States of being?

19 February to 9 March 2019

This academic journey is an exploration of artistic creativity and healing. I adopt an autoethnographic, practice-based research approach by way of reflecting, recording and realising insights about creativity. This introspective account enabled the examination and surfacing of underlying processes, practices and states of being contributing to my creative process. There are certain processes I follow when making art and essential to these processes are particular kinds of practices. My artmaking, imbued with ritual-like behaviours and activities, disentangled and made clear these creative processes and practices over time. Thinking through my making, I recognised the emergence of my creative process into four clear stages, namely, captivation, contemplation, creation and collaboration. These processes were in turn supported by practices that enabled an embodiment of particular states of being, contributing significantly, not only to my artmaking, but more importantly to healing. Adopting a story-telling convention in writing about my making was important in that I was able to reflect and at times see new meaning and make new discoveries, long after the artwork had been completed. Reliving my process through observation of the finished body of work and reading over my in-process journaling and sketches of ideas, allowed me to recognise the magnitude of my process. In this magnification, my own healing and transformation were made visible - Shanti Govender

Photography by Reshma Chhiba