Creating Decolonial Feminist Spaces in Art and Design Education

Art and design higher education institutions in the UK can reproduce various forms of inequalities for people of colour, whether this is through racial bias in the interview process; the low attainment and poor retention of Black and Minority Ethnic students; Eurocentric curricula and resources; or, through the relative absence of non-white educators. In today’s rapidly globalizing education environment, where cohorts of students in higher education are becoming ever more diverse, how should such educational inequalities be addressed?

This presentation draws on a case study of a student and tutor collaboration at an art and design UK higher education institution: a women/non-binary people of colour reading group. This co-creation highlights the importance of developing creative decolonial feminist spaces in higher education contexts. Building on critical pedagogical approaches, this reading group offers a pedagogical space to experiment and challenge issues of inequality in art and design.

The case shows, in contrast to forms of Eurocentric art and design education, that cultivating decolonial feminist spaces can problematize dominant ‘exclusionary’ art and design ‘norms’. What this case points to, therefore, is that a more inclusive and pluralistic form of art and design education is possible; but, only perhaps by creating alternative pedagogical spaces.