My Story, Your Story, Our Stories: A Community Art-Based Research Project

Abstract

In this art-based research project an art therapist utilized reproductions of historic documents and letters discovered in an old building to create a body of three-dimensional art that chronicled local and family history and inquired into societal prejudices of the past. The resulting sculptures and altered books were exhibited in the Missouri History Museum's library such that patrons could encounter them in a seek-and-find activity that parallels a common creative process in research. The artwork and library exhibition inspired four community workshops where a total of 270 participants inquired into and told their own family stories through art.