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International Journal of Education through Art, Volume 1 Number 1.

Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/etar.1.1.43/1. © Intellect Ltd 2005.

Negotiating transformative waters:

students exploring their subjectivity in art
Jennifer Elsden-Clifton Central Queensland University

Abstract Keywords
This article explores the transformative potential of art education. Specifically, it feminist post-struc-
focuses on how art education provided space for two students to explore their turalism
subjectivity. To examine this issue, I have drawn upon post-structuralist theory. transformation
In the article I briefly discuss this theory and its implications for research into the subjectivity
area of art education. Then I apply discourse analysis to show how students use students’ art
their own art to explore their multiple subjectivities and lived experiences. As I
will argue, my research highlights how art education can function as a produc-
tive space for students to explore their social and cultural worlds, investigate the
complexity of their identity and question the world around them.

Introduction
Some of my fondest memories of schooling come from the art classroom.
The smell of oil paints and turpentine still conjures up recollections of cre-
ating, exploring and learning within a classroom filled with music, singing,
talking and gossip. The art classroom, for me, was a school site where I
could legitimately explore my subjectivity – the way in which I gave meaning
to myself, others and my world (Jones, 1993, p. 158). In my art I explored
issues related to my body, what it meant to be female, how feminism influ-
enced my life and global politics. Artistic skills such as painting and print-
making became the tools I used to express and explore my identity, lived
experiences and elements of my subjectivity, including my gender, ethnicity
and sexuality. Indeed, the art classroom was a space in which I was encour-
aged by my teachers to explore these elements.
Now, as an art teacher, I observe other students exploring their subjec-
tivities and gaining the confidence, self-awareness and skills to question
society and culture. Therefore, I decided to research how students create
‘transformative’ art. To do so, I focused on a number of key spaces or texts
related to subjectivity in the art classroom.
First, I documented the art my senior art students created. Second, I
documented students’ visual journals as a way of constructing meanings
around their art. Third, I conducted interviews with three senior art teach-
ers, with a view to exploring their personal philosophies of teaching and
attitudes towards subjectivity in art. I also conducted observations of
school and classroom spaces. This article examines the art and visual jour-
nals two students created as they made their way through the messy, murky

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waters of transformation. This can be challenging, uncomfortable, confus-

ing, disorienting, creative, celebratory and exciting all at the same time.

Charting the theoretical premise

To chart the transformative waters of art education, I adopted a post-struc-
turalist research stance. It is important to clarify this term because there is
no one ‘true’ or fixed definition (Weedon, 1999). In my research, I used
Buikema and Smelik’s definition which ‘rejects the structuralist view that
unchanging, fundamental and universal structures lie at the basis of the
world of phenomena, texts, social systems’ and focuses instead ‘on prob-
lematising structures by studying their discursive construction, function
and power’ (Buikema & Smelik, 1993, p. 193). It is committed to examining
‘any commonplace situation, any ordinary event or process, in order to
think differently about that occurrence – to open up what seems natural
[original emphasis] to other possibilities’ (Adams St Pierre, 2000, p. 479).
Thus, it enabled me to look differently at the discursive and non-discursive
spaces of art education and open up what seems natural or normal to alter-
native possibilities (Adams St Pierre, 2000).
Feminists have appropriated post-structuralist notions as a means to
understand subjectivity, gender and society and devise strategies of
change. I utilized a broad range of feminist theorists (including Boler,
1994; Braidotti, 1994; Davies, 1994; Gatens, 1996; Grosz, 1995;
McWilliam, Lather, & Morgan, 1997; Wearing, 1996; Weedon, 1999) who
are all committed to change and to valuing difference and diversity, but in
different ways. It is beyond the scope of this article to explain them all.
Instead, I prefer to focus on reasons why I adopted a post-structuralist
paradigm.
First, it offered me a way of conceptualizing subjectivity. Post-struc-
turalists view this as a site of multiplicity, contradiction, complexity and
conflict (Braidotti, 1994; Butler, 1990; Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Foucault,
1977; Grosz, 1994). From this perspective, subjectivity has productive
potential and is not negative; according to Marshall, the subject is viewed
as ‘a subject in process, never unitary, or complete’ (Brooks, 1997, p. 21).
Second, post-structuralism provided a conceptual framework for iden-
tifying limitations in dominant discourses, centrally positioned within
Australian culture, that are ‘socially accepted’, and for mobilizing
counter-discourses that provide alternative ways of thinking or being
(Grosz, 1994; McWilliam, Lather, & Morgan, 1997; Weedon, 1999). This
dual framework is exemplified in Boler’s notion (1999, p. 175) of a ‘peda-
gogy of discomfort’. This invited educators and students to engage ‘in
critical inquiry regarding values and cherished beliefs and to examine
constructed self-images in relation to how one has learned to perceive
others’ (Boler, 1999, p. 176). In other words, it invited them ‘to examine
how our modes of seeing have been shaped specifically by the dominant
culture of the historical moment’ (Boler, 1999, p. 179). As well as ques-
tioning dominant modes of thinking and seeing, his pedagogy also calls
for action and change.

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Finally, post-structuralism provides strategies for analysing research

sites and texts, through discourse analysis. From an educational perspec-
tive, this is an intricate but rewarding tool for understanding the discourses
that shape students and teachers, including power, language, class, race,
gender, age, ethnic background and socio-economic status (Baxter, 2002). I
used discourse analysis to critique texts collected from art spaces and to
question what role education and, specifically, art education plays in the
development of subjectivity. I asked the following questions. What narra-
tives and scripts are being circulated by and to students in the art class-
room? Which dominant discourses have been most privileged or valued?
Which discourses have been silenced? In what ways do students resist and
challenge dominant narratives in their art?
Post-structuralist categories were used to analyse patterns and themes
in the students’ art as I asked myself: for whom are these images intended?
What significance do they have? What stories does this artwork tell? How
does art create meanings? What are the messages conveyed? What are the
counter-discourses, or hidden messages? And how do students create art
that reflects, challenges and invents new ways of being and of expressing
their subjectivities? (Weber, 2000, p. 4).
Using these kinds of questions to analyse or sort through students’ art
was a process that Gooding-Brown (2000, p. 41) likens to ‘trolling for fish,
netting everything, examining and remembering everything but also letting
some things go’. Discourse analysis was the net that enabled me to sort
through, separate, deconstruct and reconstruct this shifting surface and
seek out art that was transformative. My definition of transformative art is
art that questions and exploits cultural codes, art that challenges and
refines traditional or stereotypical assumptions of identity or subjectivity
and art that promotes alternative discourses that work towards the celebra-
tion of difference and transformation of subjectivity and social practices
(Gooding-Brown, 2000).

Mapping the discursive site

I learned from post-structuralism that all texts are read from particular
social positions and locations, so I will situate my research site and sub-
jects. The study was carried out in three secondary schools in
Queensland, Australia, where I worked closely with art teachers and Year
11 and Year 12 students in senior art classes. In Queensland, ‘secondary
school’ refers to students aged 12-17 (Years 8 to 12); ‘senior’ refers to the
final two years of secondary school (Years 11 and 12). Visual art at this
level is an elective subject.
The students were racially and ethnically diverse in terms of gender,
social class and learning abilities. I documented the art they created over a
one-year period. I also documented the visual journals they created as a
way of constructing meanings around their art, in order to discover how
they explored their subjectivities and lived experience. The journals acted as
sites for exploration and learning about themselves and for thinking about
their emotions and feelings.

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‘Bubbles around you like warm water’: Student A’s counter-

discourse of youth
In her art texts, Student A explored representations of youth and the ten-
sions and discourses that shape youth. In her visual journal, she ques-
tioned dominant discourses when she asked: ‘A lot of people today see
youth as a state of life where all the bad stuff happens, the depression, the
misunderstandings, the conflict. Well what about the other side? The side
that shines.’
She explained that ‘basically the piece will be a huge mixture of things,
about youth, but the overall effect should be positive as I think too much
negativity is used to describe youth’. The negativity associated with youth
that she challenged dominates cultural media as well as educational
writing. For example, Betlem and Bolitho (2002, p. 5) describe it as a time
when young people are confronted with their changing bodies, sexuality,
loss of childhood, conflicts with parents and teachers and opposing pres-
sures from family, society and their peer group. They are concerned also
about popularity with peers and problems relating to drug and alcohol use;
they lack confidence, have poor self-esteem and suffer relationship break-
downs.
In her visual journal, Student A questioned this bleak, limiting notion of
youth and mobilized counter-discourses to represent it in a positive
manner, or ‘the side that shines’. She achieved this through a number of
means. First, she adopted negative images and symbols of youth, then
transformed them and used them in a celebratory way in her art. For
instance, she named the painting in Figure 1 ‘Carmenoid’. In doing so she
drew upon youth conventions of language, or slang: ‘It came to me mid-
swirl ... Carmenoid ... it credits both the beauty of my subject (Carmen) and
the tendency of the young to add strange suffixes to the ends of words.
Hear the word. Feel the power.’
The process of transforming traditionally negative elements of youth
discourse was evident also in her use of bright colours and shapes in this
piece. The colours and shapes, which she described as ‘bold and garish
[in] nature’, were inspired by psychedelic art. The history of psychedelic
art is closely associated with hallucinations and youth drug-taking (Art
Gallery of South Australia, 2000). In this piece, however, she transformed
this representation and used it to her advantage to contribute to the
sense of happiness and movement that she wanted to portray about
youth. As she noted:

The shapes of the backgrounds in the paintings are designed to create a con-
stant feeling of movement around the central figure, whether it is bubbly,
shifty, or flowing depends of the viewer. Movement symbolizes a purpose, a
destination and a driving force which all relate to the overall meaning of
Carmenoid.

In her visual journal, Student A wrote that she used the body as a medium
for ‘expressing the lived experiences of youth’. Her treatment of the body as

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a text that emits signs equates with

post-structuralist theorizing, which
views it as central to the under-
standing of self. For Danaher,
Schirato, and Webb (2000, p. 124),
for example, subjectivities are ‘clas-
sified in terms of their bodies and
their bodily function’; for Grosz
(1994), all the effects of subjectivity
and all the significant facets and
complexities of subjects can be ade-
quately explained using the
subject’s body as a framework.
That Student A’s powerful images
and writing resonate with this theory
is evident in her comment in the
journal that the body is ‘the home of
everything in a person’s life’. She was
aware that the body of youth is
shaped, marked and trained to fit
into limited notions of adolescence.
In this art piece, however, she sought
to mobilize counter-discourses. She
explored how the body moves and
reacts and linked this to a positive,
social representation of youth, in line
with her own lived experiences. The
celebration of this discourse was seen
in her visual journal, when she wrote: Figure 1. Student A: painting.

Youth is boundless, multifaceted and energized. I believe far too much

emphasis is placed upon the darker side of youth, the mistakes and mislead-
ing of the younger generation ... Carmenoid is what, in my mind’s eye, I see
when I think of freedom ... the kind of freedom you feel when you relax, let
your hair down, dance to your favourite song. It’s an overwhelming happiness
that makes you smile without noticing it, and it bubbles around you like warm
water.

Negotiating turbulent waters: Student B

Student B was a Pacific Islander studying in a Catholic, metropolitan
school. He had come to Australia to study art because he could not do this
on the island. There was a large population of Islander students in this
school for the same reason.
I was drawn to his art because it illustrated the productive notion of
subjectivity (Braidotti, 1994; Wearing, 1996). This was particularly evident
in his visual journal, in which he negotiated the competing discourses that
shaped his subjectivity, such as his cultural background, beliefs, emotions,

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youth culture, friends, family, religion and philosophy. Through his art, bor-
rowed from the graffiti tradition, he was able to voice or ‘write’ his own
stories and histories into a text that encompassed multiple discourses.
His use of graffiti as a form of communication was a significant consid-
eration in the analysis of his work. In most cases I was able to draw heavily
upon students’ writing in their journals to explain art pieces. In his case,
however, the written word lacked depth. In part, this reflected his Pacific
Islander culture, which is traditionally based on the oral or spoken word. As
I was aware of this, I spoke to him informally about his images, graffiti and
symbols, and my analysis of the meaning behind them is based on our con-
versations.
Student B’s visual journal expressed a highly imaginative, creative and
nomadic subjectivity in the way that it shifted between and negotiated the
many discourses that made up his subjectivity.
In his journal, Student B mixed ‘traditional’ images and symbols from
Islander culture with images that expressed his personal reactions to his
world and explored relationships with friends, peers, media and religion.
Each of these discourses evoked ‘a different configuration of the self, dif-
ferent language uses, different foci of value and energy, [and] different
social practices’ (Lye, 1997, not paginated). The journal included images
of Bali bombings, stylized images of his homeland and memories of the
island, religious texts, images of friends, sexualized images of women,
popular youth culture (images of famous singers and fashion) and class
exercises such as a drawing of a vase and flowers. Through this mixture
of images and text, this visual journal moved fluidly between symbols and
voices. This was evident in one student work in particular – an assem-
blage of personal photos, images, writing, religious texts and other
people’s art made meaningful through graffiti, a typically western adoles-
cent visual mode.
Best (2003, p. 828) argues that youths use graffiti to ‘propagate their
own discourses as legitimate responses to the dominant discourses of the
establishment’. He asserts that graffiti writing is one of the most ‘subver-
sive, disruptive, yet creative arts’ of youth culture as it reflects the ‘moods,
tensions, pleasures, fears, and trends with the body social’ (Best, 2003,
p. 828). This ability to communicate these powerful emotions, pleasures
and fears was reflected in Student B’s art. In the art piece in Figure 2, he
used graffiti to represent his connections with Islander culture, family and
personal interests. He explained that he had placed his mother’s family
name in the middle and surrounded this with Islander symbols of palm
trees and hibiscus and personal symbols such as a graffiti spray can.
As Student B’s art revealed, the graffiti art form is an expressive
message or outlet for an adolescent voice that has traditionally been denied
or marginalized. As such, it offers potential to ‘write back’ (Best, 2003,
p. 835) to society, and is a powerful tool for immigrants from the Pacific
Islands within Australian society. Through graffiti art, Student B was able to
‘write’ about his own stories, histories, passions, interests and beliefs, as
can be seen in Figure 3.

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Using images in his visual

journal, Student B drew upon his
own cultural signs and symbols to
create an art piece that integrated
and assembled traditionally conflict-
ing discourses; for example,
Islander and Christian beliefs. The
left-hand image in Figure 3 uses
symbols from both discourses to
depict his understanding of the
meaning of life. He explained that it
uses the metaphor of a road travel- Figure 2. Student B: painting
ling through hardships (represented
by confusion, harsh lines and blood)
to symbolize the journey of life.
After experiencing these hardships
there is death and freedom, repre-
sented by the symbols of a bird
(from Islander tradition) and a cross
(from Christianity) in the top left-
hand side (his journal questioned
both discourses and their role in his
life). In the right-hand image there
is a drawing of Jesus and the graffiti
underneath states ‘Adam and Eve
were the first people on earth ... did
they have a belly button?’.
Graffiti enabled Student B to
‘write’ in a visual journal almost
devoid of words. He was able to use
the symbolic languages embedded
in his own subjectivity and multiple
social and cultural discourses to
give voice to opinions about the
society and cultures in which he
lived. In so doing, he negotiated dif-
ferences in languages, values,
styles, attitudes, beliefs and aspira-
tions. Figure 3. Student B: visual journal

Conclusion
In this article, I explained how students negotiate the transformative waters
of art education. I began by outlining the theoretical frameworks I used to
explore this site and the way I conceptualized subjectivity and transforma-
tion. From this foundation, I utilized discourse analysis to explore how stu-
dents take up and navigate these transformative waters. Specifically, I
described how two students negotiated their multiple subjectivities between

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the reefs, rocks, islands and waves of the schooling context to create trans-
formative art. The analysis of Student A’s texts explored art as a space in
which students strike out against the current and chart counter-discourses.
The analysis of student B’s texts explored art as productive space for investi-
gating multiplicities of self. I demonstrated the potential of art for students
to explore their place in their social and cultural world, challenge the dis-
courses shaping their lives and express aspects of their subjectivity.
This research into the transformative potential of art education is a form
of advocacy for art in schools. I want schools, teachers and teacher-educa-
tors to recognize the role art plays in the ongoing creation and negotiation
of identity and subjectivity. I invite them to value and celebrate the multiple
subjectivities in art classrooms and encourage students to dive into these
transformative waters.

References
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Suggested citation
Elsden-Clifton, J. (2005), ‘Negotiating transformative waters: students exploring
their subjectivity in art’, International Journal of Education through Art 1: 1,
pp. 43–51. doi: 10.1386/etar.1.1.43/1

Contributor details
Jennifer Elsden-Clifton is a student in the Faculty of Information and
Communication at Central Queensland University, Australia. She recently submitted
a doctoral thesis which explored the transformative potential of art education. Her
other areas of interest are cultural studies, sexuality and gender studies. Contact:
Faculty of Informatics and Communication, Central Queensland University,
Rockhampton, QLD 4701, Australia.
Email: [Link]@[Link]

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