In this contribution I try to explore pedagogies that support the creation of a collective imagination of interdependence based on care and solidarity. With the art of coexistence, I mean a collective co-creation of new narratives and values that are based on the interbeing of all life. We are always involved, embedded and in interaction and therefore we need a new understanding of being, knowing and community. These are not moral imperatives but rather a relational understanding of subjectivity that is based on the experience of belonging and being part of this world. An ethic of care starts from the understanding that all beings need care. It is the realization that all life is related and connected (Bozalek, Zembylas & Tronto, 2021; Barad, 2007; Braidotti, 2006).

How can we understand the world as relational and entangled instead of focusing on the dominant reductionism of life? I argue that we are currently experiencing a crisis that is characterized by the worldmaking practices of Western modernity that are based on exploitation and separation including modes of knowing and being that cause violence (e.g. Escobar, 2007; Quijano, 2007; Hall, 1992; Mignolo, 2011; Maldonado-Torres, 2008; Zembylas, 2017). The imperial mode of living pervades our institutions and understanding of education. These hierarchical and separating modes of being are not life-sustaining for the world and future generations (Andreotti, 2021; Akomolafe, 2017; Brand & Wissen, 2017). Given the complex social and ecological challenges as well as the uncertainties that we currently face, we need new and varied ways to engage with the world and tap into our collective creativity. Interdependence as a process of reconnecting to self, others and the world, cannot be done just sporadically or on a purely intellectual level. Rather, instead the practice and awareness of the interconnectedness of all life are part of a continuous process of remembering. Such reconnection relies on tapping into the intelligence that lies beyond our thinking minds and includes the wholeness of human experience. I argue that arts-based approaches are crucial to disrupt habitual linear and rational ways and engage with embodied and sensory experiences to open up new ways of seeing, being, doing, and knowing? (Bishop & Etmanski, 2021, p. 133; Adams & Owens, 2021).

The aim of this contribution is to recognize the transformative potential of arts-based approaches as a practice to reimagine, interrupt, insist and resist as we engage collectively to better understand societal issues (Adams & Owens, 2021). I will provide examples, photo voice and zining/collage for perspective change, care and solidarity from a higher education class I facilitated. These approaches were particularly effective at opening up new ways of being, knowing and doing as well as perspective change, realizing plural realities, and multiple systems of knowing and being. Learners move from individual to collective meaning-making and start connecting inner worlds with outer realities. The students created photos on their understanding of peace and showed them to the class, promting various perspectves from the group and afterwards the phototaker provides his/her perspective on it. We live in a century that is full of images, but we do not really see them. To create a caring coexistence, it is crucial to see things from a deeper perspective and with a deeper awareness. Another form to express oneself beyond text is zining. Historically, zines have been a form of expression for marginalized communities to share their stories and organise (French & Curd, 2022). I will give examples from zining as collage work to highlight the possibility to express political thoughts about solidarity with nature via zines.

In this contribution I will firstly reflect theoretically on the onto-epistemological premises of modernity and coloniality, considering them through the lens of postcolonial and decolonial theory (e.g. Said, 1978; Quijano, 2000; Hall, 1992; Mignolo, 2011; Maldonado-Torres, 2008) as well as a feminist/posthumanist approach (e.g. Bozalek, Zembylas & Tronto, 2021; Haraway, 1988; Barad, 2007; Braidotti, 2006) to highlight relational and caring understandings of the word. Further, I will look at pedagogical approaches to reflecting on and transforming the violences of modernity (e.g. Andreotti, 2011; Zembylas, 2018; Castro Varela, 2007) and highlight especially the potential of arts-based methods towards a co-existence of solidarity and care. I introduce art-based teaching methods (Photovoice and Zining/ Collage Woork) and give examples of the students art and their experiences. Photovoice is a participatory community method to create social change. Wang and Burris (1997) describe Photovoice as a method by which people can identify, represent, and enhance their community through photography. Theoretically it draws on feminist theory (Collins, 1990) and critical pedagogy (Freire, 1990) and the call for the co-creation of knowledge and community-based social action. Members of the community create visual material on a socially relevant topic that impacts the community and policy-makers (Liebenberg, 2018). Similarly, to photo voice, zines can be used for participatory community work to create social change. I will show zines as collage work from students that show art as advocacy for solidarity and ecological awareness (French & Curd, 2022).

With this contribution I tried to formulate an arts-based teaching and learning approach that enhances learners’ ability to think, feel and act interdependently, allowing for the coexistence of different worlds and realities. This means to re-envision strategies for education that encourage relational ways of knowing and being in a more-than-human world, and thus open up the collective imagination to interdependence beyond a dualistic and separatist ontology that is based on dominance and suppression. The arts-based approaches photo voice and zine/collage work were particularly effective at opening up new ways of being, knowing and doing as well as perspective change, realizing plural realities, and multiple systems of knowing and being. Students realized that universally prevalent narratives about peace and a good life for all are always imperfect, contradictory and uncertain, but we do need new narratives about care and solidarity. The students experienced collective meaning-making and the potential of imagination for a peaceful coexistence.

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