Collaborative Meaning-making in Arts-based Research: Data Interpretation with an Artist, a Physician, and an Art Historian

Abstract

This article discusses collaborative meaning-making in arts-based research. It introduces a project in which an artist-researcher invited a physician and an art historian to help to interpret medical students’ hand-made drawings of the female reproductive system and the conception process. The authors elaborated on different viewpoints and modes of talking during the data interpretation, and discussed how these were founded on, and disrupted, their professional roles in various ways. The article discusses how these different viewpoints about the students’ drawings complemented or conflicted with each other. It also discusses the use of associations and humor in these interpretations, and the experiences of emotional discomfort during the process.

Keywords

• arts-based research, collaborative meaning-making, anatomical drawing, female reproductive system, medical student, playful association, improvisation, humor, embarrassment