Inquiring Artlessly : Encounter(ing)s With Monstrous Materialities From/Through the Threshold

Abstract

This article takes up the suggestion of artless inquiry as an extension for artful ways of doing, thinking, and be(com)ing. Specifically, each author/artist used discarded items—materialities we position as monstrous—to visually articulate how/what artless inquiry produces in the context of (post)qualitative research. Drawing inspiration from artists Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Theaster Gates, Yam Chew Oh, and Shani Nottingham, each work of art(less/ful-ness) is then leveraged into three stories that entangle theory, materiality, and spatiality with our own (individual/collective) thoughts and perspectives on how monstrous materialities impact the more-than-human world and those trying to make sense of it through inquiry.

Keywords

artful inquiry discard studies plastic composite narratives

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