Forgotten: an autoethnographic exploration of belonging through Graphic Design

• Autor(a) principal: Shan, Kexin
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Mortensen Steagall, Marcos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: DATJournal
• Texto Completo: https://datjournal.anhembi.br/dat/article/view/690
• topic: Autoetnografia; Pertencimento; Pesquisa de design; Escrita poética; Autonarrativa; Autoethnography; Belonging; Design Research; Poetic writing; Self-Narrative; Autoetnografía; Autonarrativa; Escritura poética; Investigación en Diseño; Pertenencia

This article presents a practice-led artistic research project that asks: How to represent an international Chinese student’s sense of belonging (or not belonging) through the aesthetics of visual poetry? The project looked into concrete poetry as a visual strategy to develop a design outcome consisting of two publications using an experimental typographic layout and two corresponding posters. This research employs autoethnography and heuristic inquiry as a methodological approach to the creative process to achieve high levels of originality. Based on personal experience, this research project explores the lack of sense of belonging faced by a Chinese student in an unfamiliar place when initially studying in Aotearoa New Zealand. In a design response to this temporary loss of belonging, the project investigated profiled individuals to analyse two specific negative emotions: restless and lonely. In addition, the study applies poetic writing to self-narrative to enhance the potential of personal expression, metaphorically telling stories while creating a visual typographic artefact that breaks with the traditional written prose form. The project is a retrospective of the self, graphically articulating two unforgettable emotions arising from two of the most profound periods affecting the researcher. On the one hand, the project takes a further step towards self-understanding and helps the viewer understand the issues of belonging experienced by Chinese students in a foreign country. On the other hand, it contributes to the discussion of autoethnography and heuristic inquiry to achieve originality in graphic design.