Intuitive interspecies communication with a Grub reveals that the Applied Arts can no longer ignore nonhuman-animal artisans
Inga Dawn Hamilton
What the paper says
Purpose Currently, the organisational culture of Applied Arts’ spaces is bound by interlinked, oppressive/privileged systems using terms such as the ableist ”handmade”. This article details using Intuitive Interspecies Communication (IIC) to uncloak the proficient and multitudinous making skills of nonhuman-animals, from their own viewpoint. This simultaneously acknowledges individual nonhuman-animal artisanship and dismantles oppressive arts language. Design/methodology/approach IIC is one of my innate skills. Using unstructured IIC interviews, nonhuman-animal artisans explain their materials and modalities. Acting as a transcriber and reflective/reflexive practitioner, I then create art jewellery to disseminate concepts from the interview data. Findings Making as directed from the perspective of nonhuman-animal artisans reveals multiple oppressive/privileged biases ingrained in the Applied Arts, impacting how we attribute objects made by nonhuman-animals and those created by humans with hands-free technology. The resulting non-bodycentric language provides an environment where all making is valid. Originality/value Centralising nonhuman-animal voices and reframing their “instinctually”-made objects as decisionmade recognises “universal multispecies creativity” (Gigliotti, 2022). This engenders compassion for fellow makers of all species oppressed by the Applied Arts’ kyriarchal systems.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.