Ellun teht. 3 (enkkua, förlåt mej)

31.3.2014 Taiteen/taideopetuksen yhteiskunnallisesta vaikuttavuudesta, tehtävä 3

Elina Nissinen 

 

 

Manifesto.

Thoughts about Art education for social and environmental justice

 

 

 

People tend to find all alien and unfamiliar things scary and suspicious.  It’s much about knowledge and awareness when it comes to the matter of social justice. Variation of cultural and personal habits, beliefs, attitudes, ethics, ideologies, values etc. within social groups and individuals logically means differences in the expression and in the way of communication. Illiteracy to interpret other people's messages result in black and white-conclusions and arbitrary interpretations. Simply the lack of information adds inequality, stereotypes and unbundling. Social justice requires equality in perspective strangeness and difference. The people that are different from me are no inferior than I am.

Traditionally art education has mainly focused on individual studio work and on other assignments carried out independently. However, ultimately art education is all about teaching visual communication skills. Co-operative projects and community art should, therefore, be an integral part of today's art education. Team work skills - ability to compromise and to share - is something today's’ society values and requires. Exchanging and sharing ideas and experiences also verbally is one of the most important aspects in art education. Therefore conversations in the classroom are essential for the development of students' self-reflective thinking.

Among all people there is a mutual will and need to be part of a safe and equal society, to find a common language, a way communicate and to understand each other. Understanding diversity teaches us about ourselves.  Fundamental questions, fears, needs, and desires are universal.  It's all about "looking over" the differences and seeing the things that unite us. Multicultural and community-engaged art ventures can gain unexpected dimensions. When it comes to the concept of fostering social justice, this is the greatest result an art project can achieve: a good idea gets more support, gains new local and far-away forms and follow-up projects. It is hard to imagine a better channel to communicate on a universal level and make a positive affect on social issues both locally and inter-culturally.

Projects that aim to promote social justice through art education have there a very honorable goal. From the aspect of both a single student and of the whole community these are the acts that can make a true difference to many peoples' worldviews and to their lives. When e.g. an art educational co-operative community-art project is carried out successfully it then is something more than just a school project. It becomes to social activism. School shouldn't be just about assignments executed in the classroom, shared only with the classmates and with the teachers. It should be the young generation's voice channel to the society.

 

When students get to address social or environmental issues through art (activism) it is vital to hear local people's concerns, opinions and suggestions concerning the problems. Activist artworks don't necessarily mean "aggressive" or disturbing interventions though that kind of connotations are possible. Art activism aims to influence not only on people’s thoughts and feelings, but also on their actions.

 Interactive aspect in the art work fosters its possibilities to make a real change and to generate concrete operations.  Issues that touch the whole community can be solved easier if the members of the community get involved in solving the problems. It is important that students understand the importance of cooperation when solving social and ecological problems.  The more people participate into a project that aims to make a difference, more likely an actual change is achieved.

When people have an opportunity to take part in a work of art or modify it, it starts to create direct personal meanings and arouse thoughts – personal connection to the art work is the first step towards good actions which hopefully are to follow.

The more intercultural cooperative projects can be executed in the schools, the deeper understanding of the existing world- and life views is achieved. When learning from other societies we might also perceive social problems in our own community.