Walking together: Shared authority and co-mentorship between two artists on the move

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Abstract We invite you to join us as we explore our co-mentorship through walking, artmaking and writing, all core aspects of our practices as artists. While meandering through the rich sensorial environment of Montreal’s waterside Parc-nature de l’Île-de-la-Visitation, our reactions to the surroundings played an influential role in shaping the character of this article. Our ideas emerged through the quiet heat of the early spring sunshine and amidst intermittent remarks about the birds flying by, the directionality of the flowing river, the strength of the wind, the sounds of lapping water, the families enjoying picnics, the demographics of the neighbourhood surrounding the park, and even the roar of a hydro dam we encountered for the first time. Drawing on a posthumanist framework, notions of shared authority borrowed from oral history, methods of call-and-response, and co-mentorship, the authors – a doctoral supervisor and a doctoral candidate in Art Education at Concordia University in Montreal – reflect on their hopes for and experiences of their work together as complementary, convergent, concurrent and symbiotic.