Wednesday 18 March 2015

Digging deeper into diagramming



The process of image-making as a reflective tool continues to intrigue me. In this drawing with entangled circles, some complete others open, I used Adobe Ideas on the iPad to enable me to create the different layers that illuminate what is included and excluded in my research exploration. Looking through these different lenses brings alternative and multiple insights.

When interpreting the artefact, the product of the finished drawing, a multimodal semiotic approach can be useful (Jewitt & Oyama 2001). It provides a framework to make meanings from what is said and done with the images in terms of social, moral and political representations, Yet, there seems more to gain in exploring the process. Is a drawing ever finished?

As I explore the “abstract machine” of images (Deleuze, 1986), I am drawn to the concept and process of “pure edging” which orientates us “toward new positions, bodies, and forms as more-than” (Springggay & Zaliwska 2015). In my research project, I am entangled in the event of Obstetrics learning, digging at the edges of a hole of sensitivity; keeping the (w)hole without dislodging the soil.

Immersing myself in the emerging data through the research process, reveals potential cracks. For instance negotiating entry into challenging contexts can be problematic. I sit on the “edginess of the process and experience” (Springggay & Zaliwska 2015:142). Fortunately there are pillars of support around me.


Jewitt,C & Oyama,R. 2001. Visual Meaning: A social semiotic approach. In (eds.) T. van Leeuwen & Jewitt, Handbook of visual analysis. London: SAGE.

Springggay, S & Zaliwska, Z. 2015. Diagrams and Cuts: A Materialist Approach to Research-Creation. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies. 15:2:136-154.

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