Art as Witness and Weapon

Participatory Art, Social Justice, and the Power of Representation

In a world where representation often protects the powerful and erases the vulnerable, Witness and Weapon was created to ask deeper questions:
Who gets seen? Who gets heard? And what happens when art speaks what institutions refuse to?

This course exists because some stories have not simply been forgotten—they have been deliberately silenced. Marginalized communities have long used creative practice to bear witness, survive, and resist. But too often, these narratives are excluded, misrepresented, or appropriated. This course offers a space to engage with those voices ethically—through learning, reflection, and creative practice.

What Makes This Course Unique

• It’s interdisciplinary, drawing from criminal psychology, feminist theory, trauma studies, decolonial thinking, and cultural memory.

• It’s applied, culminating in a personal or interpretive contribution to a collective zine or online exhibition.

• It’s accessible but rigorous, designed for both professionals and committed learners without formal degrees.

• It brings global and local case studies together with the participant’s own context and creativity.

Instructor Expertise

This course is led by experienced educators and practitioners with backgrounds in both research and artistic engagement:

• A PhD researcher in criminal psychology with distinction at MSc level, specializing in marginalized narratives and cultural trauma.

• A visual artist and art historian with expertise in contemporary art, gender, and hybrid identities, with international exhibitions and curatorial experience.

Together, they bring a rare mix of academic credibility, field experience, and artistic vision—grounding the course in both theory and lived relevance.

What You Will Learn

Across 8 thematic modules (and 20 carefully structured lessons), you will explore:

• Theories of visibility, silencing, and narrative power (Tuchman, Fricker, hooks, Spivak, Mulvey)

• Participatory and testimonial art practices (PhotoVoice, Monument Quilt, Arpilleras)

• Ethical storytelling and positionality

• Collective memory, aesthetic resistance, and the politics of gaze

Each module integrates video content, curated reading/viewing lists, reflective writing, and creative tasks.

Final Outcome

Participants choose one of three creative project tracks:

1. Interpretive — critically respond to an existing work or narrative

2. Reflective — share a personal story or silenced truth

3. Curatorial — reframe or re-present existing archives ethically

All projects are compiled into a collaborative digital zine and online exhibition, shared with a broader public audience (with consent).

Course Duration: 3–4 months
Total Modules: 8 thematic modules (each with 2–3 lessons)
Total Lessons: 20 structured lessons
Format: Fully online, self-paced with video/audio, reading PDFs, reflective writing prompts, creative activities, and a final collaborative zine or online exhibition

What You’ll Gain

• A deeper understanding of the intersection of art and justice

• A meaningful personal or professional creative project

• A connection to a wider network of engaged learners and change-makers

This is not just a course. It’s a call to witness—and to act.
If you are ready to explore how art can disrupt silence, document truth, and amplify marginalized voices—this is your place.