Artists Experiencing Immigration: How We View Our Artistic Expression in the Context of Dramatic Change

Feeling at home in today?s rapidly changing world is a project rather than a given. More and more individuals, even entire communities must leave behind their familiar environments. Within this context, displacement can be interpreted as an identity crisis; one which puts into question, and at times suspends, the possibility of telling a coherent story thus allowing the storyteller to be a powerful, creative agent. The guiding questions of this book relate notions of identity, displacement and art. As artists, what are our particular ways of addressing the issue of identity in the context of immigration? What are our strategies of relocation? What are the implications for art education? To answer these questions the author gathered and analyzed the life narratives of three recent immigrant women who use art to express themselves. Included in this analysis are reflections related to the author?s immigration from native Romania to Canada. Focusing on the artists? accounts, the book explores the relationship between the experience of displacement and the (re)construction of identity, and uncovers ways by which visual narrative has been used as a strategy of empowerment.

Born in Romania, Diana Barabas earned a B.F.A at the N.Grigorescu Academy in Bucharest and an M.A. degree in Art Education from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. Since 1999, she has been teaching art at the American International School Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She writes art education articles and exhibits her artworks locally.