Artists Experiencing Immigration

Feeling at home in today's rapidly
changing world is a project rather than a given. More and
more individuals, even entire communities must leave behind
their familiar environments. Within this context,
displacement can be interpreted as an identity crisis; one
which puts into question, and at times suspends, the
possibility of telling a coherent story thus allowing the
storyteller to be a powerful, creative agent. The guiding
questions of this book relate notions of identity,
displacement and art. As artists, what are our particular
ways of addressing the issue of identity in the context of
immigration? What are our strategies of relocation? What are
the implications for art education? To answer these
questions the author gathered and analyzed the life
narratives of three recent immigrant women who use art to
express themselves. Included in this analysis are
reflections related to the author's immigration from native
Romania to Canada. Focusing on the artists' accounts, the
book explores the relationship between the experience of
displacement and the (re)construction of identity, and
uncovers ways by which visual narrative has been used as a
strategy of empowerment.