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AN A/R/tographic and arts-based exploration of lived experiences in compromised contexts
Author(s)
George, Peneria Venessa Ansley
Date Issued
2026
Type
doctoral thesis
Publisher
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Abstract
The compromised context during and post-COVID-19 provided a contextual frame for a situational inquiry into the lived experiences of individuals influenced by the phenomena of unemployment and drug substance dependent individuals in rural areas of the Western Cape, South Africa. The rapid growth of literature on arts-based research (ABR) has opened new ways of thinking about how art links to novel research knowledge. It has enabled scholars to deepen their thinking on ABR, to explore the characteristics of thought, perception, and experience, and to engage with mystery and immerse themselves in the mysterious nature of practice and the phenomenon that it leans towards (Visse et al., 2019:7). Something that is unknown, unexplained, or not fully understood inviting interest in interpretation, investigation, and curiosity is referred to as mysterious. leaving room for several interpretations rather than a single decisive response. ABR responds to a “trust-the-process” stance; the artist-researcher-teacher (a-r-t) dwells in the unexpected that the work requires (McNiff, 2008; Visse et al., 2019). Artistic expression encouraged participants to reflect and gain confidence in sharing their experiences, often revealing new insights through surprising results. VOSviewer analysis revealed a gap in the literature on concepts like storytelling and creative reflection, which were present but not well-connected. In contrast, this study used arts-based research and A/R/Tography to focus on lived experience and reflection of the (a-r-t) and participants. A person's personal, everyday experience of the world, in the world and how life is truly felt, interpreted, and given meaning through thoughts, emotions, relationships, and actions, which is referred to as their "lived experience," as opposed to how it is explained in theory or statistics. The gap pointed to a lack of integration, which the study aimed to address by bringing these ideas together through a creative and participatory lens. The research questions for this study are: 1) How do people in compromised contexts experience their lived reality in a specific situation? This question explores the lived experiences of the target groups to gain a better understanding of their lived realities. 2) How can in situ interactions between the researcher as Artist and persons during creative processes lead to improved understanding of their lived realities and the ability to express these using newly obtained creative skills? This question explores engagements between the researcher and participants, probing lived experiences through teaching creative processes, with a focus on skills they learnt to express experiences and reflections through art. 3) What insights can be gained from reflections as artistic expressions of lived experiences in compromised contexts? The focus is on developing the ability of both researcher (also a participant) and participants to reflect on their lived experiences through self-exploration and expression. Situational inquiry was conducted through an A/R/Tography perspective, which guided this study by integrating interpretive phenomenology, arts-based research (ABR), and autoethnography to explore and express the lived experiences of individuals in compromised contexts. The researcher assumed three interconnected roles artist–researcher–teacher to engage creatively with the study’s concepts, data collection, and analysis through observation and reflection. As teacher, the researcher also facilitated the learning of creative methods involving knowing, doing, and making. The acronym CARER – Creator, Artist, Reflector, Ethnographer, Revealer – captured the integrated and complementary nature of these roles. A thematic process was used to inductively code the data, after which the codes were grouped and categorised based on similarities and shared meanings to derive sub-themes that were then grouped into themes. This resulted in a list of themes for each data collection method for both cases. Recruitment was done by the respective participating organisations to support non-probabilistic, purposive, and convenience sampling. The sampling strategy allowed target-phenomenon-rich participants to form the basis of an initial understanding. Data were collected through observations, reflections, field notes, creative workshops, face-to-face and online data, and body mapping. Findings were derived from collected data and interpreted to attach meaning. The findings indicate the following: the knowledge contribution includes insights into using creative processes in developing 21st-century skills based on the capabilities of youth Not in Education and Employment (NEET) and substance-abuse users in a complex context. Insights and knowledge were underpinned by arts-based research and A/R/Tography through an interpretive phenomenological lens. In addition, knowledge gained through integrated reflections at multiple levels informed the study. Furthermore, the theoretical contributions extended to the empirical research on using arts-based research and A/R/Tography through an interpretive phenomenological lens applied in complex contexts. The pandemic posed risks to ethics. Many community-based practitioners struggled to build and maintain partnerships, relationships, or projects during the COVID-19 pandemic, and lowering ethical standards was not aligned with the (a-r-t). The employment of digital artistic methods during COVID-19 with NEET youth, the (a-r-t) maintained ethics. Methodologically, the study contributed an integrated methodology that incorporated key aspects of complex phenomena, using creative processes. It combined methods of practice, social science, design methods, and creative and practical methods into a suitable research methodology for practice-led, co-created, reflective design research. Role of artist (practice-led phase): Together with the participants, online and in person, we expressed ourselves in creative ways to create artworks, utilising sustainable creative and body-mapping processes.
Additional information
Thesis (DPhil (Informatics))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2026
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