Activating Artful Journeys With Things: Walking-With Object Itineraries as Sensual A/r/tography

• In Event: Embodied Knowledge and Performances of Radical Relationality

Abstract

This session interrogates the pedagogic potential of object itineraries, or the journey of things, with more-than-human perspectives that explore how objects can be activated as sites of educational inquiry that cultivate more equitable learning through the act of walking. Artefacts of digital photographs, prayer flags and storied shoes enflesh understandings as artists, researchers, and teachers to generate an emergent approach of ‘sensual a/r/tography.’ In this session, we examine the relationality of material agency as: 1) affective artist objects; 2) walking with researcher bodies; and 3) speculating on teacher spaces. Mapping three distinct itineraries, we investigate how walking as a vernacular and immersive research practice offers openings that are culturally-informed and respectfully sensitive to landscape interpretations that inform art and learning.

Authors

• Anita Sinner, University of British Columbia

• Rita L. Irwin, University of British Columbia

• Ching-Chiu Lin, Simon Fraser University