Individual Becomes Collective Becomes Individual

Collective Memory-Work as a Reciprocal and Continuous Learning Process for Hybrid Artists

Abstract

Collective Memory-Work is a method that aims to question and change the general ways of thinking that lie behind our theoretical assumptions. One of the principal ideas in memory-work is that individual persons actively participate in their own formation as social beings and parts of existing social structures. In this way, the individual becomes the collective. The Collective Memory-Work approach was originally developed within a feminist framework, but it has been widely adapted to more general contexts, including the arts. In this article I reflect on my experiences as a learner in the light of memory-work’s potential for, and challenges in, bringing the individual into the collective and then back from the collective to the individual. At the same time, I present the role of arts in my experiences of using the memory-work method. Finally, I discuss the potential of Collective Memory-Work as a reciprocal and continuous learning process for hybrid artists, enabling them to develop their identity as artists and introduce their artistic methods and products into collective learning processes in order to meet the growing needs for creativity, collaboration, change, and well-being in society.