Queering the Art Classroom: Queering Matters

Abstract

AbstractSince 2003, successive British governments have taken steps to develop legislation supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning / queer, intersex, asexual and those who are gender / sexuality non‐conforming more generally (LGBTQIA+). In doing so, they have foregrounded the need for educational institutions to respond proactively to this legislation. There is evidence to suggest that homophobia is prominent in UK schools, yet measures to address the issue have largely rested on schools and LGBTQIA+ charities, reducing discussions of homosexuality to anti‐bullying discourses and introducing curriculum modifications that are overwhelmingly homonormative. The limitations of these current approaches ignore the societal and institutional power structures that help to produce homophobia, which is often referred to as heteronormativity. Drawing on aspects of new materialist and queer theoretical perspectives, this article follows the findings of a research project that focused on developing an intervention at GCSE level, exploring non‐normative genders and sexualities in the art curriculum. The research project was based on a class in a secondary school in North London from 2017 to 2018. Through the application of a pedagogy rooted in queer theory, the study explores the possibilities of disrupting heteronormativity and didactic learning by investigating student responses to the interventions. For this article, I focus on one student’s artwork and her reactions to the process of making her artworks during the project. As such, the study is an exploration of an attempt at moving beyond the homonormative inclusion of LGBTQIA+ content, towards a deeper exploration of gender and sexuality within the curriculum cultivated through making.