different ‘non-binary’ sexual and gender identities but it can also be unsettling for others. How can we foster a spirit of discussion while making everyone feel welcome and included? “Gender and sexuality are challenging issues for universities that struggle to combine respect for religion with clarity that a lack of respect or denigration based on gender or sexuality cannot be countenanced.” It was interesting, further one, to read that many students are supportive and welcoming of sexual minorities and “are active in efforts to secure harmony among different religious groups…”. After reading this, I feel that more of this dialogue should happen in the classroom too, as a way of promoting sharing and give origin to new knowledge.
Reflecting on how can I accommodate this in my practice, I would like to share the following: as a teacher I keep detailed records of my students progress and needs and what they are researching and interests. These records include daily interests they share with me, ideas around their research and body of practice but they also include aspects of their lives like whether they have a part time job and their religion. Recently this was important as a student of mine; assessed by another tutor, was on the evidence given not achieving as well as I would have expected; but I also knew that she had been fasting as part of her faith, and she had started a part time job and this had had an impact on her studies. This knowledge also informs my aims to be as inclusive as possible.
For next year, i will mention that the students can tell me, if the want, if they have a festival or a religious celebration, during the academic year. I will also print a multi faith calendar, as suggested on SoN, around Faith.
I will have soon the Unit 4 presentations, groups of 4 or 5 students and I was very inspired by the article “How Do I Create Safe Spaces for My Students in Class”in the The Little Book of Big Case Studies . Based on option 2: set rules at induction, I will create a set of rules adapted to their Uni4 presentations and I will email my students in advance.
The Little Book of Big Case Studies around Faith was created in 2017, making also reference to the times lived around that time. I was living in the Lake District in 2016 doing an art residency, when the Brexit vote happened, and I remember seeing around propaganda against emigration. Being an emigrant myself, I am aware of stereotypes and feelings of exclusion of not fitting within a certain kind of environment, or how certain questions make one feel uncomfortable.
Every time I say my name, people always say I am Spanish, for example. I understand it does not come from a bad place.
The terms of reference from Shades of Noir around Faith resonates with me immediately, when in the Note from Jeannine Hill Fletcher she describes what religion can be.
At home, back in Portugal we talked a lot about religion. I was raised catholic, baptised, attended Sunday School, first communion and confirmation. Mum is a women of faith. She deeply believes in God and she practices her faith. She also attends the church and has a praying group. The way mum describes her praying and her practice of faith, others would call it meditation. And I believe religion, like Jeannine Hill Fletcher says, provides mum deep wisdoms and has allowed her to discover herself in a deeper way.
Dad is an atheist. Or, he become one. He attended boarding school in Portugal (grandma wanted him to become a priest), and he was obligated to go to the church. He is not as happy as mum is, though.
I don’t have faith in God. But I believe there is something spiritual that can be nurtured and cultivated. Often I say to mum that she is blessed by God and maybe one day I will be too.
I respect all other religions, perhaps because at home we are very open to discuss these issues and mum and dad always discussed these issues. I am very conscious of my positionality and I really don’t want to put off any students of being open to talk about their faith by my position.
My approach to talk about this issue is gentle and non judgmental. If, at the moment, I don’t have faith, I am also the first to say that maybe one day that will change.
Nonetheless, it can also emphasises stereotypes. Looking at the drawings of Paula Rego, who died recently and whose life will be deeply missed
This leads me to my last resource goes to the lecture by the philosopher and cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah Reith lecture on Creed, who says that when considering religion we overestimate the importance of scripture and underestimate the importance of practice. He breaks down religion in three ways: what you do, who you do it with, and finally, belief.
Again, this made me think again about mum and how her energy is so bright and enthusiastic when she comes back from her community and practice praying group.
One of the most interesting parts is when the audience starts to ask questions and Kwame Anthony Appiah Reith argues that texts are often contradictory and have been interpreted in different ways at different times and talks about fundamentalism as a modern phenomena.
I would like to finalise this last post remembering Paula Rego, who will be deeply missed, and her series of ten pastels inspired by a political event in Portugal, that nevertheless, it is linked with religion.
The abortion series were made as a direct response to her anger following the “No” vote for the legalisation of abortion in Portugal in 1998. In 1940, Portugal signed a Concordat with the Vatican under which ´women were instructed to emulate the Virgin Mary, both culturally and maternally. These attributes of femininity were laid down in governmental statutes essentially insisting upon women’s submission to a domestic, obedient and chaste life. The Language of the Vatican Concordat with Portugal is instructive
Women’s work outside the family sphere disintegrates home life, separates its different members and makes them strangers to each other… Life in common disappears; the work of educating the children suffers and families become smaller… We consider that it is the man who should labour (sic) and maintain the family and we say that the work of the married women outside her home, and similarly that of the spinster who is member of the family, should not be encouraged.”`. (Waugh, 2013)
Joining the European Union, in 1986, has meant that more information about contraception is available, however, the values of the Catholic Church have still an enormous an influence.
These works by Paula Rego deal with the fact of women not being allowed to make decisions regarding their own existence.
While, I do agree that religion has strong benefits for the community, there is still so much to do for women’s rights.
Disability
The film by Christine Sun Kim, A Selby Film, is a beautiful, poetic and sound immersive film.
When I first watched the film, I thought of how important is to discover one´s vocation and how important is to be given that opportunity.
Christine was able to explore the world through art; Her film was an immersive experience in terms of sound and colour. Dealing with personal and important issues of our era. Through a personal experience, Christine addresses a bigger issue that so many people face – the barriers that the world has. Starting at home. I love how honest she is, opening up about her childhood and how difficult it was for her to learn a language because her parents were learning sign language and english at the same time, and because of that it was very confusing to her.
One of the parts that most resonated with me was when Christine talks about that “there were all this conventions about what was proper sound.” and people would tell her to be quiet. This is especially moving for me because it touches on a personal experience. It is really hard when people are not empathetic with you and dictate what you can or cannot do. Having been there my self, through a personal experience with my younger brother, although a different situation, there are so many conventions, or ways of doing things that exclude people if they are disabled or neurodiverse.
The film has both sign language and subtitles, which made me feel included and I was able to understand Christine.
Thinking of my teaching practice, I encourage my students to bring their own life and to reflect on their lives and on their uniqueness. I do this inviting them first to bring their “daily life” as research: for example, it can be a conversation they have with their family or friends, a meal, a smell, a film, an experience.
In my tutorials, one of the main things I have been trying to focus, when giving examples of other artists for my students to look at, is to present neurodiverse artists and people with disabilities and/or practices who work with neurodiverse groups.
I first come across with Judith Scott’s sculptures through the book by by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity.
Judith Scott Scott, who is the frontispiece to Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick´s book, showed interest in art after a workshop where she was introduced to the medium fibre art. Scott was self-directed and her wrapped sculptures, as you can see in the images, in the shapes of cocoons, were made from found materials. She created nearly 100 sculptures. And she died in 2005. Scott suffered from Down Syndrome and was also deaf, a condition that was misdiagnosed as mental retardation until she was an adult.
This leads me to the second resource, the UAL Disability Service Webpages, and it makes me think what is the university doing to include disable people and to make them feel welcome.
In the disability page we can find information about Individual Support Agreement (ISA)
“ISAs are informed by the social model of disability, which says that individuals are disabled by environmental, attitudinal, or procedural barriers, rather than by their impairment or difference. This means that the focus of the ISA is on practical steps which can be taken to remove barriers, rather than providing medical or personal information about a student.“
At the beginning of the year, in my tutor groups, I go through the UAL page of Disability and dyslexia -I show my students how can they have access and if they would like or have any doubts I am available to talk. Again, when I have the first tutorial with them, I asked them if they are aware of any disability and if at any point of the course they need or want support they can talk to me or the disability adviser.
I also keep a track of my students attendance and I will email them if they miss a class. That helps me to understand if there´s anything that I can do to help them deal with any barriers that exist.
This is my first year of teaching within the curriculum, and I think I am so fortunate that I am able to attend a PGCert because it is really helps me in my role. Plus the discussions at home and with my colleagues are of invaluable help.
I still have a few doubts about the “system” of the ISA. I have a few students with ISA and for that reason I am familiarised with a few steps I have to do to make the students feel comfortable.
I am also aware of my bias and how this influences my role.
This year I had an autist student.
I am not sure how to write this because I don’t want to come across wrongly. The disabilities are not written on ISA´s. I understand that “ISAs are informed by the social model of disability, which says that individuals are disabled by environmental, attitudinal, or procedural barriers, rather than by their impairment or difference. This means that the focus of the ISA is on practical steps which can be taken to remove barriers, rather than providing medical or personal information about a student“
Comparing my student’s ISA´s, in this a person who has dyslexia and a person who has autism they are exactly the same. However the needs from these people are completely different.
My student, was coming from overseas and because of Covid the student arrived later in the first term, and she did not take part on the first month of introductory workshops. We met online.
With her Disability Adviser, the student agreed an Individual Support Agreement (ISA), which
was then communicated to me.
The student arrived. It coincided with a day of the open studios. I met the student at lunch time in the canteen, before going to the studios so we would have time to talk and familiarised in person. I asked the student if the student would like me to introduce her to a classmate. The student replied no.
We talked a bit more and I started to feel feelings of protection and care, a sense of responsibility towards the student, more than the other students. I also noticed that there was something else that I was not aware. As the conversation went on the student said it was very difficult for her to be in places with more people, that it was very difficult to make friends because those people would always abandon her. I ask her a few questions.
The student said she had autism.
I felt a huge sense of care towards the student because what happened to me in the past.
I asked the student if she would like to walk around with me and see the art work. I said that I wouldn’t put the student in any difficult situation. The student agreed to walk around with me. The student walked and took pictures. I asked if she was taking pictures because she was interested in certain kind of works. She said yes but it was mainly to show her mother.
I stopped to talk to another tutor. The student said to the tutor that she liked the tutor nails and we chatted a bit.
The student attended barely any sessions and she would email me saying that it was very difficult to her to be around so many people. Another thing that I think it was challenging was the fact that there´s not a specific brief of what has to be done in fine art. Fine art is very self directed course.
For a while I was in conversation with the student, with her mother and with the disability adviser. A Specialist One-to-One Study Skills Support was in place to help the student.
We wrote a specific brief for Unit 1 and 2 of a body of work and other tasks the student had to submit. However, the student ´s mental health was very fragile and the student asked time out.
I felt a huge sense of responsibility and helpless at the same time. It was hard because it touched in issues of the past that I also couldn’t do anything. Although the situations are completely different. It is a prof that we have our bias and that will influence our behaviour, for good and for bad.
I don’t think there´s an easy answer but I feel that a more personalised supported is needed if we want to be an inclusive institution.
I am wondering what could it be different. Could these measures be in place for the moment the student arrived to the UK?
The Social Model of Disability at UAL says that “we are not disabled by our individual difference. we are disabled by barriers by the world around us”
How can we create a university that is designed with everyone in mind? A university that removes barriers for everyone, whoever they are.
Our third resource is an article that refers to the # disability too white and confront us with the idea of disability and what we see in the media and the fact that there’s a lack of representation of disabled people of colour in media.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/confronting-the-whitewash_b_10574994?guccounter=1
“Q. When you started it, it was obviously in response to the lack of
representation of disabled people of color in media. Can you expand on that
a little bit more?
A. You don’t see disabled people of color in media, and if you do, they are
usually played by nondisabled actors and actresses of color. I think that alone
erases us from being a part of the few roles that are meant for us, that’s part of
the problem. There’s only a handful of disabled actors and actresses of color
that come to mind that are doing great work that deserve the same attention
and support as their white counterparts. So I think that when it comes to the
media, the media has to do a better job at highlighting better portrayals of
disabled actors and actresses to really be visible and have those roles; to be
creative enough to write shows, screenplays, and movies; and to give them the
space, financial support, and backing to tell our stories our way. There’s a lot of
room there for representation of disabled people of color in the media to be
more present, to demystify what it means to be of color and disabled.”
Confronting the Whitewashing Of Disability:
Interview with #DisabilityTooWhite Creator
Vilissa Thompson
This reminds me, when I was young, in a Brazilian soap novel, there was this actress who was playing a disabled women. This person wasn’t disabled and I can think of many other people who are not disable playing these roles. However, I cannot think of the opposite.
I feel media has more and more power, and because of that a huge responsibility too. I was very pleased to see recently, in the film Eternals, Lauren Ridloff, who was born deaf to hearing parents played the role of a superhuman. The character is the first deaf superhero in the MCU.
Often my students bring their interests in media into the class room and it is often a good opportunity to discuss stereotypes. To discuss this, I found very interesting to talk about Bell Hooks. In one of her interviews available here and transcript in here Bell Hooks says:
“What does it mean that media has such control of our imaginations that they don’t want to accept that there are conscious manipulations taking place and that in fact, we want to reserve particularly for the arena of movie making a certain sense of magic? A certain sense that reality is being documented and, again, you know, I think that part of the power of cultural criticism and cultural studies has been it’s sort of political intervention as a force in American society to say, there really is a conscious manipulation of representations and it’s not about magical thinking, it’s not about like pure imagination, creativity, it’s about people consciously knowing what kinds of images will produce a certain kind of impact.“
Media is now 24/7. We have to be critical of the images we see and what is not seen. In addition, we talk in the classroom of our responsibility, as artists, using images and producing new meaning: The work produced by artists will carry its own meaning, beyond the intentions of the artist, and it is also our responsibility to understand the repercussions of such thing.
Our 4th resource is the inspiring paper by Khairani Barokka (Okka). The article presents her lessons from her tour solo deaf accessible poetry/art show around UK, Austria and India, with little resources and in chronic pain. The artist was in physical pain while doing the shows. The show is called Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee.
The work by Okka is cutting edge in what art can be and in what it is for. It expands our comprehension and understanding of what it means to be human.
I totally agree when Okka tells us that “the sheer impossibility of human communication is why we attempt to bridge it anyway, by writing, speaking, creating…”
“Perversely, the absolute facts of miscomprehension, the inability to transfer someone into our bodies to experience what we feel, were at the root of both the extreme chronic pain and fatigue I’ ve experienced for nearly six years now and the impetus to create a show that would illuminate this pain where the sighted saw none. To realise a form of interpretation that was not only ocular-centric – as I would paint my right side and chest in the blue ‘ coffee’ a pantheistic deity had poured over my nerves, and provide the script in full on devices for hearing-impaired audience members – but audiocentric, as poetry equal parts ominous and whimsical described abstractly the bizarre, frustrating, hopeful, and livid states of living with this condition as artist, as woman, as Indonesian woman abroad, living with what I perceive as intergenerational trauma in my body, as well that induced by healthcare abuse and neglect.”
Khairani Barokka
This pain was not visible.
This disability was not visible.
How many disabilities we don’t see,
Not just because they are not visible but because we don’t know them?
“I remember a deeply empathetic group of academics and artists being kind enough to listen, and Petra Kuppers asking me what I do for self-care. It was horribly embarrassing to have burst into tears, yet concomitantly, I wanted people to know: academia and the arts, for some of us, are contact sports. What we do literally bruises us, maims us, and brings to bear how intellectual and artistic curiosity, our intelligence and our knowhow may face head-on the fact of not being the recipient of proper healthcare for years”
Khairani Barokka
I read recently that someone is not weak because they cry in front of someone else, instead they’ve been too strong holding their tears. Empathy is one of the strongest things we can feel as humans. Listen to what others have to say. Not criticising, not judging.
As a tutor I feel so blessed when the students share things with me and one of the things that I want to continue cultivating is empathy.
This reminds me of the term “Intersectional feminism”, coined over 30 years ago by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a lawyer, a civil rights advocate and intersectional feminine –
“We tend to talk about race inequality as separate from inequality based on gender, class, sexuality or immigrant status. What’s often missing is how some people are subject to all of these, and the experience is not just the sum of its parts,” Crenshaw said.
This makes me think of university as a place to start things: as an open space, for inclusivity. What the disability activist and blogger Vilissa Thompson said about media and the lack of disable people of colour, is the same that happens at university. University has to be more inclusive. That means much more than enrolling people of colour and disable people. It means making sure that this people feel they belonged here. It is about creating conditions so everyone feels welcome.
I researched more about Okka and I found her website http://www.khairanibarokka.com which I strongly recommend you to visit and follow.
The final resource, one article from the Shades of Noir (SoN) around Disability, I don’t know which I should choose. They all resonate with me. And I am finding it difficult to write about it, to be honest.
I am an able bodied, and I am not aware of any disability that I have. But I know what it is to live and to love someone who is disable. And I know how hard it is when society is not made for for someone with disabilities.
The school that doesn’t have teachers that are specialised for someone with disabilities
The lack of empathy from the teachers
The unacceptable behaviour from some of the teachers towards someone disable
The look from other parents
Ways of helping (this is not based on research, but in my experience)
Ask questions
Don’t impose your way of doing things
Ask how can you help
Acknowledge that you don’t know but you are willing to learn.
Listen
Observe
Feel
Don’t criticise
Don’t judge
Smile
One often hears that art is always ahead of our time. I would like to take the opportunity near the end of this post to reflect how can art set up an example for the next future in terms of disability in the arts.
At the moment, I feel it is very white male able-bodied ocular-centric focus.
Reading the example of Gloria C. Swain, a multidisciplinary female artist and senior´s rights and mental health advocate, is an example how the art world can be more inclusive. Gloria is also an ageing black women with a mental disability.
The article is published in an edition of Shades of Noir – Disabled People: The Voice of Many.
In 2016, Gloria was the artist in residence at Tangled Art and Disability, the first gallery in Canada dedicating to showcasing disability, Deaf and MAD art and advancing accessible curatorial practices.
I love how everything that Gloria made or produced was so inclusive: from the statement that was in the form of a short video which was closed captioned. The whole exhibition was audio described and wheelchair accessible.
Recently, in our off-site show crits, my students and I were raising questions of how the work can be installed to be a accessible. For example, a sculpture in the space should make sure that is accessible from all the sides to a wheelchair. Videos should have captions. If there’s lights flashing or certain lights that can trigger seizures this should have a trigger warning.
My last example goes to an extraordinary artist whose work is beautiful and powerful.
“Corbett refers to herself as a ‘cyborg’ artist. This term may conjure images of tinny 1960s sci-fi movies and metal-plated robot men, but for Corbett (her love of sci-fi aside), it refers to anything mechanical that can enhance human life. ‘It came about when I read Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto (1985). I wanted to use [the book] but with my perspective: a Black woman, queer, disabled and all these other social identities that I have, whether decided or decided for me,’ says the artist, who was born with one arm and without legs. ‘Terminology around disability or anything like that has such a heavy history to it. And it’s something that I don’t necessarily identify with. I would prefer to be called a cyborg.’”
Shawanda Corbett on breaking the mould of ceramic art, Wallpaper
Bibliography:
Barokka, Khairani (Okka) (2017) Deaf-accessibility for spoonies: lessons from touring Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee while chronically ill, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 22:3, 387-392, DOI: 10.1080/13569783.2017.1324778
Blahovec, Sarah (2017) Confronting the Whitewashing Of Disability: Interview with #DisabilityTooWhite Creator Vilissa Thompson (Accessed 2nd May 2022): https://www.huffpost.com/entry/confronting-the-whitewash_b_10574994?guccounter=1
Shades of Noir (2020) ‘Disabled People: The Voice of Many’. Available at https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/disabled_people (Accessed: 1 March 2022).
SMITH, S. (2022) ‘Shawanda Corbett on breaking the mould of ceramic art’, Wallpaper, 1 MAR, Available at: https://www.wallpaper.com/art/shawanda-corbett-artist-profile (Accessed: 3rd May 2022).
The selby (2002) Vimeo: Christine Sun Kim – 10min (Accessed 2nd May 2022): https://vimeo.com/31083172
UN Women (2020) Intersectional feminism: what it means and why it matters right now Jul 1, 2020, (Accessed 13 May): https://un-women.medium.com/intersectional-feminism-what-it-means-and-why-it-matters-right-now-7743bfa16757
Teaching
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.
resources and books
- Towards an Inclusive Arts Education, published by Trentham Books for the Institute of Education
- Haha Bali´s resources on community building https://onehe.org/equity-unbound/
- Art and Design Pedagogy in Higher Education, Knowledge, Values and Ambiguity in the Creative Curriculum, by Susan Orr and Alison Shreeve
- Narratives of Art Practice and Metal Wellbeing, Reparation and Connection, by Olivia Sagan
Please note: along with my reflections this blog also contains books or links that I am interested about. It is a kind of diary/sketchbook, where I write information/notes that is important to my PGCert.
Fundamental things on Assessment and Feedback
From Spotlight on: Fostering Belonging and Compassionate Pedagogy
- Support students to bring their heritage, identity and experiences into their creative work.
- Be mindful and empathetic towards students’ vulnerabilities when giving feedback
- Facilitate peer feedback discussions and exercises in small groups.
- Spend time unpacking the terminology of briefs and assessment criteria to avoid alienation.
Presentations 1st Year students Fine-Art, things that I can do to improve feedback.
Today I had research presentations from my students on the first year BA Fine Art.
My second case study was based on these presentations, and now this post will be the place where I will gather material and reflect on it to use in future presentations and to improve feedback given by me and by the students.
These presentations were an activity part of Formative Feedback which is “any information, process or activity which affords or accelerates student learning based on comments relating to either formative assessment or summative assessment activities”.
Researching on the HEA Feedback toolkit, I read about Feedback Strategies to help students understand feedback, Peer-Assessed Oral Presentations: A quick method to generate feedback for individual presentations in the biosciences, and I underlined ideas that I will use in my next presentations.
Going back to the research presentations, my approach of asking the students who were listening to the presentation to turn their comments into questions, in order to generate dialogue to the student who was presenting was good because the students talked. However, I feel this can be a very good exercise, in terms of giving clear feedback that is written.
I will keep the same structure but I will make different changes in the session that used pink pencil around.
Each student writes down:
something that the student was passionate about when talking about their presentation: to help you in this you can pay attention to facial expression and body language, as well as the presentation.
something that the student can improve: researching in a certain subject; taking risks with materials; reading;
Just immediately, in page 64, there is this session that I also find something extremely interesting.
The use of spoken feedback in the form of thinking aloud reading. I am not sure exactly in what context I would use it, this would obviously have to be discussed with the course leader, and perhaps they are already doing this in Y2 and Y3.
I am thinking that perhaps this could be included in one of the formative assessments: describing the works, the strengths and the things that can be improved. Asking questions that the works are suggesting. Even talking about things that the students haven’t considered, because one thing is their intentions, and other thing is the work once is materialised.
We already do this in one to one tutorials and group crits. And one of the students recently asked me if she could record our tutorial and I said yes. But most of the students don’t record the conversations. And This would be different because it would be “think aloud reading”.
And looking at the student response I would love to try this way of giving feedback to my students.