Abstract
This paper proposes the visual essay as an artistic and pedagogical methodology for teaching fashion history from a critical and transdisciplinary perspective. The approach is grounded in feminist new materialisms (Barad, 2003; Dolphijn & van der Tuin, 2012; Revelles-Benavente, 2014) and critical epistemologies of visual culture (Hernández, 1997, 2010, 2014; Mejía Echeverri, 2009; Mitzoreff, 2003), which challenge representational paradigms and position images as agentive entities (Barad, 2007) in knowledge production. Karen Barad’s concept of intra-action (2007) frames meaning as emerging from entangled relations between bodies, materials, and discourses. Donna Haraway’s notion of situated knowledges (1997) supports a pedagogy that embraces partiality, embodiment, and relationality in constructing fashion narratives. The framework also draws on the New London Group’s theory of multiliteracies (1996), which advocates for inclusive, multimodal, and culturally responsive pedagogies. In this context, the visual essay engages students in critical literacy practices across textual, visual, and material dimensions (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000, 2009), enabling counter-narratives through collaborative and speculative artistic processes. Critical fashion studies (Steele, 2019) and image theory (Mitzoreff, 2003; Mitchell, 2017) further inform the analysis of fashion imagery as a site of cultural negotiation and political expression. The visual essay facilitates historical inquiry while cultivating ethical and aesthetic sensibilities. Through classroom case studies and artistic experimentation, the study demonstrates how visual essays foster socially committed learning environments. This methodology contributes to the development of intersectional, multimodal, and critically engaged fashion pedagogies.
Presenters
Mar SuredaCoordinator of History and Theory of Arts and Desing, History, LCI Barcelona, Spain
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Fashion, Pedagogy, Visual Essay, Critical Theory, Co-creation
