The Hero’s Journey: An art-based method in social design

Abstract

The Hero's Journey is an embodied game activity based on the monomyth of Joseph Campbell (1949). This participatory art-based activity served as a research instrument in a development context in southern Africa with marginalised San youth. One of the outcomes of employing this art-based activity in research was the development of the GRACE model which encompasses grass-root Bio Melanie Sarantou is a post-doctorate researcher at the University of Lapland, investigating how arts and narrative practices impact on marginalised women in communities in Namibia, Lapland, Russia and Australia. Her PhD holistically mapped Namibian craft and design. Taina Kontio is a Finnish media artist who has used applied drama and film as a method of participatory and socially responsible arts. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally in exhibitions in the United States, Canada, several countries in Europe and in Southern Africa. In her collaboration with designers and scholars, Kontio works with margins in society and cultural identities, often with Indigenous people. Satu Miettinen is Professor in Service Design at the University of Lapland with research interests spanning the themes of design methods in engaging with the Arctic region, service design methods for inclusion, the participatory development of services, as well as socially responsible art and design methods. 130 participation, art, creativity, embodiment, expression and empowerment. This paper asks how participatory and art-based methods enable the dialogical and solution orientated GRACE model to function in development work within marginalised communities. The paper discusses how improvisation facilitates power distribution when participatory art-based methods are applied. Improvisation permits continuous negotiation processes with stakeholders, thus enabling communities to participate in development activities in power sensitive settings.