Visual culture and art making. A ‘snapshot’ of tertiary art students in New Zealand and Hong Kong

Abstract

This research examined the influences of contemporary visual culture on the art making of eight visual arts students in their final years in two tertiary institutions in New Zealand, and two in Hong Kong. The research was motivated by the reality that students live in a fast-moving digital world and image-saturated era. It sought understanding of the impact of visual surroundings on participants’ art making processes and art works, and whether visual culture informed their teaching programs. The study included the researcher as an artist / teacher / participant-researcher who was born in Hong Kong and raised in New Zealand. Underpinning the research is the paradigm shift that has occurred in visual arts education in recent times, from its traditional ‘fine arts’ associations to ‘visual culture art education.’ Emphasis is now on how knowledge is constructed, shared and understood in a way that goes beyond traditional learning and teaching in classrooms, and includes the ever-expanding domain of study within the visual arts. The research was informed by an interpretive arts-based paradigm and underpinned by the theoretical positions of a/r/tography and visual sociology. The a/r/tographical data collection methods united the roles of artist / researcher / and teacher in a seamless way, with each informing the other. Interviews, observations and informal discussions were used to study the students’ understandings of visual culture, cultural milieu, art making and their institutions. Visual documentation was used throughout the data collection phase, with these images assisting the interpretation of the written findings and conclusions. The findings revealed that most participants engaged with visual culture, but primarily as a point of reference in their art making, rather than as critical engagement. It was found that while each institution in Hong Kong and New Zealand delivered what they purported to do in their program outlines there was little emphasis on teaching and learning about visual culture. Each institution positioned itself largely within traditional definitions of contemporary and historical fine arts images. The research recommends extending tertiary art students’ skills in visual literacy, and the development of professional practice towards the broadened domain of images found in visual culture and daily visual experiences.