Adrienne Boulton

Having Been Present: The Capture and Distraction in Arts Based Research

Adrienne Boulton – Kwantlen Polytechnic University, BC, Canada

Abstract:

In this paper, I explore an ongoing visual inquiry project I developed and implemented with and for my mom, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In the first iteration of this project, I photographed my mom’s jewellery and trinkets as we discussed the memories my mom recalled as she held these items collected throughout her life. Through this process, I theorized the concept of having been present to understand my role as a visual inquiry researcher drawing on artistic practice in the exploration of personal and highly emotive experiences. Extending this work, I draw on Richards et al.’s (2019) work which explores the value of painting for individuals with Alzheimer/Dementia perceptions of quality of life. For this second iteration, I designed painting sessions with my mom to understand the multi dimensions of visual inquiry and artistic practice for the ways that it enables memory activation. This paper further considers the potential for having been present in both research and pedagogy and the novel ways that artistic practice shapes the research relationship not just between the false binary of the researcher and researched, but in the ways that art practice enables particular qualities of engagement to emerge. To do so, I consider what Butler (2018) refers to as photography’s ability to capture the having been there-in the presence of the sensual being while simultaneously providing a distraction from this very thing. In shifting to the practice of painting, I consider both the capture and the distraction in artistic research for what it enables rather than constrains in the research relationship.