Collaborative Meaning-making in Arts-based Research: Data Interpretation with an Artist, a Physician, and an Art Historian

Abstract

This article discusses collaborative meaning-making in arts-based research. It introduces a project in which an artist-researcher invited a physician and an art historian to help to interpret medical students' hand-made drawings of the female reproductive system and the conception process. The authors elaborate on different viewpoints and improvisation during the data interpretation, and discuss how these were founded on, and disrupted, their professional roles in various ways. The article discusses how the different interpretations of the students' drawings complemented or conflicted with each other. It also discusses the use of associations and humor in these interpretations, and the experiences of emotional discomfort during the process.

Exploring Vaccine Hesitancy Through an Artist–Scientist Collaboration

“…In Kaisu's previous research projects (Koski 2013(Koski , 2014a(Koski , 2014bKoski, Heyning, and Zwijnenberg 2016), she analysed and transformed interview data, for instance with medical students, into video and animation works. All these works embraced the ambiguity and multiple interpretations of the interviewees' narratives, aiming to activate the viewer to consider their own personal viewpoints as well.…”

“I was Excited by the Idea of a Project that Focuses on those Unasked Questions” Co‐Producing Disability Research with Disabled Young People

“…This has ranged from designing interview schedules (which took place through a Facebook post to the group upon which Co‐Researchers offered questions through ‘commenting’); to recruiting participants for interview (young disabled people and parents); carrying out online semi‐structured qualitative interviews via new social technologies; growing the Co‐Researcher Collective through recruiting fellow Co‐Researchers; writing articles and conference papers (see Aimes and others, unpublished data); promoting the project across social media platforms, and disseminating information via their own networks and organisations. At the time of writing this article, we are planning analysis workshops with the Co‐Researcher Collective and our Community Research Partner, Purple Patch Arts, in order to participate in collaborative meaning‐making of artistic data with one another in order to share our interpretations of data (see Koski and others, ).…”

“On whose side are you?”: Artist-researcher positionality in a global public health challenge

“…However, the use of humor, especially the incorporation of laughter in a film, has appeared to be particularly risky in terms of avoiding negative responses. For instance, while it was evident to me that I was Iaughing with someone or at myself, the audience might perceive my mirth differently (see Koski, Heyning & Zwijnenberg 2016).…”