Let's get radical (again)! (Mixed media sculpture series)

This work forms the beginnings of my visual research into the theories underpinning participatory arts practice (community and socially engaged arts) in Northern Ireland. I have identified four key thematic areas of interest; value, activism, pedagogy and ethics. Focusing first on radical critical pedagogies, revisiting influential revolutionary texts such as Paulo Freire's 1970 book The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, this project explores how a liberating education methodology with core empathetic values of love, not domination; humility, not elitism; faith in the power of (wo)man to be more fully human, and hope as a challenge to be responded to, could be considered in the current context and climate of Northern Ireland’s defunded participatory arts sector. This is work in progress, in part expanding on and experimenting with ideas and themes from my practice around how language is used, presented, represented and understood in theory, policy and promotion, and what that tells us about our collective priorities and society.