Embodied Connective Aesthetics:
A Collaborative Art Project Guided by Mirroring
Margaretha Häggström
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Abstract. Identity formation is a lifelong process, which defines individuals to others and themselves. When humans develop their social self, they depend on other people’s views and values, as well as on imitating. Imitating is an indication of social behavior, which includes mirroring. In this qualitative study, the author examined a collaborative art project conducted through art-based and autoethnographic research by three scholars/art teachers, the author included. The study started from a life-world phenomenological perspective and the concepts of lived experience, wonderment and intersubjectivity. In addition, a four resources model of visual literacy was used to analyze the result. The study was implemented in the context of teacher education, and art was regarded as the principal content as well as a didactic tool, accentuating the communicative feature of visual literacy. The result shows the complexity of conducting a collaborative art project, and that the visual expressions was not restricted to artwork but incorporated body language. Mirroring included not only visible signs but also audio signs and signals, and occurred even though the scholars/art teachers were quite immersed in and preoccupied with the art-making. One does not need to visually observe another person when mirroring, but can experience another person’s performance by merely being in the moment.
Keywords: Art-based research, autoethnography, collaborative artwork, mirroring, visual literacy