Art-making Process as a Tool for Social Change: A Case Study of an Animation “A short Story About Feminism in Russia”

• Main Authors: Mäkiranta, Mari, Ylitapio-Mäntylä, Outi
• Other Authors: Brusila, Riitta, Nikula, Silja
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Lapland University Press 2019
• Subjects: art-making; animation; biographical study; social change; post-structuralism; /dk/atira/pure/person/fieldofscience2010/6/13/2; Visual arts and design; Iceland; Lapland
• Online Access: https://research.ulapland.fi/fi/publications/8aff435c-9dea-4537-933d-d468c345b0f3; http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-310-943-8

This article explores the possibilities for social change in the art-making process, focusing on one case: the animation A short story about feminism in Russia, produced by a participant in the Cultural Sustainability and Photography Workshop organised by the Iceland Academy of the Arts, University of Lapland and Cirrus—the Nordic and Baltic Network of Art and Design Education in 2012. Drawing on the literature on art-making processes and feminist post-structural theories, this article presents a case analysis of what feminist knowledge can be produced in art-making processes. This post-structural analysis of how artists investigate social issues pays attention to power, knowledge, gender and social meanings in art-making processes. The analysis is also autobiographical in nature as the workshop was based on this methodology. We explain how that multiple voices are involved in art-making processes and have varied emphases, primarily attributed to the voices that have power and embrace critical thinking. We claim that art-making processes stress critical perspectives of society and that promoting new ways of thinking, visualising and designing through arts demands practice-based skills, theorising and self-reflection. The visual designs, theoretical lenses, personal stories and artistic intentions in art-making situations provide equally important knowledge about the world and can induce possibilities for social change. Keywords: art-making, animation, biographical study, social change, post-structuralism