Ethical Encounters through Travelling Images

Authors

  • Claudia Mitchell McGill University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18432/ari29866

Keywords:

audiences, curation, decolonial practices, ethics, photo reenactments, visual methodologies

Abstract

Abstract: This article brings together two broad areas in arts-based research: curation and the study of how images travel. At the centre of this work is a concern for what might be described as “ethical encounters”, drawing on an autoethnographic project working with family photographs, reenactments, and travel from Canada to the U.K. as the “Old Country”. Questions about who is in the picture and what is said and not said about a family photograph arise about what can be shown, and about stories of what is left out. But this work with family photos and travel does not sit alone; rather, it gives rise to questions about curating participant-generated images in community-based research, including the drawings of war-affected children and photos on gender transformation produced in a variety of Global South contexts. The article concludes with the idea that the concept of travelling offers opportunities to challenge normative, colonial, and hegemonic ideas; maybe even advancing social change.

Author Biography

Claudia Mitchell, McGill University

Claudia Mitchell is a Distinguished James McGill Professor at McGill University where she is Founder and Director of the Participatory Cultures Lab. Much of her work is in Global South contexts, drawing on participatory visual methodologies to address critical issues in social research, particularly in the context of gender equity.

Chromosome Territories, 2022 (P. Sameshima). Artwork: wire and beads arranged in a circular manner against winter trees with blue sky in the background.

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Published

2025-10-26

How to Cite

Mitchell, C. (2025). Ethical Encounters through Travelling Images. Art/Research/International:/A/Transdisciplinary/Journal, 9(2), 463–480. https://doi.org/10.18432/ari29866

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2025): Artful Futures: Reflections on the Evolution of the Arts in Research

Section

ARI Special Issue

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Claudia Mitchell

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