Creative relationalities
A more-than-human approach to basket weaving.
Keywords:
More-than-human, creative practice, art-based research, relationalities, community, Indigenous methodologiesAbstract
As an artist-researcher of Irish and New Zealand descent living and making on the unceded lands of the Wodi Wodi and Dharawal people, I consider how a more-than-human approach to basket weaving can shift my art-based research from a human-centric western view into a site of creative relationalities. I attempt to weave my way into a relationship with Country by applying a more-than-human approach as a way of learning how to live relationally and nurture my responsibility to care for Country1. In this paper I will discuss the process of applying Lauren Tynan’s (2020) method of ‘research as relation’ and ‘thesis as kin’, to ‘making as kin’, weaving stories and lessons into an art project. Secondly, I will reframe ‘the basket’ (noun), ‘to basket on’ (verb) focusing on process, making with more-than-human and the counter narratives that interplay with bodies, matter, and deep time. Finally, I will take a nuanced approach as a non-Indigenous artist to a socially engaged art project, Sheoak, Heoak, Theyoak (2023), where ‘making as kin’ occurs on and with a crevice community of Casuarina trees on Country.
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