Redress at a higher education institution: Art processes and image theatre as embodied and rhizomatic learning

Abstract

A visual redress project was launched with various artworks installed on campus, but it became clear that the erecting of these sculptures does not, on its own, provide a means to address structural injustices. A more embodied way of engagement was needed and workshops using art and performance were introduced where lecturers, students and community members worked through social, political and personal issues in a rhizomatic manner. The entanglement of art, performance, bodies and space, valued as equals, became a methodology and at each workshop the methodology changed as the space, bodies and materials changed. The methodology cannot be prescriptive, as it depends on the elements constituting it. The methodology became a dynamic, fluid and relational process.In this article, the various workshops are discussed and it is shown how concepts and methodology at each workshop emerged through the process.