Copyright 2013 by the National Art Education Association

Studies in Art Education: A Journal of Issues and Research

2013, 54(3), 198-215

“Pedagogy is no Becoming A/r/tography

longer about what RI T A L . IR W I N

The University of British Columbia

is already known
This article explores moments of becoming a/r/tography.
but instead creates A/r/tography is a research methodology, a creative practice, and

the conditions a performative pedagogy that lives in the rhizomatic practices

of the in-between. Resisting the tendency for endless critique
for the unknown of past experience and bodies of knowledge, a/r/tography is
concerned with the creative invention of concepts and mapping
and to think as the intensities experienced in relational, rhizomatic, yet singular,
events. Considering several recent research projects, this article
an experiment explores what it means to be becoming a/r/tography. Rather
than asking what an art education practice means, the question
thereby becomes what does this art education practice set in motion do?

complicating our There can be no being a/r/tography without the processes of

becoming a/r/tography.
conversations.”
2012 Studies in Art Education Invited Lecture
The Studies in Art Education Invited Lecture is
presented at the annual meeting of the National
Art Education Association. Each year the presenter
is elected by the Studies in Art Education Editorial
Board as a leading scholar in art education.
In 2012, the lecture was presented by Rita L. Irwin,
Professor of Curriculum Studies and Art Education,
and Associate Dean of Teacher Education,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Correspondence regarding this article may be sent to the author at:
rita.irwin@ubc.ca

198 Irwin / Becoming A/r/tography

T
his article unfolds a cartography of the professional practices of educators, artists,
becoming a/r/tography by describing and researchers, it entangles and performs
lines of becoming-intensity, becoming- what Deleuze and Guattari (1987) refer to as a
event, and becoming-movement that entangle rhizome, an assemblage of objects, ideas, and
structures that move in dynamic motion per-
across time and place. It is at once a journey
forming waves of intensities that create new
over time and a journey in time, synchronous
understandings. A/r/tography transforms the
and asynchronous, imagining the past and traditional relationship between theory and
future in the present sense of becoming. It is practice by recognizing the movement found
at once one project and a multiplicity of proj- within a rhizome. Theorizing rather than theory,
ects intersecting with possibilities. It is a self- and practicing rather than practice, transforms
reflective and self-reflexive engagement ever the intention of theory and practice from stable
recognizing the presence of many individuals abstract systems to spaces of exchange, reflexiv-
who have physically, emotionally, intellectu- ity, and relationality found in a continuous state
of movement. Thus, theorizing and practicing
ally, and spiritually taken this journey with
become something other than what they were
me—if even for a moment—touching the life
and exist in constant movement toward becom-
of one another. Their presence and absence, ing (see Irwin & Springgay, 2008; O’Sullivan
whether planned or unplanned, influence 2006; Triggs, 2012; Triggs, Irwin, Beer, Springgay,
the folding and unfolding of becoming Grauer, & Xiong, 2011).
a/r/tography. A/r/tography is a research methodology,
A/r/tography is a form of practice-based a creative practice, and a performative peda-
research within the arts and education (Irwin & gogy that lives in the rhizomatic practices of
de Cosson, 2004; Springgay, Irwin, & Wilson Kind, the liminal in-between (Irwin, 2004). These in-
2005; Springgay, Irwin, Leggo, & Gouzouasis, between spaces of becoming prompt disruption
2008; see also Sullivan, 2010). Drawing upon of duelling binaries, conceptions of identities,

Author Notes
I wish to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) for their generous
support of these research endeavors.
I also wish to extend a deep sense of gratitude to Donal O’Donoghue, Adrienne Boulton-Funke, Heidi May,
and Natalie Le Blanc-Ruttan from The University of British Columbia and Stephanie Springgay from the
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/The University of Toronto for their collaborative engagements with
this SSHRCC research project. I am indebted to the entire a/r/tographic collective that also includes George
Belliveau, Peter Gouzouasis, Kit Grauer and Carl Leggo. Together, we have explored “becoming a/r/tography”
in visual arts, drama, music, and poetry, within a teacher education program context.
I also want to thank Ruth Beer from Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Kit Grauer and Gu Xiong from The
University of British Columbia, and Stephanie Springgay from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/
University of Toronto for their collaborative scholarly and creative efforts in implementing this research
creation grant. I am also indebted to the Richgate families who allowed us into their lives.

Studies in Art Education / Volume 54, No. 3 199

 and the rush to certainty. Instead, invention of becoming a/r/tography, cartographically
becomes integral to social, cultural, economic, described through a walking methodology.
and political processes that are reimagined as An important question is considered. Rather
concepts situated within events. Deleuze and than asking what an art education practice
Guattari (1994) state that concepts are “centers means, the question becomes what does this art
of vibrations, each in itself and every one in rela- education practice set in motion do? There can
tion to all the others” (p. 23). While traditional be no being a/r/tography without the processes
models of theory and practice may have identi- of becoming a/r/tography. What might appear
fied particular ideas or concepts, theorizing and as a single line or even a single crossing point
practicing concepts within the movement of is a multiplicity of “transversal communications
events portrays a process of complicated rela- between different lines” (Deleuze & Guattari,
tionality (O’Donoghue, 2009). 1987, p. 11). A dynamic process of knowing is
The transformational ideas of Deleuze and performed across three moments of becom-
Guattari begin in the middle of life through the ing, one un/folding into the other, blurring the
multiplicities of the material and immaterial. The boundaries of each. Cartographically exploring
folded nature of experience “is rendered mean- the rhizomatic entanglements is an experiment I
ingful not by grounding empirical particulars wish to explore in this article.
in abstract universals but by experimentation”
(Semetsky, 2006, p. xxiii). As Deleuze stated, “I Coming to Becoming
make, remake and unmake my concepts along During my career, I have been involved in
a moving horizon, from an always decentered several research projects that have problema-
center, from an always displaced periphery tized questions of teacher learning, student
which repeats and differentiates them” (Deleuze, engagement, artistic performance, and com-
1994, pp. xx-xxi). The concept “should express an munity development. In each of these research
event rather than an essence” (Deleuze, 1995, projects, colleagues and graduate students
p. 25) and may be understood as a collection of worked with me to conceptualize, implement,
lines on a plane moving in multiple directions. analyze, and disseminate the research under-
Subjectivity is understood as multidimensional, standings and objects. These collaborative
collective, and plural. It is creative, ethical, and efforts created spaces of inquiry that were not
aesthetic “punctuated by moments when being present when I undertook independent study.
old oneself simply would not make sense any Without realizing it at the time, I was coming to
longer” (Semetsky, 2006, p. 3, italics in original) becoming. I was in the presence of unfolding to
since “when something occurs, the self that the possibilities of knowing in the movement
awaited it is already dead, or the one that would and intensity of the events.
await it has not yet arrived” (Deleuze & Guattari, About a decade ago, I spearheaded two
1987, pp. 198-199). The condition of possibil- research projects that foreshadowed a project I
ity or the “inventive potential” (Massumi, 1992, will describe later as the Becoming Pedagogical
p. 140) creates the conditions for becoming. study. These two projects were entitled: Learning
Describing the lines of intensity, move- through the Arts: Artists, Researchers and Teachers
ment, and events that entangle across time and Collaborating for Change (2000-2004) and
place unfolds a cartography of a/r/tography. Investigating Curriculum Integration, the Arts and
This article describes how becoming-intensity, Diverse Learning Environments (2004-2008). Kit
becoming-movement, and becoming-event are Grauer and I completed the earlier study (2000-
three rhizomatically connected conceptions 2004) focusing on teachers’ and artists’ per-

200 Irwin / Becoming A/r/tography

 ceptions, beliefs, and practices in the Learning at the outset, but as the project continued, it
through the Arts (LTTA) program. During this appeared to be anything but modest for those
study, we became sensitized to disjunctures involved.
among the conceptualizations of integration We began that study wanting to investigate
held by teachers, artists, curriculum special- what teachers needed to know within a discipline
ists, and the sponsoring organization. The arts, in order to teach in an interdisciplinary fashion;
in the broadest sense of the word (including to understand what learning opportunities
dance, drama, music, poetry, story telling, visual experienced by teachers might positively impact
arts), offered moments of encounters, a shifting student learning experiences; and to understand
of consciousness, an opportunity to consider how elementary generalists and secondary
other ways of knowing our world. Teachers and specialists differ in their approaches to integra-
artists reflecting upon the program spoke about tive curriculum practices. By compiling detailed
heightened participation, self-esteem building, descriptions and interpretations of teachers’
better school attendance, and excitement for practices as they attempted to address disciplin-
learning while less attention was given to the ary and interdisciplinary ways of knowing, we
impact of the arts on student knowledge con- came to understand how a group of teachers
struction (see de Cosson, Grauer, Irwin, & Kind, created rich intellectual connections through arts
2005; Grauer, Irwin, de Cosson, & Wilson, 2001; curriculum endeavours (e.g., Gouzouasis, 2006;
Irwin, Kind, Grauer, & de Cosson, 2005; Kind, Wiebe, Sameshima, Irwin, Leggo, Gouzouasis,
Irwin, Grauer, & de Cosson, 2005; Kind, Irwin, & Grauer, 2007). Most compelling to us was the
Grauer, & de Cosson, 2007). role a/r/tography played in setting up the condi-
Becoming sensitized to the lack of attention tions for making these connections: a/r/tography
paid to knowledge construction by classroom was seen as a research inquiry, a pedagogical
teachers prompted the next study, conducted strategy, and a creative activity. Knowing that
by Peter Gouzouasis, Kit Grauer, Carl Leggo, all three forms of knowing were valued became
and me (2004-2008). We wanted to investigate the focus for inquiry. Surprisingly, a/r/tography
the beliefs and practices of arts-based teachers became an unanticipated integrative strategy for
within several different learning environments student and teacher learning (see Leggo, Sinner,
in an effort to better understand how teachers Irwin, Pantaleo, Gouzouasis, & Grauer, 2011;
conceptualize arts integration, and how they Prendergast, Lymburner, Grauer, Irwin, Leggo,
teach the arts as a discipline and as a strategy for & Gouzouasis, 2008; Prendergast, Gouzouasis,
integration. Upon identifying sites for research, Leggo, & Irwin, 2009; Sinner, Lymburner, Grauer,
it became apparent that teachers who were Irwin, Leggo, & Gouzouasis, in press).
also working on graduate studies or who had Within the group of a/r/tographers, that is,
graduate degrees were interested in working teachers and university educators, four commit-
with us on a/r/tography. As a group of research- ments surfaced over the span of the project: (1)
ers and teachers, we discussed the direction of a commitment to inquiry; (2) a commitment to
the project and agreed that a/r/tography was a way of being in the world; (3) a commitment
a promising research approach. Thus, as uni- to negotiating personal engagement in a com-
versity researchers studying arts integration in munity of belonging; and (4) a commitment
classrooms, we were not only action researchers to creating practices that trouble and address
(as first conceptualized)—we were a/r/tograph- difference (see Irwin, 2008). Individuals experi-
ers working alongside other a/r/tographers. The enced these as personal and social commit-
movement to a/r/tography seemed modest ments. It was through a community of inquiry

Studies in Art Education / Volume 54, No. 3 201

 that interdisciplinarity emerged. Teachers which is yet to be known, toward the potential
did not teach together; rather, they learned of potential. Even though each line of becom-
together. In the past, much emphasis has been ing is situated within a unique event, these lines
placed on team teaching as a method of inter- of becoming are always connected, affected by
disciplinary studies. In this study, teachers gravi- the other, and entangled in lines of multiplici-
tated to community-engaged learning within ties. Moreover, the earlier studies just described
a/r/tography as a pedagogical strategy for their provided the “coming to becoming.” They pro-
own interdisciplinary learning. For them, learn- vided the space for research creation to emerge,
ing to inquire as researchers and as artists was that is, “a practice based approach based on
liberating yet challenging. It forced them to collective assemblages and experimentation”
rethink what they were doing in their teach- (Manning, 2007, as cited in Springgay, 2011a,
ing practices and in their artistic practices; as p. 647). Research creation unfolded in the
a result, they were more able to provide the coming to becoming. Allowing a/r/tography
conditions for generative experiences for their to unfold in the in-between spaces among the
students. What was most compelling was wit- identities, practices, and processes of artists,
nessing teachers becoming learners. They did so researchers, and educators, and in the condi-
as they embraced acts of artistic, pedagogical, tions of learning to learn, opened the way to
and research inquiry. conceptualizing becoming within the multiplici-
While the above two studies were not directly ties of our work. Building on the work of Simon
informed by the work of Deleuze and Guattari O’Sullivan (2006, p. 22) I suggest that rather than
(1987), Massumi (1992), Ellsworth (2005), and asking what this art education practice means, it
others, lines of inquiry with other projects is more appropriate to ask: what does art educa-
informed by these scholars were soon making tion in practice set in motion do?
connections with what was experienced and
learned in these studies. “Becoming” happens in Becoming-Intensity
the space or place between the multiplicities of The studies described earlier lead us to won-
relations. As Semetsky (2006) stated: dering how arts teacher candidates learn to learn
The subject-in-process, that is, as within a program of teacher education. Teacher
becoming, is always placed between education has primarily focused on learning to
two multiplicities, yet one term does teach (see also Grauer, 1998). Although this will
not become the other; the becoming always be a part of teacher education programs,
is something between the two, this
we were interested in understanding learning as
something called by Deleuze as pure
folding and unfolding ideas recursively evoking
affect. Therefore becoming does not mean
becoming the other, but becoming-other. new understandings. Learning “involves moving
(p. 6, italics in original) into and through an evolving space of possibil-
In what follows, I explore three lines of ity” (Davis, Sumara, & Luce-Kapler, 2008, p. 83).
becoming: becoming-intensity, becoming-event, Becoming pedagogical is the title of a feder-
becoming-movement. Each line of becoming is ally funded research project nearing comple-
not defined by the points it is connected to, but tion. Co-investigators for this study include an
rather by the space in-between, the middle, and interdisciplinary team of scholars in visual arts,
the movement that reverberates within. Each drama, music, and poetry. For the purpose of
line of becoming is situated within the intensity this article, I want to focus on work in which I
of an event in constant movement—movement worked closely with Donal O’Donoghue and
toward possibilities, toward an unfolding of that Stephanie Springgay. Becoming pedagogical is

202 Irwin / Becoming A/r/tography

 all about lingering in this evolving space of pos- to “becoming” an artist [actor/musician/poet]
sibility, recognizing that one never “becomes” as inquirer. Learning entails change on multiple
but rather resides in a constant state of becom- levels across multiple identities. The complexi-
ing pedagogical. Secondary art teacher candi- ties of becoming pedagogical as an arts educator
dates experience being and becoming artists, must include a shift in understanding oneself as
inquirers, and educators contiguously, disrupt- a pedagogue, and as a pedagogue who is also
ing the arbitrary boundaries of fixed disciplin- an artist [actor/musician/poet]. The objective of
ary knowledge (Abbs, 2003). Recognizing the this program reform is to create a community of
interstitial spaces between these identities inquiry where teacher candidates will be com-
allows for a generative flow of intellectual mitted to becoming pedagogical as they prepare
engagement where teacher candidates are to advance creative inquiry in schools (Irwin &
learning to learn, or becoming pedagogical (see O’Donoghue, 2012).
Rajachman, 2000, p. 121). A team of a/r/tographers worked with
Becoming pedagogical is a phrase we use artists and students to employ their artistic
to connote a state of embodied living inquiry and pedagogical sensibilities and capabili-
whereby the learner is committed to learning in ties in ongoing, community-engaged, dialogic
and through time. We began this living inquiry forms of research. During the first semester of
of becoming pedagogical encouraging teacher a 12-month, after-degree art teacher educa-
candidates to question their intentions/actions tion program, we opened up a 3-week space
as they relate to contextual artifacts and expe- within the program for an encounter with two
riences acquired throughout the program. We Portland, Oregon visual artists, Hannah Jickling
believed processes of making and performing and Helen Reed, whose art as social practice
identities could transform the concept of learn- engaged teacher candidates in rethinking their
ing into becoming pedagogical. This is especially conceptions of pedagogy and art. Jickling and
important as teacher candidates engage with Reed are interested in the pedagogical turn in
their personal and social aspects of knowing. contemporary art (see Rogoff, 2008). Their work
By conceptualizing the identity of the teacher seeks to recognize that education and art con-
candidate as a researcher (see Britzman, 2003), tribute to the complexity of the world rather
living inquiry becomes a place for the teacher than react to it (O’Donoghue, 2008, 2011).
candidate to learn how to observe, question, They chose to concentrate on A. S. Neill’s (1960)
analyze, and interpret. In doing so, teacher can- Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing
didates move from desiring to “be” a teacher as as a space to question what learning does. While
expert to “becoming” a teacher as inquirer. As they pursued two projects, I will concentrate
Britzman (2003) found, and our studies concur, on one in which students were each given a
as “teachers view their work as research, it used out-of-print text and asked to study the
becomes more difficult to take the dynamics marginalia (Jackson, 2002) and, subsequently,
of classroom life for granted” (p. 239). It is this invited to participate in related field trips. As this
active performative space of living inquiry that encounter unfolded, all those involved inscribed
we are calling becoming pedagogical. It is per- their own marginalia for particular sections of
formative (see also Garoian, 1999) through its the text, thus creating a revised edition of the
materiality that embraces the arts and educa- book (see Springgay, 2011b). The teacher candi-
tion as forms of inquiry. In doing so, becoming dates became a resource for the social practice
pedagogical includes a shift from desiring to directed by the artists. As they began to realize
“be” an artist [actor/musician/poet] as expert this, teacher candidates also began to question:

Studies in Art Education / Volume 54, No. 3 203

 who gets recognized for learning? What is the and being aware of one’s surroundings and
relationship between material practices, pro- one’s experiences. Walking allows researchers
cesses of engagement, and aesthetic products? and participants access to experiences that are
Provoking these questions even more was an multi-layered, sensory, and affective, which help
invitation to take field trips to the Summerhill us reach beyond the personal to social under-
Senior Residence and the Rasmussen Book standings. Teacher candidates, artists, research-
Bindery followed by an additional field trip to ers, and instructors participated in walking the
a nearby canyon where participants walked the cartography of a/r/tography. They were not
trails discussing their experiences of pedagogy aware of it at the time but they were mapping
experienced throughout the day. These field becoming-intensity.
trips enacted a walking pedagogy and a walking While the project may be entitled Becoming
methodology that is “a reflexive and experi- Pedagogical, I see the Summerhill event as a line
ential process through which understanding, of becoming-intensity, the capacity “to affect
knowing and (academic) knowledge are pro- and be affected” (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987, p.
duced” (Pink, 2009, p. 8; cited in Springgay, xvi) within the practice of a/r/tography. Teacher
2011a, p. 646). Walking invites individuals to candidates experienced the in-between of two
pay attention to their senses by slowing down multiplicities of teaching to teach and learning

Sample revised Summerhill text. Artist residency product under the direction of Helen Reed and Hannah
Jickling (2011). Photo credit: Heidi May.

204 Irwin / Becoming A/r/tography

 Sample revised Summerhill text. Artist
residency product under the direction
of Helen Reed and Hannah Jickling
(2011). Photo credit: Heidi May.

Summerhill Revised: A Radical

Approach to Teacher Child
Rearing. Artist residency
product under the direction of
Helen Reed and Hannah Jickling
(2011). Photo credit: Rita Irwin.

Studies in Art Education / Volume 54, No. 3 205

 to learn, and through an intensity of stutter-
ing, “a milieu functioning as the conductor of
discourse brings together… the whisper, the
stutter… or the vibrator and imparts upon words
the resonance of the affect under consideration”
(Deleuze, 1994, p. 24 quoted in Semetsky, 2006,
p. 60). Teacher candidates enacted stuttering
between these ways of being and demonstrated
how they were “more interested in the surpris-
ing intensity of an event than in the familiar
serenity of essence” (St. Pierre, 1997b, p. 370),
thus constituting the complexity of becoming
pedagogical. Becoming-intensity is about the
capacity to affect and be affected through the
dynamic movement of events with learning to
learn. The walking pedagogy was one peda-
gogical and research strategy/methodology
that embodied the liminal in-between of two
multiplicities of teaching to teach and learning
to learn. The walking methodology created a
space for mapping a cartography of a/r/togra-
phy by again asking: What does art education in
practice set in motion do?
Becoming-Event
Leading up to and perhaps complement-
ing the Becoming Pedagogical research study
was another collaborative a/r/tography project
Summerhill Field Trip. Artist residency under the
working with immigrant families in a local com-
direction of Helen Reed and Hannah Jickling (2010). munity. The project, entitled Richgate, explored
Photo credit: Heidi May. immigrant families’ experiences in a rapidly
changing suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada (Beer, Irwin, Grauer, & Xiong, 2010;
Bickel, Springgay, Beer, Irwin, Grauer, & Xiong,
2010; Irwin, Beer, Springgay, Grauer, Xiong, &
Bickel, 2006; Irwin, Bickel, Triggs, Springgay, Beer,
Grauer, Xiong, & Sameshima, 2009; Triggs, Irwin,
Beer, Grauer, Xiong, Springgay, & Bickel, 2008;
Triggs, Irwin, Beer, Grauer, Springgay, & Xiong,
2010; Triggs et al., 2011). I worked closely with
local artists and fine arts scholars Ruth Beer and
Gu Xiong, as well as art educators Kit Grauer and
Stephanie Springgay. Without going into detail
about the entire study, I would like to reflect
upon one aspect. Family members were invited

206 Irwin / Becoming A/r/tography

 to guide a/r/tographers on local walks that held p. 344). These thread lines are lines of becoming.
significance to them. Often these walks retraced Each line of becoming
rituals of coming and going in everyday life, of … is not defined by the points it connects,
past memories, and of future intentions. In many or by the points that compose it; on
ways, the walks visited memories contemplating the contrary, it passes between points,
it comes up through the middle…
what was once important while also consider-
a becoming is neither one nor two,
ing possibilities and exploring the potential of nor the relations of the two; it is the
the place. In mapping these contemplations in-between, the… line of flight… running
and imaginings, a relational paradigm was perpendicular to both. (Deleuze &
invoked. Listening, viewing, tasting, smelling, Guattari, 2004, p. 323; as cited in Ingold,
and touching became important sensational 2008, p. 18)
ways of knowing and learning. Moreover, the Lines of becoming entangle in becoming-
walking methodology (see Springgay, 2011a) event. Deleuze’s multiple becomings happen in
provoked discussions and debates among family the middle, the in-between, and views creative
members, and later, among a/r/tographers. thought as affirming life. In this way, thought
These dialogical events became critical lines is about considering possibilities, potentials,
of inquiry where we could discuss new peda- and innovation, and it is devoted to inquiry
gogies of sensation. “Such pedagogies do not into events that expressively communicate to
address us as having bodies but rather address the subjective and collective. “Event is always
us as bodies whose movements and sensations an element of becoming, and the becoming is
are crucial to our understandings” (Ellsworth, unlimited, similar to the rhizome whose under-
ground sprout does not have a traditional root
2005, p. 27, italics in original). Thinking about
but a stem, the oldest part of which dies off
pedagogy in this fashion urges us “to ask what
while simultaneously rejuvenating itself at the
pedagogy does rather than what it means or how
tip” (Semetsky, 2006, p. 78).
it means” (p. 27, italics in original). Pedagogy is
Some of the ideas present in the coming to
no longer about what is already known but
becoming section of this article can be found in
instead creates the conditions for the unknown
the metaphor of the rhizome. The earlier studies
and to think as an experiment thereby compli-
contributed to the movement in becoming,
cating our conversations. “Regarding pedagogy
yet have died away while new potentialities
as experimentation in thought rather than rep-
are explored. Furthermore, while examples are
resentation of knowledge as a thing already
presented for becoming-intensity, becoming-
made creates a profound shift in how we think of
event, and becoming-movement, all three forms
pedagogical intent or volition—the will to teach” of becoming are evident throughout all of the
(Ellsworth, 2005, p. 27). The creativity of all of a/r/tographic examples. Becoming-event does
these complicated conversations lies in the cre- not reside in a single personal encounter: it
ative movement forward that gives rise to things, resides in a multiplicity of events that are social
to the improvisation of being, to the unfolding and collective. Becoming-event runs alongside
of becoming (Garoian, 2008, 2010; Hallam & becoming-intensity as affect resonates, reverber-
Ingold, 2007). To improvise is to follow the ways ates, echoes across time and space within and
of the world, to unfold with the intensity of the beyond the event. “The possible—that which
movement in each event, “to join with the World, intensifies desire—is created by the event”
or to meld with it. One ventures from home on (Amorim, 2011, p. 59). What is more, movement
the thread of a tune” (Deleuze & Guattari, 2004, creates the potential for a plurality of problems

Studies in Art Education / Volume 54, No. 3 207

 “The City of Richgate” exhibit (Ruth Beer, Gu Xiong, Rita Irwin, Kit Grauer and the Richgate families),
Chongqing, China (2005). Photo credit: Rita L. Irwin.

Untitled by
Rita Irwin (2009).

208 Irwin / Becoming A/r/tography

 rather than a single solution since a rhizomatic image and myself” (Sameshima & Irwin, 2008,
structure allows for any single line to be conceiv- p. 18). My forest walks explored the liminality
ably connected with many other lines. Life is of the experience. The etymology of liminality
full of entangled lines of events, intensities, and is limen or threshold. A threshold is experienced
movements. In doing so, I am asking: what does in the midst of movement, being inside and
this art education practice set in motion do? outside, always opening up and moving away
from the movement itself. To see movement is
Becoming-Movement
to feel the body in relation to potential. Feeling
While the Becoming Pedagogical and Richgate
my body in relation to the forest was one liminal
studies overlapped one another and involved
space, yet other liminal spaces existed as a result
teams of a/r/tographers from the beginning,
of the coming to becoming studies, as well as
I pursued my own artmaking through a pho-
the Becoming Pedagogical and Richgate studies.
tographic project I called “Liminal Lights.” This
In the liminal spaces between and among these
series experimented with the movement of light,
events, in these studies I was in movement with
exploring the liminality of in-between spaces,
others—others who were becoming-intensity
allowing the steady movement of my walking
and becoming-event alongside me. Rhizomatic
to breathe into the movement of the event and
connections were being made.
the intensity of both (see Rovner & Wolf, 2002),
extending previous artistic projects I pursued In the threshold of becoming-movement, I
through walking (Irwin, 2003, 2006). While many invited poet Carl Leggo and artist Valerie Triggs
of the photographical images suggest a forest to work with me on extending the “Liminal
potentially in motion, purposefully blurred to Lights” series. While Carl frequently walks near
move beyond the rhythmic event of walking, his home, it is perhaps his writing that locates his
most images become abstractions depicting movement in the world. He says that like Barbara
intense qualities of light and dark, stretching Kingsolver (2002), “my way of finding a place in
colours and textures beyond their seemingly the world is to write one” (p. 233). Responding
motionless existence. to my photographs, Carl wrote poetry rendering
In these photographs, I use my camera his insights into the images and his own walking
as if it were a paintbrush as I quicken to experiences of the world. The liminal qualities
understand my surroundings through of his writing allows one to feel the potential for
motion—a motion that metaphorically movement, always longing for more, imagining
evokes deep breathing. Ironically, this the future, breathing into life itself.
quickening slows me down by offering
me a time and place to linger in the Listening to Light
moment of creation, to pay attention to By Carl Leggo
my breathing, to allow my breath to move
once upon a time I saw light,
the image itself. (Sameshima & Irwin, 2008,
counted colors, combed dictionaries
p. 18)
for modifiers, coined countless adjectives
“Artists have always used the power of light
to lure us beyond the shimmer existing on the to name light in poems, held in dark
surface of experience and towards its streaming memory,
into an event” (Triggs, 2012, p. 103). but I knew always the light I saw was
the visible light only, its visibility rendering
“Through these photographs I explore the
breath of the image, the breath of my body cre- invisible the places where light begins,
ating the image, and the breath of the concept where it goes, since the whole wild
of liminality within/between/through/of the experience

Studies in Art Education / Volume 54, No. 3 209

 of seeing seems to stop with the firm tion of movement to move her, and found
earth herself collecting underbrush materials such as
but now I walk daily the dike that writes pine needles, moss, and ferns, blending them
a thin together to create a kind of painterly mate-
line between Lulu Island and the Fraser rial. Using her hands and this painterly mix to
River, make marks on the photographs, she smudged
and tune my skin to listen “the materiality of qualities against each other”
to light’s lyrical lilt, sung in sun-washed, (Triggs, 2012, p. 116).
moon-drawn, shadow-scribed lines, Throughout this process, Triggs was aware
resilient, resonant, measured without end of the potential of movement to create anew,
(2007, n.p.) to alter perceptions, to see again differently, to
I invited Valerie Triggs to work into my pho- change the viscosity of materials to become
tographs in whatever way she desired. She something else. Neither Leggo nor Triggs
chose to attend to the “zone of nonknowledge” tried to exhaust the sense of movement in
(Agamben, 2011, p. 114), or the movement that our connections. Instead, their artistic connec-
was already underway. Rather than search- tions encouraged me to walk again, to inquire
ing where to begin, she allowed the percep- again as I was becoming-movement in my own

Untitled by Rita Irwin and Valerie Triggs (2010). Photo credit: Kirsty Robbins.

210 Irwin / Becoming A/r/tography

 work and our collective work. It was then that cally into the relationships between and among
walking heightened my sensitivity to the aural- ideas, peoples, cultures, and environments.
ity of physical spaces. I could hear the cathe- Art practice as a form of cartography
dral-like height of the trees, the deep spaces then, [is] the creative mapping of our
between the trees and the faint movement of connections and potentialities, a mapping
trees on a still day. I soon started to experiment that pays attention to regions of intensity
with soundscapes to accompany the poetry (the distribution of affects) and to
trajectories of future becomings, as well
and images (now co-created with Triggs). While
as to those already delineated continents
every poem, image, and aural experience was
of representation and signification.
an event for each of us individually and collec- (O’Sullivan, 2006, p. 36)
tively, every viewer and listener would also see
While I am stressing the rhizomatic struc-
movement’s movement because every event
ture of a/r/tography, it needs to be said that
movement is relationally engaged. Massumi
the rhizome is not opposite to the root; rather,
(2008) would say we are “seeing double” (p. 3).
the rhizome is within the root and the root is
“The reality of the abstraction does not replace
within the rhizome. Both exist. There is space
what is actually there but instead, supplements
for structure, central systems, and territorialisa-
it” (Triggs. 2012, 114). This is the work of doing
tion, yet there must also be flexibility, decen-
art—to continue producing the qualities of
tralization, and deterritorialization. Indeed one
perception, regardless of critique, in order to
exists because of the other and too much of one
augment our senses with the potential of more.
cements structure or utters chaos. The coming
In doing so, I am asking: what does this art edu-
to becoming section of this article metaphori-
cation practice set in motion do?
cally recognizes the rootedness of our practices:
Walking the Cartography of Becoming asking direct questions and searching for find-
A/r/tography ings. It also portrays movement: a re-routing
“A rhizome, as a map, is to do with experi- toward experimentation and the rhizome. It
mentation. It does not trace something that also begins to demonstrate what an art educa-
came before (again no representation) rather it tion practice set in motion does. It attends to
actively creates the terrain it maps—setting out the rhizomatic terrain of becoming-a/r/tography
the coordination points for worlds-in-progress, by attending to becoming-intensity, becoming-
for subjectivities-to-come” (O’Sullivan, 2006, p. event, and becoming-movement.
35, italics in original). A map is not a tracing. It is Artists and art educators work in liminal
about experimentation: altering, reversing, mod- spaces and often act as liminal beings (Conroy,
ifying, among individuals and groups, across 2004). While education often suffers from an
time and space. Tracing resists experimentation excess of standardization and sameness, liminal
and stabilizes a perception of terrain. Walking experiences accept otherness and difference.
is a process of creating movement in space, a Liminal spaces are neither inside nor outside
mapping experiment. A walking trajectory does and exist as dynamic spaces of possibility where
not trace a direction and stabilize it; rather, it individuals and cultures come in contact with
propels us as sentient and bodied beings to one another creating interstitial conditions for
create the intensity of an event. Walking as a learning. For educators there is a need to under-
research method (see Pink, 2009) is important to stand what liminal practices might look like, how
the last three a/r/tographic studies shared here. art educators may embody liminal practices and
It opened up opportunities for inquiring artisti- how liminal communities might be created. A

Studies in Art Education / Volume 54, No. 3 211

 walking methodology created a liminal space the present per se is elusive, making becoming
for mapping a cartography of a/r/tography. all the more difficult and challenging, one does
The entangled studies touched upon in this not have to remember and does not have to
article describe liminal spaces where we can pay predict” (Semetsky, 2006, p. 87, italics in original).
attention to what an art education practice set An intensive capacity to affect and be affected
in motion does: it attends to becoming-inten- resides in-between these lines of flight opening
sity, becoming-event, and becoming-movement. the way for art and art education to move in and
These lines of flight rhizomatically connect and through learning, in the “middle of things, in
separate, stuttering utterances as differences the tension of conflict and confusion and pos-
are considered, and find similarity in the bodied sibility” (St. Pierre, 1997a, p. 176). Individuation
movements of walking methods. They describe is always mapping onto collective assemblages
a cartography of becoming a/r/tography meta- and becoming is always mapping multiplicity,
phorically understood as nomadic inquiry entangling lines of flight. Becoming a/r/togra-
intensely experienced as inseparable from the phy is made up of lines of flight, some mapped,
place or space it occupies, that is, deterritorial- some yet to be mapped, carrying us across many
izing to such an extent that “the nomad reterri- thresholds of liminality towards an as yet unfore-
torializes on deterritorialization itself” (Deleuze seeable becoming-intensity, becoming-event, and
& Guattari, 1987, p. 391). Moreover, because becoming-movement.
“becoming is always in the present, although

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