研究・産学官民連携 Research
From Margin to Margin: Arts-Based Approaches in Social Design
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Research Projects and Initiatives
Recent Studies at Faculty of Design
From Margin to Margin: Arts-Based Approaches in Social Design
Department of Strategic Design, Faculty of Design
Melanie Sarantou, Professor
Enabling “unlimited access to the pleasure and power of knowing, where transformation
is possible…is crucial to envision new, alternative, oppositional, aesthetic acts”
(hooks, 1998, p. 15).
Set in global margins, particularly the remote locations of Namibia, northern Finland, the far west region of South Australia, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia, this longitudinal research seeks to uncover the power of creativity as a tool for social design by those living in the margins. The research included several projects, for example, Margin-to-Margin: Women Living on the Edges of the World (Figure 1), funded by the Kone Foundation in Finland from 2016 to 2020, and the TRUST project, funded by the University of Lapland and Arts South Australia from 2022-2025. The latter project tackles the promotion of sustainable practices for digitalising Indigenous cultural heritage in the Global North and South.
Examples of case studies, photographs, blogs, and videos are available through various links:
https://www.desisnetwork.org/2018/11/01/margin-to-margin-women-living-on-the-edges-of-the-world/
Figure 1: Using the arts as a means to tackle various challenges presented by the margins, for example, marginalisation caused by remote geographical location on the “edges of the world” in remote South Australia and Kola Peninsula in Russia. Photography by Daria Akimenko (2016).
Marginality, a key research theme explored since 2016, is similar to power in that both concepts share elements of complexity, fluidity, and omnipresence (hooks, 1989). Margins can manifest by divides and the occurrence of “unreciprocated exchange”, say between different spaces (Chaudhury et al., 2000, p.138). Often the margins are visible divides, for example railway lines (hooks, 1990, p. 341), or roads between communities, separating those who are affluent or not. The Miller aerial photograph aptly showcases the divide between South Africa’s rich and poor next to the N2 Highway connecting Cape Town and George (Taylor, 2016). However, margins are also subjectively perceived. They are intrinsically linked to complex psychological processes similar to identities. Venn (2006, p. 79) defines identities as the relational aspects between individuals or groups regarding “categories such as race, gender, class, nation, sexuality, work and occupation”. Individuals may identify with several such categories simultaneously or at different moments, and they may be experienced internally and externally (Lawler, 2008).
Challenges presented by margins are, as illuminated by postcolonial scholars Chaudhury, Dāsa and Chakrabarti (2000, p. 139), a result from power relationships, which exist “outside of”, as “that which cannot be represented” and hosting "co-opted voices”. Duckworth’s (2020) infographic, the wheel of power/privilege, illustrates an array of identity categories, or what hooks (1989, p. 15) refers to as “oppressive boundaries”. However, Duckworth’s (2020) infographic on intersectionality perhaps better illustrates the dynamic and fluid relationships between the categories. Importantly, the margins seek to break away from such boundaries (hooks, 1998; hooks 1990; Chaudhury et al., 2000), and therefore, their manifestation in restrictive forms remains essentially problematic.
The potential of using artistic means, such as arts-based research (Leavy, 2018) and artistic practice within social design contexts, lies in offering tools that promote well-being and positive change. Visualisations of personal stories and life processes are self-reflective tools that can shape a new understanding of personal circumstances (Sarantou et al., 2020). Such tools offer people ways to cope with their realities while coming to terms with the marginalities they encounter (Sarantou et al., 2018). Storytelling that addresses personal challenges builds self-esteem and offers approaches to resistance, which underpin the welfare of marginalised people (Sarantou et al., 2018; Seppälä et al., 2019). The transformative powers of knowledge and art enable self-empowerment and self-appreciation through the recognition of skills and talent (Sarantou et al., 2018; Seppälä et al., 2019; Leavy, 2018).
The arts, both visual and performative, and the rich array of methods they offer, including digital artistic expression, serve as powerful and transformative tools in social design. They offer researchers avenues for discovery and an empathic understanding of the communities and contexts they encounter (Sarantou et al., 2018; Seppälä et al., 2019; Leavy, 2018). In social design processes, arts-based approaches and creativity can be used to navigate identities between participants and other people, them, and their environments (Figure 2). A focus on the intimate spheres of participants and personalised art activities is key to facilitation and participant engagement as local meanings develop, thus enabling reflection and retrospection (Sarantou et al., 2020).
Figure 2: A model of the internal and external “worlds” of participants when engaging in social design processes in which arts-based approaches come into play. The model allows boundaries to blur due to complex identity issues. Adapted from Sarantou et al. (2020).
Recent research from January to March 2023 using social design and arts-based approaches to understand questions surrounding digital marginalities continued in the far west region of South Australia with the Aboriginal community in Ceduna (Figure 3). Digital approaches are perceived as offering new potential for Indigenous peoples to exploit more significant shares in the digital sector while producing positive community outcomes. Respecting the views and rights of the participating cultural groups is of vital importance in any project that deals with living cultural heritage (LCH). One of the objectives of the project’s social design work was to explore how digital devices can foster a critical exchange by Indigenous communities, rendering them and their LCH visible, audible and tangible through their artmaking. One important finding was that not all communities want such exchanges, but artists, for example, can use digital means without sharing content beyond personal use. The findings emphasised the challenge of making the intentions behind a story clear to users while guarding this intention and meaning from misuse.
Figure 3. Workshop held at Arts Ceduna, an Aboriginal art centre in South Australia. The eight participants from the Indigenous artist community of Ceduna, two arts workers from Arts Ceduna, and two artist-researchers from Finland explored the use of personal digital devices for documenting artmaking and storytelling. Photography by Amna Qureshi (2023).
References
Chaudhury, A., Dāsa, D., & Chakrabarti, A. (2000). Margin of Margin: Profile of an Unrepentant Postcolonial Collaborator. Kolkata: Anushtup. https://ddmomtext.tripod.com/eng/mom.doc
Duckworth, S. (2020). Intersectionality [Infographic]. Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/2jy46K4. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Duckworth, S. (2020). Wheel of power/privilege [Infographic]. Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/2jWxeGG. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
hooks, b. (1989). Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical Openness. Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media, (36), 15-23.
hooks, b. (1990). Marginality as a Site of Resistance. Out there: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures, 4, 341-343.
Lawler, S. (2008). Identity: Sociological perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Leavy, P.: Introduction to Arts-based Research. Handbook of Arts-based Research, 3-21 (2018).
Open Library (2020). Positionality and Intersectionality, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA). https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/universaldesign/chapter/positionality-intersectionality/
Sarantou, M., Akimenko, D., & Escudeiro, N. (2018). Margin to margin: Arts-based Research for Digital Outreach to Marginalised Communities. The Journal of Community Informatics, 14(1), 139–-159. https://doi.org/10.15353/joci.v14i1.3407
Sarantou, M., Kugapi, O., & Huhmarniemi, M. (2021). Context Mapping for Creative Tourism, Annals of Tourism Research, 86, 103064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.103064
Seppälä, T., Sarantou, M., & Miettinen, S.: Arts-based Methods for Decolonising Participatory Research, Routledge (2021). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003053408
Taylor, T. (2016). Photographer Johnny Miller Highlights Divide Between Cape Town's Rich and Poor with Aerial Photos, News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-23/photographer-highlights-divide-cape-town-rich-and-poor-aerial/7535570
Venn, C. (2006). The Postcolonial Challenge: Towards Alternative Worlds. London: Sage.
■Contact
Department of Strategic Design, Faculty of Design
Melanie Sarantou, Professor
- TOP
- Research
- Research at Kyushu University
- Art and Design
- Recent Studies at the Faculty of Design
- Recent studies at the Faculty of Design in 2023
- From Margin to Margin: Arts-Based Approaches in Social Design