Activity: Existence = Resistance
Q. Consider what spaces could you occupy and it would be considered an act of resistance? Does this spark anything in your imagination in regard to your artwork?
Reflecting back on my responses to Week 9 Activity 1, I have come to the realisation that having dyslexia and working within the educational sector as a teacher aide is an act of resistance. I grew up feeling so unwelcome and misunderstood within educational environments, yet today I work within them and love supporting students along their learning journeys. When I commenced my bachelor studies in 2020, it was initially for secondary education to become an art teacher as I felt compelled to offer students a different learning experience from the one I endured throughout my life. To support me on this journey at the same time, I took on a part-time creative textiles teacher aid/department assistant role at a secondary college, where I support both students in their learning experience and teachers through their lesson deliveries.
Over this period, I realised the teaching profession wasn’t quite the right fit for me after experiencing a breakdown and undergoing a journey of healing through creative expression. I recognised that changing my degree to the creative arts, community and wellbeing could allow an opportunity for me to undertake a Masters’s in Art Therapy, which I feel will be a better fit for me. My future intentions to work within the mental health field as an art therapist could be another act of resistance, as someone who has suffered a breakdown and used creative therapies to heal but yet could be there working within the profession.
Another example I can identify as an act of resistance was during my young life when I would spend most afternoons and weekends in the male-dominated environment of my father’s diesel fitting workshop. My presence as a female in this space was an act of resistance, although not by choice it was my childhood playground and I understood from an early age that it was a misogynistic environment which no doubt impacted my stance as a feminist today. With regards to sparking anything within in my imagination to create artwork, I sense this link more to my future ambitions to work as a creative arts therapist as I explore strategies and methods to support healing and mental health challenges.
