Abstract
Against the backdrop of a highly unequal and volatile world, hundreds of artists, activists, and communities create art as a way of making sense of their realities, challenging the status quo and imagining new ways of being. Art for social change (ASC) is a community-based creative practice associated with social justice and the empowerment of communities. Inspired by thinkers from the Global South, these emancipatory practices have become broadly accepted, seen as contributing to community participation, and as a way of engaging with minoritised communities. This paper focuses on the processes of ASC in the context of a colonial settler society and women of colour. From a feminist perspective from the global South and using a case study of women of colour, this paper examines how ASC unfolds at the intersection of complex racial relations, where art making and story-telling shape unique possibilities for personal and community connection. The paper argues that whilst the ongoing dominant power relations embedded in Australian coloniality continue to be extremely challenging, the processes of ASC encourage women of colour to find their own voices when anchored in their culture, identity, and sense of place. The paper further demonstrates that ASC can be empowering and decolonising especially for women, as it encourages them to use their own arsenal of gendered resilience to foster resistance to domination, as well as critical hope, through the reinvention of personal power and alternative narratives.
Presenters
Pilar A KasatAdjunct Postdoctoral Fellow, Media Communication and Social Inquiry , Curtin University , Australia
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Women, Empowerment, Decolonising, Community art, Social change
