Abstract

By engaging in art making and analytic activities I seek to answer the question: How can collage be used to examine, critique and interrupt the meaning of images and objects in individual visual and material culture experiences? Through the use of arts-based research methods and auto-ethnographic inquiry, I show that intellectual insights can be garnered through reflective art production and that this production is a form of inquiry and critique, particularly useful when examining individual encounters with visual and material culture. This method is essential in helping to answer the research question; engaging in art production using personal visual and material culture artifacts (children's pictorial encyclopedias) helps me connect with these objects in a way different from my initial childhood interactions and from my adult viewing and allows me to recognize recurring themes, which are utilized in the analytic process.