Community Arts as an act of praxis and resistance.

Abstract

The focus of the study is to examine how community arts acts as a dynamic catalyst for uncovering multiple ways of knowing, and for naming and confronting power relations. A commitment to social justice and a firm belief in the power of community arts, to engage people’s hearts and spirits through transformative processes, have inspired this study. Remaining true to the possibilities of political action, and to the moral principles of community arts practice in the face of repressive ideologies, is of great concern to me. Participatory action research and arts based research are the main methodologies used to investigate the impact community arts has had on my research group. This study also identifies community arts, in itself, a research process. This research examines, in theory and practice, how making art contributes to knowledge production, and connects collective reflection to political action. The philosophical and theoretical concepts underpinning the research provide a climate of purposeful inquiry, congruent to reflective and reflexive practice. It was essential to adopt methodologies that would honour creativity and lived experience. The voices of the participants are central to this study, because they are experts of their own knowledge and experience. Visual images, created by the participants, are used in the research, sharing knowledge that may otherwise remain hidden, shaping the inquiry. It follows, then, that this research is an Arts-Based Research thesis and it is hoped that its insights will be pertinent to all those who hope to be agents of transformative social change.