Making metaphors workshops

The objects and other creative outputs in this online exhibition were created through a series of workshops that use of symbols, metaphors and other modes of poetic thinking and making. They were part of a broader research ethnographic action research approach that embraced visual, participatory and creative methods ^1–4

Story-based, visual and metaphorical methods have both affective power and analytical power. Building on the notion of ‘metaphoric precision’, Foster states that ‘nothing is more precise than the artistic use of language’ ⁴. Metaphors and allegories create entry points to non-Western ways of knowing, challenging the assumed binaries between real and unreal, and between realities and fictions, inherent in conventional, Eurocentric social science ⁶. They also recognise and recover Indigenous knowledge systems, which often weaves wisdom and analysis through proverbs, metaphors and stories. Metaphors and stories offer the possibility or an immersion into the worlds of others, and an insistence that we listen ⁴.

Mapping, symbols, metaphors, poetic thinking, dance and theatre were used in workshops and in conferences to explore the research questions.

This folder has individual objects that are part of the Metaphors for Un/Making CSC Collection.