On the Politics of Making Public

• In Event: More Than Words: Indigenous Girls, Public Art, and Public Pedagogy

Abstract

Objectives: As the activist film-maker, Avni observes “Going public… evokes vulnerability and responsibility … the idea that you have something personal to share that might be difficult to engage in and at the same time that there’s value in your stepping forward and being public about what it is that you represent and the values that you are coming with and the identity and experiences that you bring to the mix” (cited in Miller et al, 2017, p. 3 ) . Avni’s words which draw attention to the idea of social engagement through the arts are particularly provocative in relation to the “public” of art-making in community-based participatory research which seeks to offer a public face to long standing issues of gender based violence and the legacies of colonialism. This paper which is meant to be theoretical and conceptual in scope poses the following questions: What does it mean to produce artful creations such as murals, art installations and other public art forms that are from their very inception “in the public”? How might the idea of inserting one’s work into public spaces be a different process from other participatory forms of youth-led art-making?

Theoretical Perspectives: The presentation draws together several arts-based perspectives as a way to frame ‘making public’ in participatory visual research with Indigenous girls and young women, weaving together work across several areas (1) public and memorial art: (2) youth-led participatory arts-based work: and (3) youth-led participatory curation. This is an understudied area even though there is increasing attention paid in the literature to the idea of studying the impact on various audiences of exhibitions and screenings coming out of art-making projects (DeLange et al, 2021; Gonick, 2016; Gubrium & Harper, 2013; Mitchell et al, 2017; Mitchell & Moletsane, 2018). This is perhaps not surprising, given that much youth-produced work through participatory video and photovoice typically has both process-product distinctions but also steps or stages (e.g. planning, making the films and so on) with exhibiting and screening as just component. Public art-making unlike other participatory approaches is likely to start with a different intent, and as Avni highlights a different level of vulnerability, something that Proietti (2021) also notes in her work on youth-led participatory curation.

Evidence: In the presentation I seeks to illuminate key components of the proposed framework through several examples of Indigenous-led public art-making including a travelling installation in Canada, Walking With My Sisters focusing on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and several local “making public” mural making projects by Indigenous youth addressing gender and HIV and AIDs (see Flicker et al, 2013; Flicker et al, 214; Liebenberg et al, 2019).

Result: This exploratory framework for studying innovative ‘making public’ practices with Indigenous girls and young people raises new questions about a pedagogy of public presence in addressing colonial violence

Scholarly Significance: The paper contributes to expanding perspectives on the potential for participatory research to make a difference in Indigenous-led youth-focused community-based research.

Author

• Claudia Mitchell, McGill University