Sixteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

In this paper, we explain the relationality between the continuous movement of the wind and our lost sense of belonging as foreigners to a place by undertaking a series of a/r/tographical walks during which we communicated with the wind through a human craft (wind vane). Through aligning our movements with the wind, we attempted to walk-with and think-with the wind collectively around the concept of being landless in order to re-think and re-consider this meaning from a more-than-human perspective. In this experience, we applied our bodies to the wind as materials which refer to the entanglement of human and non-human entities wherein the edges and boundaries are ontologically blur and vague. We adopted a/r/tograpahy as a methodology and walking as a mode of inquiry to co-create with the environment and nature through lens of being an artist, teacher and researcher. We undertook several walks using handcrafted wind vane to determine the paths and guide our walks in city of Montreal. In this process, we examined the capacity of the wind vane as a communicating tool and understand the concept of landlessness not only as a subjective experience of the human being but also as a meaning that has been already existed in the world.