新作坊 Humanity Innovation and Social Practice

Abstract

The connection between social work and art can involve either epistemic explanations or art being treated as a medium applied in the practice of social work. The first of these predominantly sees art as a practical knowledge that is used in contrast with objective focuses and science. The latter, on the other hand, sees practitioners incorporating theatre, painting, dance, music, craftwork and other art media when working with target subjects or communities.

Art is regarded as a medium in this paper, with community theatre work, craftwork and painting carried out with aborigines, immigrants and senior citizens. The role of the researcher is also reflected on, to explore how art can be utilised as an interface and form relationships with the target groups, resulting in multidimensional understanding and a mutual subjectivity. Issues encountered during project implementations are also examined, as are impacts and insights on the participants and researchers generated by art activities, regarding art as an experience that is comparable to scientific knowledge. Thoughts on the methodology applied in social work are then proposed through gathering and studying the tacit knowledge and practical wisdom the participants have gained from the activities.

Studies have shown that theatres are able to unveil hidden memories of tribal experiences through physical expressions and thus connect the people of the tribes together. Craftwork and painting allow for the recounting of personal experiences through the artworks while positively nurturing the body and the mind and with companionship also formed during the process. New possibilities are sparked between the participants when social work and art are linked together, helping the individual participants to interact and communicate with others about their own experiences in life. This approach prevents the use of inertial thinking to describe and think about problems. Although obstacles emerge during the execution process, attention and concern are, ultimately, reverted back to the core values of the target groups, with the thoughts and the decisions made for the social work being conducted based on this focus.