In the light of a postphenomenological understanding of technological artefacts as mediators of e... more In the light of a postphenomenological understanding of technological artefacts as mediators of experience in non-neutral (rather than determinist) ways, this study set out to explore ways in which the triad of photographer–camera–place is co-constituted. I examined the relations that emerged in the interaction of these three elements within the context of landscape photography practice. For this purpose, I created three photographic events: I photographed three different places of autobiographical significance with different photographic systems, whose choice was variously inspired by each particular place and my connection to it. Through this reflection on practice, I examine the way in which, in each case, the self–camera–place triad was co-constituted, producing a subjective and context-specific understanding of the mediatory role of the photographic technologies that I used. The results of this reflection have implications for practice in that they postulate an engaged approach to landscape photography based on the co-constitution of self, technology and place rather than the traditional way of looking associated with landscape. It also has theoretical implications in proposing a relational framework, based on this triad, for reading representations of landscape.
This essay is a discussion of the Sharpeville Echoes photography project and the work of Jabulani... more This essay is a discussion of the Sharpeville Echoes photography project and the work of Jabulani Dhlamini from the perspective of theories on place and identity. In the essay I question the readability of identity in photographs, concluding that what the identity of the photographer mixes in with that of the photographed, and one is left with various tensions between aspects of identity rather than an understanding on individual singular identity. The work of Dhlamini and that produced for the Sharpeville Echoes project by Vaal University of Technology staff and students can be seen as an active exploration of place and identity and should be enjoyed for its own sake.
The purpose of the paper is to highlight challenges in implementing the Structured Reflection Fra... more The purpose of the paper is to highlight challenges in implementing the Structured Reflection Framework proposed in an earlier paper co-authored with Jakob Doman, within traditional research structures. In this paper I present a narrative reflection on working through a Practice-based Arts Research study design process, specifically regarding the difficulty of articulating a non-traditional research approach within traditional research structures and requirements; The hegemony of theory and concept over method and process as well as written argument over multimodal representation (Pollock, Smith Doman & Laurie 2011); Difficulties in defining and describing the area and the nature of the contribution within a research context (Burgin 2009: 71; Rust et elI 1999: ). This paper highlights perpetuation of mentioned hegemonies but at the same time illustrates how a design framework can help to navigate the practice-based arts research design process within traditional structures.
Although various South African universities engage with art practice research methodologies, the
... more Although various South African universities engage with art practice research methodologies, the research designs employed have not been clearly articulated or interrogated as of yet, leaving some work to be done towards answering Loxley and Prosser’s (2005) call for a refinement of arts-based research methods. This paper presents a framework for structured reflection as research methodology within practice-based arts research - employing a synthetic research approach between the textual component and creative artefact production, with the creation of the artefact as integral component of the research design and research output, as opposed to analysis of the creative artefact. In this, an arts practice research design should be both explicit yet appropriate to the type of research questions encountered in practise and still to the outputs expected within an arts context (Biggs 2004:10). The role of the creative artefact is described as the research output, presenting not only new knowledge but also new forms of knowledge that tend to be transformative (Halford & Knowles 2005) and geared towards understanding rather than explication (Sullivan 2005), with a fundamental underpinning in phenomenological discourse as qualitative research strategy (Sokolowski 2000:85). Concepts such as phenomenological intentionality and the understanding of embodied experience and the lived world (Sobchack 1999) provides an ontological context for reflection to grapple with and validate the potentially tacit and subjective knowledge (Moustakas 1994:99) of the creative artefact. The textual component thus engages, through the proposed structured reflection framework, with the visual artefact component in four contexts, nominally defined as the conceptual context, the critical context, the methodological context and the process context. The textual component thereby functions as a framing device that has to be read in relation to the artefact component. In this application, a strategically adapted 4-stage model informed by Johns (2002) on structured reflection, Sullivan (2005) on arts practise research, Dewey and Kolb (in Neil 2004) on experiential learning models, is considered most appropriate, making use of the research journal (Newbury 2001) as core to guiding reflective practice. The proposed framework is illustrated in an applied photographic educational context, where again phenomenology functions as underpinning philosophy and learning is facilitated and guided by means of reflective practice. Educating through guided reflection for arts-practice research from an undergraduate level onward is proposed as a way forward to improving practice and expanding practice-based arts research, especially at the still illdefined yet historically centred-on-practise, Universities of Technology, and in so doing contributing to the possibility of differentiating a unique identity in the South African Higher Educational arena and expanding its potential contribution to the nature and scope of knowledge creation.
In the light of a postphenomenological understanding of technological artefacts as mediators of e... more In the light of a postphenomenological understanding of technological artefacts as mediators of experience in non-neutral (rather than determinist) ways, this study set out to explore ways in which the triad of photographer–camera–place is co-constituted. I examined the relations that emerged in the interaction of these three elements within the context of landscape photography practice. For this purpose, I created three photographic events: I photographed three different places of autobiographical significance with different photographic systems, whose choice was variously inspired by each particular place and my connection to it. Through this reflection on practice, I examine the way in which, in each case, the self–camera–place triad was co-constituted, producing a subjective and context-specific understanding of the mediatory role of the photographic technologies that I used. The results of this reflection have implications for practice in that they postulate an engaged approach to landscape photography based on the co-constitution of self, technology and place rather than the traditional way of looking associated with landscape. It also has theoretical implications in proposing a relational framework, based on this triad, for reading representations of landscape.
This essay is a discussion of the Sharpeville Echoes photography project and the work of Jabulani... more This essay is a discussion of the Sharpeville Echoes photography project and the work of Jabulani Dhlamini from the perspective of theories on place and identity. In the essay I question the readability of identity in photographs, concluding that what the identity of the photographer mixes in with that of the photographed, and one is left with various tensions between aspects of identity rather than an understanding on individual singular identity. The work of Dhlamini and that produced for the Sharpeville Echoes project by Vaal University of Technology staff and students can be seen as an active exploration of place and identity and should be enjoyed for its own sake.
The purpose of the paper is to highlight challenges in implementing the Structured Reflection Fra... more The purpose of the paper is to highlight challenges in implementing the Structured Reflection Framework proposed in an earlier paper co-authored with Jakob Doman, within traditional research structures. In this paper I present a narrative reflection on working through a Practice-based Arts Research study design process, specifically regarding the difficulty of articulating a non-traditional research approach within traditional research structures and requirements; The hegemony of theory and concept over method and process as well as written argument over multimodal representation (Pollock, Smith Doman & Laurie 2011); Difficulties in defining and describing the area and the nature of the contribution within a research context (Burgin 2009: 71; Rust et elI 1999: ). This paper highlights perpetuation of mentioned hegemonies but at the same time illustrates how a design framework can help to navigate the practice-based arts research design process within traditional structures.
Although various South African universities engage with art practice research methodologies, the
... more Although various South African universities engage with art practice research methodologies, the research designs employed have not been clearly articulated or interrogated as of yet, leaving some work to be done towards answering Loxley and Prosser’s (2005) call for a refinement of arts-based research methods. This paper presents a framework for structured reflection as research methodology within practice-based arts research - employing a synthetic research approach between the textual component and creative artefact production, with the creation of the artefact as integral component of the research design and research output, as opposed to analysis of the creative artefact. In this, an arts practice research design should be both explicit yet appropriate to the type of research questions encountered in practise and still to the outputs expected within an arts context (Biggs 2004:10). The role of the creative artefact is described as the research output, presenting not only new knowledge but also new forms of knowledge that tend to be transformative (Halford & Knowles 2005) and geared towards understanding rather than explication (Sullivan 2005), with a fundamental underpinning in phenomenological discourse as qualitative research strategy (Sokolowski 2000:85). Concepts such as phenomenological intentionality and the understanding of embodied experience and the lived world (Sobchack 1999) provides an ontological context for reflection to grapple with and validate the potentially tacit and subjective knowledge (Moustakas 1994:99) of the creative artefact. The textual component thus engages, through the proposed structured reflection framework, with the visual artefact component in four contexts, nominally defined as the conceptual context, the critical context, the methodological context and the process context. The textual component thereby functions as a framing device that has to be read in relation to the artefact component. In this application, a strategically adapted 4-stage model informed by Johns (2002) on structured reflection, Sullivan (2005) on arts practise research, Dewey and Kolb (in Neil 2004) on experiential learning models, is considered most appropriate, making use of the research journal (Newbury 2001) as core to guiding reflective practice. The proposed framework is illustrated in an applied photographic educational context, where again phenomenology functions as underpinning philosophy and learning is facilitated and guided by means of reflective practice. Educating through guided reflection for arts-practice research from an undergraduate level onward is proposed as a way forward to improving practice and expanding practice-based arts research, especially at the still illdefined yet historically centred-on-practise, Universities of Technology, and in so doing contributing to the possibility of differentiating a unique identity in the South African Higher Educational arena and expanding its potential contribution to the nature and scope of knowledge creation.
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research designs employed have not been clearly articulated or interrogated as of yet, leaving some
work to be done towards answering Loxley and Prosser’s (2005) call for a refinement of arts-based
research methods. This paper presents a framework for structured reflection as research
methodology within practice-based arts research - employing a synthetic research approach between
the textual component and creative artefact production, with the creation of the artefact as integral
component of the research design and research output, as opposed to analysis of the creative
artefact. In this, an arts practice research design should be both explicit yet appropriate to the type of
research questions encountered in practise and still to the outputs expected within an arts context
(Biggs 2004:10). The role of the creative artefact is described as the research output, presenting not
only new knowledge but also new forms of knowledge that tend to be transformative (Halford &
Knowles 2005) and geared towards understanding rather than explication (Sullivan 2005), with a
fundamental underpinning in phenomenological discourse as qualitative research strategy (Sokolowski
2000:85). Concepts such as phenomenological intentionality and the understanding of embodied
experience and the lived world (Sobchack 1999) provides an ontological context for reflection to
grapple with and validate the potentially tacit and subjective knowledge (Moustakas 1994:99) of the
creative artefact. The textual component thus engages, through the proposed structured reflection
framework, with the visual artefact component in four contexts, nominally defined as the conceptual
context, the critical context, the methodological context and the process context. The textual
component thereby functions as a framing device that has to be read in relation to the artefact
component. In this application, a strategically adapted 4-stage model informed by Johns (2002) on
structured reflection, Sullivan (2005) on arts practise research, Dewey and Kolb (in Neil 2004) on
experiential learning models, is considered most appropriate, making use of the research journal
(Newbury 2001) as core to guiding reflective practice. The proposed framework is illustrated in an
applied photographic educational context, where again phenomenology functions as underpinning
philosophy and learning is facilitated and guided by means of reflective practice. Educating through
guided reflection for arts-practice research from an undergraduate level onward is proposed as a way
forward to improving practice and expanding practice-based arts research, especially at the still illdefined
yet historically centred-on-practise, Universities of Technology, and in so doing contributing to
the possibility of differentiating a unique identity in the South African Higher Educational arena and
expanding its potential contribution to the nature and scope of knowledge creation.
research designs employed have not been clearly articulated or interrogated as of yet, leaving some
work to be done towards answering Loxley and Prosser’s (2005) call for a refinement of arts-based
research methods. This paper presents a framework for structured reflection as research
methodology within practice-based arts research - employing a synthetic research approach between
the textual component and creative artefact production, with the creation of the artefact as integral
component of the research design and research output, as opposed to analysis of the creative
artefact. In this, an arts practice research design should be both explicit yet appropriate to the type of
research questions encountered in practise and still to the outputs expected within an arts context
(Biggs 2004:10). The role of the creative artefact is described as the research output, presenting not
only new knowledge but also new forms of knowledge that tend to be transformative (Halford &
Knowles 2005) and geared towards understanding rather than explication (Sullivan 2005), with a
fundamental underpinning in phenomenological discourse as qualitative research strategy (Sokolowski
2000:85). Concepts such as phenomenological intentionality and the understanding of embodied
experience and the lived world (Sobchack 1999) provides an ontological context for reflection to
grapple with and validate the potentially tacit and subjective knowledge (Moustakas 1994:99) of the
creative artefact. The textual component thus engages, through the proposed structured reflection
framework, with the visual artefact component in four contexts, nominally defined as the conceptual
context, the critical context, the methodological context and the process context. The textual
component thereby functions as a framing device that has to be read in relation to the artefact
component. In this application, a strategically adapted 4-stage model informed by Johns (2002) on
structured reflection, Sullivan (2005) on arts practise research, Dewey and Kolb (in Neil 2004) on
experiential learning models, is considered most appropriate, making use of the research journal
(Newbury 2001) as core to guiding reflective practice. The proposed framework is illustrated in an
applied photographic educational context, where again phenomenology functions as underpinning
philosophy and learning is facilitated and guided by means of reflective practice. Educating through
guided reflection for arts-practice research from an undergraduate level onward is proposed as a way
forward to improving practice and expanding practice-based arts research, especially at the still illdefined
yet historically centred-on-practise, Universities of Technology, and in so doing contributing to
the possibility of differentiating a unique identity in the South African Higher Educational arena and
expanding its potential contribution to the nature and scope of knowledge creation.