The many becoming the unresolved one: Reconciling the fields of art, research and education through a/r/tography and collage

Abstract

A study in three secondary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand explored students’ critical thinking and how that was articulated in visual arts education. The research was motivated by the influence of everyday visual experiences on young people’s lives and the national curriculum’s call for encouraging critical thinking in the context of the students’ cultural milieu. This inquiry entailed multiple methods that included policy analysis, focus group interviews with teachers, interviews with students, classroom observations, photographic documentation and researcher engagement with the art of collage. A/r/tography allowed for the reconciliation of art, research and education and the exploration of liminal spaces through a relational inquiry. The collage process provided insights into how art making can be used as a relational device between researcher and participants that evoked findings in innovative ways. The findings are presented as entanglements of meanings aimed to provoke the imagination and open conversations.