In the Studio: Researcher Subjectivity,the Infant Observation Method,and Researching Creative Practices

Abstract

The material for this article is taken from a psychoanalytically informed psychosocial pilot – Creative Practices and Processes that explores ‘what makes creativity possible?’ The aim of the pilot was to develop a methodology and methods that permitted an in-depth understanding of the social, psychological and material factors that facilitate creativity. The study is informed by a broadly post-Kleinian British Object Relations approach which privileges personal experience, unconscious dynamics, and the relationship between inner and outer worlds. The focus here is with the adaptation and innovative use of psychoanalytic infant observation as a psychosocial research method of ‘being with’ an artist in such a way as to gain a deep understanding of the unconscious dynamics, physical and material, spatial and temporal, and embodied experiences of creative processes and practice.

The article considers the potential of psychoanalytic infant observation as a research method for informing us about creative practices and processes. The rich detail of the data is also explored for what it tells us about the research process and relationships. A key principle of infant observation is the importance of a ‘form of knowing imbued with emotional depth’ (Hollway 2012: 25) and the use of the observer's subjectivity. The article illustrates how when the researcher's subjectivity is utilised as a research tool and the researcher is open to the affective experiencing of the research process, looking and observing are not simple or straightforward research activities. Rather, we can see that they are activities that generate emotional responses, conflict, uncertainty, unease and not knowing. Using the first artist observation as an example, the research dynamics the observation are seen as involving a series of negotiations, enactments and explorations around boundaries, looking and being seen, what to observe, roles, the nature of the research and, anxiety.