Public art, sexuality, and critical pedagogy

ABSTRACT

This paper establishes a novel niche by providing an original critical synthesis of the potentials and challenges of using public art to teach about, and “que(e)ry”, sexuality, gender and space. The argument vouches for a critical pedagogy that pursues a visual politics for experiential and potentially transformative learning about processes of social inclusion and exclusion, marginalization, and empowerment. It draws from vignettes of first-hand pedagogical methods in class (in the form of collaborative class debates coordinated through creative educative content including an infographic and educational film) and in the field (in the form of a guided walking tour abroad). The vignettes illustrate how a critical pedagogy aims to instigate “awakenings” and deconstructions of norms (e.g. heteronormativity) and privileged positionalities (e.g. cisgendered, white (gay) male). The analysis indicates multi-sited levels of praxes: critical reflections and critical actions that may stretch beyond the teaching space into “real-world” contexts. The paper demonstrates the value of putting personal experience central by interlocking research and teaching practices. It thereby shows the value of collaborative knowledge production for situated, nuanced understandings of self/culture. This study advocates further “first-person” investigation into the ensuing challenges of negotiating topic sensitivity and the disclosure of positionalities (of both educator and learner).

KEYWORDS:

• Public art
• sexuality
• critical pedagogy
• queer
• LGBTQ
• critical geography

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the anonymous reviewers and the journal editors whose comments have been conducive to the development of this article. Any errors are my own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.