the power of art in multicultural education: the

Multicultural Perspectives, 11(3), 155–161Copyright C© 2009 by the National Association for Multicultural EducationISSN: 1521-0960 print / 1532-7892DOI: 10.1080/15210960903116712

The Power of Art in Multicultural Education: The InternationalStories Project

Mark A. GrahamBrigham Young University

Cultural differences resulting from immigrationpresent many challenges to educators as schools andcommunities grow increasingly diverse. Teaching chil-dren to be tolerant and to understand and appreciatepeople from various backgrounds is particularly impor-tant in a world characterized by polarization, embitteredcultural conflicts, and prejudice. Unfortunately, issuesof diversity and social justice are rarely an integral partof the school curriculum that tends to isolate studentsfrom community life. Students often remain unawareof how negative stereotypes and discrimination can cir-cumscribe the lives those who are different. But notionsof diversity or culturally responsive teaching need to becontextualized; otherwise, they become vague abstrac-tions (Gruenewald, 2008). The problem for teachers ishow to provide opportunities for interaction with peoplefrom different backgrounds within their own communityso that students can become active in transforming thecharacter of social discourse about cultural differences intheir own lives (Quezada & Romo, 2004). An effectiveresponse to this dilemma is to engage students in apurposeful investigation of the differences within theirmidst through the use of cultural journalism.

Cultural journalism describes an approach thatsends students into the community to document theexperiences and stories of the people who live there. Itis fundamentally a way to orient students to the culturalrealities of the places in which they live. Althoughcultural journalism traditionally uses written interviews,the students described in this article also used paintingand photography as a way to understand issues of culture,difference, and social justice. Their artistic investigationand documentation of the cultures that surrounded themwas augmented by the study of contemporary artists whomake the stories of difference the central feature of theirwork. Art has tremendous potential to develop students’intercultural competence and experience, and artists canreveal the assumptions, values, and beliefs of a culture

Correspondence should be sent to Mark A. Graham, Brigham YoungUniversity, 3122 JKB, Provo, UT 84602. E-mail: [email protected]

in a way that makes them poignant and comprehensible(Johnson, 2002). The work of these students dramaticallyillustrates how cultural journalism that includes the studyand making of art can be a powerful way to engenderempathy, compassion, and intercultural dialogue, andengage students and teachers in critical thinking aboutcultural assumptions and diversity.

Art and Critical Pedagogy

It is important that students and teachers are en-couraged to resist the limitations of their worldview bychallenging the beliefs and assumptions that are embed-ded in their thinking. In many schools and communities,people who are different are invisible and voiceless.Their exclusion creates a sense of separateness andmisunderstanding (Walker, 2001; Diaz, 2001). It is adifficult but important task for teachers to find ways forstudents to challenge the social stereotypes that surroundtheir lives. But, multicultural education is often pushedout of the classroom and into the hallways where it servesa mild decorative function as themed bulletin boards(Korn, 2002). Transformational, critical pedagogy thatchallenges students and schools to become a force forequity in society is rarely attempted (Chalmers, 2002). Apowerful antidote to this situation is a serious study ofcontemporary art and visual culture. Visual culture is aubiquitous part of our students’ lives. Artful persuasionsencourage students and teachers to buy things, to wantthings, and to understand the world in certain ways. Awork of art can also help students view the world fromnew perspectives and to critically consider taken-for-granted assumptions; “the arts offer opportunities forperceiving alternative ways of transcending and beingin the world . . . and to subvert our thoughtlessness andcomplacencies, our certainties” (Greene, 1995, p. 118).Learning about and making art allows students to becomeconversant in emerging and evermore prevalent forms ofdiscourse. A critical study of art and visual culture canencourage students to critically consider the assumptions

Multicultural Perspectives

155

and metaphors behind the images in the media thatsurround them (Freedman, 2003).

Contemporary art and photography can be an es-pecially effective catalyst for developing a criticalawareness of issues of race, immigration, difference, andprivilege. Some contemporary artists recast stereotypesand images from visual culture in order to shake up ourconventional view of things (Knight, 2006). For example,Shazia Sikander’s work uses traditional Hindu motifs andimagery to explore questions of feminism and Muslimidentity. Her richly layered paintings suggest some of thecomplexities of personal identity in a world where theboundaries among cultures are blurred. In the graphicnovel Persepolis, Marijane Satrapi (2000) describes thehistory of the Iranian revolution and her own personalexperiences growing up surrounded by cultures thatwere foreign to her. The themes of identity, dislocation,and cultural confrontation found in the work of manycontemporary artists resonate with many of our students.These artists remind us of our pedagogical responsibilityto expand the learning experiences of our students beyondthe familiar and expected (Korn, 2002). The study andmaking of art can be an effective catalyst for a criticalpedagogy that has the potential to transform how studentsview the world and interact with others (Knight, 2006).Artistic expression can encourage dialogue and createprofound understanding of the experiences of the others.By locating their local investigations of culture within thediscourse of contemporary art, students were able to givetheir work visual as well as written dimensions.

Cultural Journalism

Cultural journaling describes an approach thatuses interviewing as a process that links learningto student experiences and creates opportunities forstudents to have direct and intensive interaction withpeople in their community (Walker, 2001). It can bean effective component of critical pedagogy by givingstudents a means to critically consider their unexaminedassumptions about the lives of other people, in thiscase the lives of immigrants (Gruenewald, 2003).The challenge for teachers is how to create learningexperiences that will empower students to question thesocial stereotypes that surround and limit their lives.By linking art-making to student experiences that arepersonally meaningful, learning becomes a processthat is active, purposeful, and critical (Stout, 1997).Although cultural journaling is usually thought of aswritten documentation resulting from interviews, thisproject expanded that concept to include a substantialreconstruction and expansion of interviews to includedrawing, painting, and photography. The potential forart and cultural journalism to engage students with

important questions about culture and diversity withintheir community led three teachers in Long Island toembark on two ambitious projects designed to givestudents and teachers immediate experiences with thediverse cultures in their community. These photography,drawing, and painting projects set out to create a visualdocumentation of the richness of the cultural heritage ofthe people of Port Washington by involving students inuncovering the stories of immigrants.

One Port, Many Faces: A Project inDocumentary Photography

Port Washington is a diverse suburban communityeast of New York City on the edge of Long Island Sound.Its history of immigration mirrors many places in thecountry. Immigrants from northern Europe in the 18thcentury were followed by immigrants from Italy in the19th and 20th century, who were followed by settlersfrom Latin America, Asia, and many other countriesthroughout the world. These immigrants have storiesand experiences that often remain hidden from bothstudents and other members of the community. One Port,Many Faces was a project that set out to create a richphotographic record of these stories.

Artistry and Cultural Exploration

The project required each student in the class tointerview and photograph someone who had immigratedto the United States. The students were required to usea medium format camera to photograph their subjects ina studio environment. They developed the film, scannedthe negative into the computer, and used digital darkroomsoftware to perfect the image. The finished photographswere printed on an inkjet printer using archival paper at18 × 24 inches. Part of the power of the final imagescomes from their large size. The artistry, technicalmastery, and size of the finished prints made an insistentappeal to the viewer to pay attention and value thesevisual stories. The prints were framed and exhibitedin the school and then in the community library. Eachphotograph was accompanied by a quotation that wasexcerpted from the student interviews.

An important ingredient of this project was a cur-riculum designed to cultivate a greater sensitivity andawareness among the students, while at the same timedeveloping their technical and artistic abilities. Beforetaking the photographs or doing the interviews, the stu-dents viewed artwork and discussed films that dealt withissues of tolerance and liberation. These films includedEl Norte, Hotel Rwanda, Born into Brothels, and Turtlescan Fly. Issues about discrimination, protest, symbolism,activism, and artistic responsibility were explored in

The Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education

156

these films and in the discussions that followed. For thisproject, the teachers designed an innovative curriculumthat introduced students to important issues of culture,social justice, and diversity, and then asked the studentsto get directly involved in significant dialogue with mem-bers of their community. Along the way, each studentwas expected to develop a high level of technical artistrycombined with conceptual acuity. They had to masterphotographic techniques, digital photo editing, the use oflight, and skills in interviewing.

It was essential that the students gained confidenceand proficiency in the photographic medium. Theystudied the portraits of master photographers to learnthe technical aspects of medium format cameras. Theylearned how to use light in a studio situation and strategiesfor working with their subjects. They also learned how toconduct the interviews, summarize their narratives, andprepare their work for exhibition. It was complex learninginvolving thinking, artistry, and creativity. Their workwas so technically proficient and emotionally compellingthat the initial reaction of spectators was that it is thework of a professional photojournalist. Although eachphotograph tells a unique story about immigration, italso represents the journey each student took towardmulticultural literacy, understanding, and relationships.When the project was finished, students reflected on theirexperiences, revealing the rich learning that happened inthe process.

Student Responses

A key part of this story is what happened to thestudents in the process of creating their photographs.Many students expressed a reluctance to engage in thisassignment because of the difficulty and awkwardnessin beginning a conversation with someone they didnot know. However, once they started, amazing thingsbegan to happen. Their words tell it best: “Photographingimmigrants and interviewing them opened our eyes, andtook away a little of our ignorance.” “I really enjoyedshooting my own dad and interviewing him. I was ableto learn things about him that I otherwise might neverhave learned.” “It opened people’s minds to the factthat there are other people in the school besides theirfriends.” “Their stories are truly amazing, and now theyare recognized for their courage.” “This project helpedme recognize that differences in people are what makethem special.” “It was very brave of them to share theirexperiences with us. It seems as though everyone gaineda great deal of knowledge and life lessons from theimmigrants that we photographed.”

Immigrant experiences ranged from those of fellowstudents who have been in the United States for onlya few years, to parents or established members of the

community who have been here much longer. “Not onlydid I make a friend, but I learned about a life I couldn’timagine.” “Luckily, I found Julio . . . he let me photographhim the second I asked, without hesitation. It made mesmile to see him laughing and smiling the entire time”(Figure 1). “In the beginning I was hesitant because Ifeared it would be awkward. I am so grateful for Rahadfor being so open to me and inviting me into her life. Herstory of immigration is truly inspiring” (Figure 2).

Immigrant Stories

Excerpts from the interviews were displayed alongsidethe photographs, making a poignant commentary aboutculture, diversity, struggle, and courage. “I don’t mindbeing different. I just mind that some people don’t likeme because I’m different” (Meri Silva from El Salvador).“Every day was surprising for me when I first came here”(Maki Okamara, Japan). “My eyes were finally openedwhen I went back to El Salvador for a visit. This time Isaw the poverty, pain, and dysfunction that I was headedfor. I also realized that people saw me as a kid with afuture, and I decided that I was not going to throw itaway” (Erez Barlevy from El Salvador). “I came herewith my brother as a young boy, leaving everything Iknew to fulfill a new life” (Phil Matinale from Italy). “Wedidn’t think we were leaving our homes forever. We tookonly the bare essentials because we thought we would beable to return” (Aldona Marijosius from Lithuania). “Myexperience of America is so great; it cannot be described

Figure 1. Julio, from Guatemala, by Sabrina Cutaia.“I used to get into fights, but now I’ve learned to think before I act,it’s much calmer here, not as much violence.”

Multicultural Perspectives Vol. 11, No. 3

157

Figure 2. Rahad Rahman, from Bangladesh, by Erin Johns.“It was hard to leave all my friends and family, but they were un-derstanding. It was hard to meet up with my father after five yearsaway from him.”

with words” (Kalsom Kamk from Malaysia). “When youwant to achieve something, sometimes you must leavebehind something that you don’t really want to leavebehind” (Merlyn Portillo, El Salvador). “I feel somewhatproud because I feel like I accomplished on my goals. Ifeel confident but somewhat sad because I still miss myfriends” (James Lee from Korea).

International Story Portraits: ImmigrantStories in Paint

The success of the photography project led one of thephotography teachers to team up with another art teacherto extend the idea of cultural journalism into drawing andpainting. Once again, students interviewed an immigrantto the community, but this time their interviews includedphotographs and drawings that would be used to constructa painting. The aim was for the finished painting to tella story using color, images, and symbols. Like thephotography project, the international story portraitsfollowed a trajectory from student reluctance throughincreasing levels of engagement with multiculturalissues. Again, many technical and artistic issues had to beconfronted. The small steps leading to the final paintingsincluded encounters with contemporary artists, such asShadia Sikander from Pakistan and Pepon Osorio fromPuerto Rico. On the first day of the project, the students

were confronted with a wall of portrait reproductionsfrom contemporary artists. The class studied the wall anddiscussed the storytelling possibilities and artistic styles ofthe images. Students made preliminary drawings based onthese reproductions while they completed their interviews.The project was designed to cultivate the disposition tolook for stories in pictures in order to create meaningfulvisual narratives about intercultural relationships.

Intercultural Portrait Experiences

The students immediately discovered enormousdiversity within their community. People from thecontinents of Asia, Africa, the Indian sub-continent,Europe, and South America were included in the project.Some students interviewed their peers while othersinterviewed older people in the community, includingparents. Allison interviewed Rahad from Bangladesh andlearned some of the rituals of Islam, including the reasonsfor and cultural complications associated with the headcovering. Andrew interviewed his tennis teacher fromZambia and learned about his enormous struggle andsacrifice to move from Africa to Kansas and from Kansasto New York. Andrew discovered a common problem formany people who immigrate; a father or mother leavesto provide for their children, but then barely knows thesechildren because of the gulf of geography. Lester, fromGuatemala, told Willa, “Hispanic immigrants come hereto make money for their family. It’s what they have to do.But they lose their family, too.” When asked if he thoughtthe sacrifice was worth it, he answered, “Uh, it’s justreally hard. That’s the story of Guatemala” (Figure 3).

Melanie found a young woman from Zimbabwe whodescribed the difficulties of politics and governmentsthat prevented her from being able to visit her family.Liz interviewed her grandmother who grew up in NaziGermany (Figure 4). She told the story of her father beingtaken to a concentration camp and her family losing all oftheir belongings. Her grandparents’ tragic and dramaticexperiences illuminated the persecution and desire forfreedom that is behind many immigrant stories. Theinterviews of parents often included tales of enormouswork and sacrifice, including leaving friends and familyin order to provide a better life for their children. Lianna’sfather described how difficult it was to have two parentswho did not speak English and how much responsibilitythis placed on the children to explain things. “My motherbought groceries by the looks of the packaging, not byreading the product’s name, which led to some veryinteresting results.”

Their summary remarks included: “I learned a lotabout my dad,” “my mother,” “my grandparents,” “theperson who has sat next to me for years.” “I learned howamazing he is, and how much he has accomplished, I


158

Figure 3. Carlos Molina, from El Salvador, by June Yoo.“I don’t mind being different. I just mind that some people don’tlike me because I’m different.”

tried to capture his feelings.” “Most people see my dadas the doctor, but I discovered this means little to mydad compared to other things in life.” “I learned a lotabout the culture and how different her culture is,” “aboutthe religion,” “how many opportunities exist here.” “Ilearned the hardships one faces in coming here fromanother country. I learned not to be afraid of new things.”Mary painted a beautiful portrait of Vicki from China andremarked, “I always thought she was nice, but I learnedmuch deeper things about her through this process.”

This project encompassed interviews, drawings, andvisual storytelling. Visual symbols became a powerful

Figure 4. Lester, from Guatemala, by Samantha Calem.“Hispanic immigrants come here to make money for their family.It’s what they have to do. But they lose their family, too.” Whenasked if he thought the sacrifice was worth it, he answered, “Uh . . .it’s just really hard. That’s the story of Guatemala.”

Figure 5. Liz’s Grandmother, from Germany, by Elizabeth Corkett.“My father was taken to a concentration camp at Buchenwald. TheSS searched our apartment and took my piggy bank and penknife.My mother and I lived in constant fear that we would be taken.”

device to convey meaning. Rachel drew her father fromBosnia with a pair of pajamas on his head to convey hisunusual and absurd sense of humor. When asked abouthis move to New York, he said, “I fell from my horse intothe gutters.” Jackie painted her friend Kate (Figure 5) oncardboard to convey the sense of impermanence in herlife. “The cardboard symbolized the many moves she hasmade. Boxes are the only factor that remains constantin her life” (Figure 6). Hea Jin used strands of yarnstreaming from her portrait of Jaewon, from Korea, tosymbolize “her chaotic mind, which no one knows.” HeaJin lives with relatives in New York, while her parentsremain in Korea. Perhaps the yarn is also a reflection ofher own chaotic mind that no one knows. Liz’s portraitof her grandmother who moved from Germany duringWorld War II is filled with contrasting symbols of hate,devotion, and peace.

One particularly remarkable story emerged from HaeInn’s interview of Emiko, an elderly Japanese womanher father had befriended (Figure 7). She learned aboutEmiko’s sacrifices in coming to the United States, whichincluded leaving behind a child. She learned the dynamicsof her interracial marriage and about her inability to havechildren because of abortions she had in Japan. Duringthe weeks of the interview, Emiko became ill, and wasadmitted to the hospital. Hae Inn spent hours with herthere, talking and doing sketches. Emiko’s interview and


159

Figure 6. Kate, from Canada, by Jackie Zdrojeskie, used cardboardto convey the sense of impermanence in her life.“The materials that I use are inspired by the feeling of imperma-nence. The cardboard symbolized the many moves I have made.Boxes are the only factor that remains constant in my life.”

Hae Inn’s portrait turned out to be her final testament. HaeInn worked on the painting for hours, trying to conveyher emotions and the richness of the person she had cometo know so well. “She gave me the story of her life, andI felt that she had given me an inheritance more valuablethan any of her material possessions. . . . On Wednesdayevening, we got the phone call from the hospital. The firstthing my mother told me was, ‘she died waiting for yourpainting.’ I had kept putting off finishing the portrait. Ijust could not dare to express her amazing life on a mere12 × 18 canvas.”

Exhibition

The final paintings, along with excerpts from theinterviews, were exhibited in the school gallery. Parentsand those who had been interviewed were invitedto attend. Thus, we all met Liz’s grandmother fromGermany, Rachael’s father, and many other members ofthe school and larger community. Some of the paintingsand their commentaries included other languages. Eachpainting was accompanied and surrounded by the myriadpreliminary sketches and studies that led to the final piece,creating a complicated collage of faces, symbols, images,and stories. The finished paintings conveyed a sense of

Figure 7. Emiko, from Japan, by Hae Inn Woo.“That was the last time she talked to me, and the last time she wasable to tell us about her life. I felt that she had given me an inheri-tance much more valuable than any of her material possessions. Shegave me the story of her life.”

the richness of the community and the unique experiencesthe students had in creating their story portraits.

Conclusion

Immigration is making our country and schoolsincreasingly diverse. An unfortunate consequence ofthis condition is prejudice, discrimination, and lack ofunderstanding. The challenge for educators is to createlearning opportunities that will allow students to gainunderstanding and appreciation of the differences amongthe people who are in their midst. These two projectscreated opportunities for students to examine topicsof culture, diversity, and social justice in a traditionalclassroom and within the local context of their community.Cultural journalism became a potent way for them tounderstand and appreciate differences among people.The creation of a work of art allowed students to developtheir own vision and personal voice in a visual languagethat allowed for enormous divergence and imaginativeresponses. These examples also demonstrated how thestudy and making of art could be a powerful wayto engender empathy, compassion, and interculturaldialogue, and engage students and teachers in critical


160

thinking about cultural assumptions, immigration, anddiversity. These projects generated spaces for people withdifferent backgrounds to tell their stories and a contextfor students to hear their stories.

Their summary remarks included:“I learned a lot about my dad,”“my mother,” “my grandparents,”“the person who has sat next tome for years.” “I learned howamazing he is, and how much hehas accomplished, I tried tocapture his feelings.”

The art teachers used cultural journalism and art-making as a means to give meaning and local contextto vital issues of cultural diversity. Teachers in otherdisciplines can also effectively employ the strategiesof cultural journalism. For example, the practice ofwritten interviews was featured prominently in theFoxfire movement as a method to develop language andliteracy skills (Wigginton, 1991). Likewise, teachers inany discipline can use contemporary art and popularvisual culture to explore issues of diversity and culturaljournalism. Contemporary is a particularly rich areaof inquiry across the curriculum since many artistsuse multidisciplinary approaches in their work. In aneducational landscape that includes technologies for manykinds of image making, there are myriad possibilities toemploy cultural journalism in ways that can be used bynon-art teachers.

By expanding traditional models of cultural journalismto include the creative construction of storied portraits,students gained intercultural competence at multiplelevels. Their learning was also informed, contextualized,and deepened by their experience with contemporaryartists whose work deals with issues of identity and

difference. The careful cultivation of artistic media andlanguages gave students the means to tell these stories inways that were poignant and revealing. Their beautifullycrafted work honored the experiences of people withintheir community and allowed them to share them. In theprocess, both the students and the teachers were changed,becoming more knowledgeable about the complexitiesof culture and hybrid culture, more culturally competentand sensitive, more willing to consider another person’sviewpoint, and more appreciative of the richness of theircommunity.

References

Chalmers, F. G. (2002). Celebrating pluralism six years later: Visualtransculture/s, education, and criticual multiculturalism. Studies inArt Education, 43(4), 293–306.

Diaz, C. F. (2001). Multicultural education for the 21st century. NewYork: Longman. Eisner, E. (2005).

Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching visual culture. New York: TeachersCollege Press.

Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the imagination. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass.

Gruenewald, D. A. (2003). The best of both worlds: A critical pedagogyof place. Educational Researcher, 32(4), 3–12.

Gruenewald, D. A. (2008). Place-based education: Grounding culturallyresponsive teaching in geographical diversity. In D. A. Gruenewald& G. A. Smith (Eds.), Place-based education in the global age.New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Johnson, L. (2002). Art-centered approach to diversity education inteaching and learning Multicultural Education, 9(4), 18–22.

Knight, W. B. (2006). Using contemporary art to challenge culturalvalues, beliefs, and assumptions. Art Education, 59(4), 39–45.

Korn, C. (2002). Introduction: Cultural transitions and curriculartransformation. In C. Korn & J. Bursztyn (Eds.), Rethinkingmulticultural education (pp. 1–15). Westport, CT: Bergin andGarvey.

Korn, C., & Bursztyn, A. (Eds.). (2002). Rethinking multiculturaleducation. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.

Quezada, R., & Romo, J. (2004). Multiculturalism, peace education andsocial justice in teacher education. Multicultural Education, 11(3),2–12.

Satrapi, M. (2000). Persepolis. New York: Pantheon.Stout, C. J. (1997). Multicultural reasoning and the appreciation of art.

Studies in Art Education, 38(2), 96–111.Walker, H. (2001). Interviewing local artists: A curriculum resource in

art teaching. Studies in Art Education, 42(3), 249–265.Wigginton, E. (1991). Foxfire 25 years. New York: Doubleday.


161

the power of art in multicultural education: the

Documents