Opportunities and Challenges to Mail-Based Participatory Visual Research With 2SLGBTQ+ Atlantic Canadian Youth Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Criticality and Activism Using Arts-Based Educational Research Methods

Abstract

Drawing on a physically distanced art and activism project with 50 2SLGBTQ+ youth from Atlantic Canada, we highlight the opportunities and tensions of engaging in participatory visual research at a distance. We highlight the development of a mail-based approach to engaging in art production with 2SLGBTQ+ youth. Through 12 art practices and prompts, ranging from collage to jewelry to terrariums, we explore how we have facilitated this project across time and space. We suggest that sharing art supplies directly with participants provides opportunities for distanced collaboration, but also underscores the phenomenon of non-participation over the course of the project. We propose that youth-focused archiving and dissemination practices offer insight into asset-informed approaches within arts-based research produced at a distance.

Authors

• Casey Megan Burkholder, University of New Brunswick

• Brody Weaver, NSCAD University

• Amelia Thorpe, University of New Brunswick

• Katie MacEntee, University of Toronto

• April R. Mandrona, NSCAD University