Art Education as ActivismArt Education as ActivismArt Education as ActivismArt Education as ActivismCritical and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy Critical and Culturally Responsive PedagogyAlondra ArevaloAlondra Arevalo
Through photographs from different stages of my life, I explored identity as something that is continually shaped. Creating this page encouraged me to think about how my own experiences influence the assumptions, perspectives, and values I bring into the classroom. It also reminded me that self-reflection is an important part of becoming a more culturally responsive educator. I combined my real students' voice, reflections, and photographs over school data from a work session I had last week with school leaders. La cultura represents culture as a living and evolving part of students’ identities. La voz emphasizes the importance of student voice and personal storytelling. El crecimiento reflects the ongoing process of learning, reflection, and cultural understanding. La transformación connects to hooks’ critique of tokenism and reminds us that meaningful multicultural education requires change in both what we teach and how we teach. Together, these cards illustrate a shift from simply observing culture to actively participating in and sustaining it.
“Identity is a continual, lifelong process of self identification that is rearticulated and performed over time” (Kraehe & Acuff, 2021, p. 80).“A positionality statement is a contemporary qualitative research practice that involves reflecting on one’s identity and how it interacts with others and the work itself (Holmes, 2020)” (Allen et al., 2025, p. 64).Becoming AwareBecoming AwareBecoming AwareBecoming AwareAllen, A. E., X, M., & Contreras, A. (2025). Building collective action through plática: Stories of community, resistance, and identity in art education. Art Education, 78(6), 63–68. Kraehe, A. M., & Acuff, J. B. (2021). Race and art education. Davis Publications.
“BIPOC students would greatly benefit if teachers could shift from deficit- to asset-based perspectives. ” (Chin, 2024, p. 28).BecomingBecoming ResponsiveResponsive Becoming Responsive Becoming ResponsiveChin, C. (2024). Colorblinders off, asset-based perspectives on. Art Education, 77(3), 27-32.
Culture is more than something to be observed or recreated. It is lived, shared, and reshaped through people’s experinces and voices. Art education should create space for students to see themselves as learners of and contributors to it. La Cultura ViveLa Cultura ViveLa Cultura ViveLa Cultura Vive “This kind of tokenism is not a multicultural transformation” (Hooks, 1994, p. 38). La cultura La Voz El Crecimiento La TransformaciónHooks, B. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. Routledge. (PDF)
In the previous pages, I used Lotería-inspired cards such as La cultura, representing culture as a living part of students’ identities. La voz emphasizes the importance of student voice. El crecimiento reflects the ongoing process of learning and reflection. La transformación reminds us that meaningful multicultural education requires change in both what we teach and how we teach. Create your own cards using imagery, words, or both. You can complete them as you read or return to them after finishing the zine. Reflect on your own positionality, values, commitments, history, unlearning, artists, healing, or any ideas that stayed with you. Create Your OwnCreate Your OwnCreate Your OwnCreate Your Own
Commitments ICommitments I Carry With MeCarry With Me Commitments I Carry With Me Commitments I Carry With Me "Through the lens of child development and in the context of school, children are pigeonholed." (Shalaby, 2017, p. 70) "We are measured as Mexicans (or not) by the Spanish we speak." (García & Sotomayor, 2025, p. 23) "Students' connections to their cultural assets are often overlooked, limiting their potential as cultural agents." (Fang, 2024, p. 10)
"Identity is a continual, lifelong process of self-identification." (Kraehe & Acuff, 2021, p. 80) "Teachers who are committed to culturally relevant pedagogy must do an archaeology of the self." (Ladson-Billings, 2024, p. 101)References Fang, H. (2024). Watering the cultural roots: Expand culturally responsive pedagogy to a community-based art project through affective learning. Issues in Teacher Education, 33(2), 5-28. (PDF) Garcia, C. S. & Sotomayor, L.C. (2025). Validating borderlands languages: Linguistically and culturally sustaining art pedagogies. Art Education, 78(6), 22-26. (PDF) Kraehe, A.M. & Acuff, J.B. (2021). Race and Art Education. Davis Publications. (PDF) Ladson-Billings, G. (2024). How pedagogy makes the difference in U.S. schools. Dædalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 153(4), 96-110. (PDF) Shalaby, C. (2017). Troublemakers: Lessons in freedom from young children at school. The New Press.Compromisos queCompromisos que llevo conmigollevo conmigo Compromisos que llevo conmigo Compromisos que llevo conmigo
BETWEEN HOME ANDBETWEEN HOME AND SCHOOLSCHOOL BETWEEN HOME AND SCHOOL Historical Perspectives on Multilingual Identity and Belonging For much of U.S. history, multilingual students were expected to abandon their home languages in favor of English. During the Americanization era and later "sink or swim" approaches, language policies positioned English as the only legitimate language of schooling. These policies shaped how multilingual students experienced identity, culture, and belonging within educational spaces. Many children of immigrants navigate multiple languages, cultural expectations, and identities simultaneously. While schools often focus on English acquisition, students are also developing a sense of self and belonging. Historical and contemporary research suggests that these experiences can create tensions between home and school while shaping how students understand their identities. "Taking into consideration all external factors, many children of immigrants may experience high vigilance, ambivalent belonging, and psychological burden of being an outsider, even in their own country" (Martinez, 2026, p. 5). "Classroom environments that position students' home languages as inappropriate for school also position the students themselves as deficient" (Thomas, 2017) "The goal of bilingual education is to help students develop proficiency in two languages while maintaining academic achievement and cultural identity" (Kim et al., 2015)
Recent scholarship has challenged deficit views of multilingual learners and shifted toward recognizing bilingualism as a strength. The term emergent bilingual emphasizes students' linguistic potential and acknowledges home languages as valuable resources. Art education can play a role in sustaining these identities by creating spaces where language, culture, and lived experience are viewed as assets rather than barriers. "I adopt the term emergent bilingual... to recognize the value of students' home language, acknowledge students' social bilingualism positively, and highlight their emerging capacity of becoming fully bilingual" (Fu, 2024, p. 20). "Allowing and giving space for these individuals to come together and become the storytellers of their families' silenced stories, is powerful. It can create a stronger sense of self and fortify their identity" (Martinez, 2026, p. 8). "The enactment of the Bilingual Education Act (1968) marked a turning point in language education policy by recognizing the educational needs of language minority students" (Fu, 2024, p. 21).Beth A. Thomas (2017) Language policy, language ideology, and visual art education for emergent bilingual students, Arts Education Policy Review, 118:4, 228-239, DOI:10.1080/10632913.2017.1287802 Fu, S. (2024). Tracing the history: Language education policy and emergent bilingual learners in the United States. GATESOL Journal, 33(1), 18–27. https://doi.org/10.52242/gatesol.176 Kim, Y. K., Hutchison, L. A., & Winsler, A. (2015). Bilingual education in the United States: an historical overview and examination of two-way immersion. Educational Review, 67(2), 236–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2013.865593 Martinez, S. (2026). The use of visual autobiographies in first, second, and third-generation children of immigrants in navigating belonging and identity (Master's thesis, Dominican University of California). Dominican Scholar. https://doi.org/10.33015/dominican.edu/2026.AT.05
"...art educators are language policy actors in their classrooms, whether they are aware of it or not" (Thomas, 2017, p. 230). BETWEEN HOME ANDBETWEEN HOME AND SCHOOLSCHOOL BETWEEN HOME AND SCHOOL Art education can become a form of activism when students' lived experiences become part of the curriculum. Visual autobiographies, migration narratives, and identity-centered projects create opportunities for multilingual students to explore family histories, culture, and belonging while seeing their experiences as valuable sources of knowledge. "I believed that starting with my students' own immigration experiences would push them to a deeper emotional level. In my experience, deep emotions lead to deep learning" (Gutiérrez-Vicario, 2016, p. 57). "I believed that starting with my students' own immigration experiences would push them to a deeper emotional level. In my experience, deep emotions lead to deep learning" (Gutiérrez-Vicario, 2016, p. 57). "Culturally sustaining pedagogy seeks to perpetuate and foster linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling" (Pauly et al., 2019).
Art offers multilingual students opportunities to communicate through images, symbols, storytelling, movement, and multiple languages. These multimodal approaches allow students to express complex ideas and experiences that may be difficult to communicate through academic English alone. Artmaking can therefore support both identity development and meaningful participation in classroom communities. Research suggests that multilingual students thrive when their languages, cultures, and experiences are welcomed in educational spaces. Art classrooms can help students preserve cultural knowledge, strengthen bilingual identities, and build connections between home, school, and community. These opportunities require intentional planning by educators who recognize multilingualism as an asset. "She believed that reclaiming these values through art would instill a sense of cultural pride and bring about positive self- esteem, which would then be transferred to the home, the community, and the schools" (Katzew, 2013, p. 249). "For this vision to be actualized, art teachers must intentionally adapt their pedagogical practices to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of MLs" (Leider et al., 2024, p. 188). "Visual art classrooms, because of the multimodal nature of artistic production, have the potential to become spaces where multiple language and cultural practices are not only permitted, but strategically mobilized to foster deep learning, critical awareness, and creative production" (Thomas, 2017, p. 235).Beth A. Thomas (2017) Language policy, language ideology, and visual art education for emergent bilingual students, Arts Education Policy Review Gutiérrez-Vicario, M. A. (2016). More than a mural: The intersection of public art, immigrant youth, and human rights. Radical Teacher, 104, 55–61. Katzew, A. (2013). The Barrio Mobile Art Studio: The history of an art education programme for Chicanas/os and Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles. Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art, 2(3), 247-261. (PDF) Leider, C. M., Tigert, J. M., Norova, N., Fotouhi, G., Sawyer, J., & Wang, R. T. (2024). Supporting multilingual learners: A pilot survey of art teachers. Pauly, N., Kingsley, K. V., & Baker, A. (2019). Culturally sustaining pedagogy through arts-based learning: Preservice teachers engage emergent bilinguals. Art Education Policy Review, 120(4), 205–219.
Unlearning Before TeachingUnlearning Before TeachingUnlearning Before Teaching "Unlearning is about interrupting what has been normalized so that we can imagine and create something more just." (Muhammad, 2023, p. 96)Muhammad, G. (2023). Unearthing joy: A guide to culturally and historically responsive teaching and learning. Scholastic Professional. (PDF)
Saying “I treat all students the same” can sound fair, but it can also erase the different experiences students bring into the classroom. For Spanish-speaking multilingual students, color-blind or culture-blind teaching may ignore language, migration, family knowledge, and identity. Art educators need to notice difference with care, not pretend it is not there.Lee, N. (2012). Culturally responsive teaching for 21st-century art education: Examining race in a studio art experience. Art Education, 65(5), 48–53
Unlearning Language Deficit Thinking Unlearning Language Deficit Thinking Unlearning Language Deficit ThinkingFlores, N., & Rosa, J. (2015). Undoing appropriateness: Raciolinguistic ideologies and language diversity in education. Harvard Educational Review, 85(2), 149–171.Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (2014). What are we seeking to sustain through culturally sustaining pedagogy? A loving critique forward. Harvard Educational Review, 84(1), 85–100.
“Identifying ways to draw on the ‘funds of knowledge’ students bring to school is also an important next step for educators to fully embrace an asset-based approach to their students.” (Yammine & Lowenhaupt, 2025, p. 128) Unlearning should lead to action. If art education can help students feel seen, then curriculum must make space for home languages, family stories, community knowledge, and cultural memory. This means teachers do not only include students’ cultures during special months. They build classrooms where students’ identities are treated as sources of knowledge every day.Yammine, J. & Lowenhaupt, R. (2025). Leveraging existing educator expertise: Serving Latinx students in the rural Southeast. In E. T. Hamann, S. G. Herrera, E.G. Murillo and S. Wortham (Eds.),Teaching and Learning in the New Latino Diaspora: Creating Culturally Responsive Practice (pp. 118-131). Teachers College Press. (PDF)Valdés, G. (2022). Towards educational dignity: Translanguaging y la preparación de maestros. Bilingual Research Journal, 45(2), 211–215
Francisco Loza Francisco Loza creates pressed yarn artwork inspired by Mexican traditions and his collaborations with Huichol (Wixárika) artisans. His work explores immigration, community, spirituality, and cultural identity while preserving traditional artistic practices. For art educators, Loza demonstrates how cultural traditions and storytelling can strengthen students' sense of identity, belonging, and pride in their heritage. Stories and Artists That Reshape Teaching Stories and Artists That Reshape Teaching Stories and Artists That Reshape TeachingNemeth, J. & Wilcox. L. (2023). Untold Narratives and Reimagined Histories: The Work of Dawoud Bey and Titus Kaphar. Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education, 40, 189-207. (PDF) These contemporary artists provide meaningful inspiration for art educators working with Spanish-speaking multilingual students. Their work explores identity, culture, migration, family, and belonging, offering opportunities to create classrooms where students' languages and lived experiences are valued through art.
Consuelo Jimenez Underwood Consuelo Jimenez Underwood explores migration, multilingual identity, and belonging through woven textiles and border imagery. Her work encourages educators to see students' experiences between languages and cultures as strengths while creating space for conversations about identity and belonging. Margarita Cabrera Margarita Cabrera creates collaborative sculptures that center immigration, family, labor, and community stories. Her work demonstrates how art can amplify lived experiences and encourages educators to build curriculum that values students' voices, identities, and collective knowledge.
Judith F. Baca Judith Baca uses collaborative murals to preserve histories and voices often excluded from textbooks. Her work demonstrates how art can become activism by inviting communities to tell their own stories while encouraging students to investigate local histories and recognize whose voices are missing. Amalia Mesa-Bains Amalia Mesa-Bains uses household objects, family photographs, and cultural traditions to explore memory, identity, and belonging. Her work challenges educators to recognize students' homes and lived experiences as valuable sources of knowledge rather than separating them from classroom learning.
Muhammad, G. (2023). Unearthing joy: A guide to culturally and historically responsive teaching and learning. Scholastic Professional. (PDF)Benjamin, R. (2024). Imagination: A Manifesto. W.W. Norton & Company. (PDF)Provocations Our Shared In-between Provocations Our Shared In-betweenOur Shared In-between Consuelo Jiménez Underwood Consuelo Jiménez Underwood is a Chicana fiber artist whose work transforms thread, fabric, maps, and border imagery into powerful reflections on migration, identity, and belonging. Rather than portraying borders as fixed lines that divide people, her stitched landscapes reveal them as places where cultures, languages, and histories intersect. By weaving together personal experiences with larger social narratives, Underwood invites viewers to reconsider the meanings of home, movement, and community. Her work inspired this provocation by showing how textiles can carry stories that are both deeply personal and collectively shared.
Chappell, S. V., & Cahnmann-Taylor, M. (2013). No Child Left With Crayons: The Imperative of Arts-Based Education and Research With Language “Minority” and Other Minoritized Communities: The Imperative of Arts-Based Education and Research With Language “Minority” and Other Minoritized Communities. Review of Research in Education, 37(1), 243-268Borders are often imagined as lines that separate people, places, and cultures. In this provocation, students will reconsider the border as a space where identities, languages, and experiences meet. After exploring Underwood's textile maps, students will reflect on the people, places, traditions, and languages that shape who they are. Together, the class will create a collaborative mixed-media wall installation centered around a shared border or map. Students may contribute fabric, thread, drawings, photographs, handwritten words, symbols, or found materials in any language. The artwork will continue to grow throughout the unit, creating a collective visual narrative that celebrates multilingualism, belonging, and the many ways our stories intersect. Questions to Consider: Where do you feel most at home? What languages, words, or traditions have shaped who you are? What experiences exist "between" cultures, places, or identities?
Choi, J., & Murray, L. (2026). Arts-rich translanguaging in community spaces: Vietnamese Australian parents đi chơi with collaborative bookmaking. The Language Learning Journal, 54(2), 203–223. Singh, A. (2026). Reclaiming vernacular: Public pedagogy and arts-based English language education. Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education, 42(2), 95-112. (PDF)Margarita Cabrera Margarita Cabrera is a Mexican- American artist whose soft sculptures are created from everyday materials such as fabric, vinyl, and thread. Working collaboratively with communities, she transforms ordinary objects into artworks that preserve stories of migration, labor, language, and identity. Through sewing, embroidery, and collective making, Cabrera demonstrates that textiles can become vessels for memory and belonging. Her work inspired this provocation by encouraging students to create small objects that carry meaningful words, symbols, and experiences connected to their own lives. Holding HomeHolding Home
Kim, N. (2022). Doodling in the air: Introducing innovative technology to culturally and linguistically diverse children's art practice to support self-identity. Art Education 75(4), 12-19. (PDF)Language carries memories, relationships, and identity. In this provocation, students will examine how Margarita Cabrera transforms everyday textiles into stories of community and belonging. Students will create a small textile keepsake using denim or recycled fabric that represents a meaningful word, phrase, memory, symbol, or tradition connected to their lives. Using embroidery, stitching, drawing, yarn, and found materials, each student will create an object that can be carried beyond the classroom as a reminder that language and identity are not left at the school door but travel with us wherever we go. Questions to Consider: What word or phrase feels like home? What language connects you to your family or community? What part of your story would you choose to carry with you?
Dadkhahfard, S., & Takeuchi, M. A. (2025). Co-Creating Visual Stories as an Arts-Based Method for Equity: Visualizing the Agency of Forcibly Displaced Students. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24. Becker-Blease, K. A. (2017). As the world becomes trauma–informed, work to do. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 18(2), 131–138.Art provocations are open-ended invitations to explore ideas. Instead of leading students toward one correct answer, they encourage curiosity and experimentation. Inspired by the work of Consuelo Jiménez Underwood and Margarita Cabrera, these provocations invite students to use art as a way to reflect on language, identity, belonging, and community. Each experience is designed to honor students' lived experiences while creating opportunities for their own stories to emerge through making.
Choi, J., & Murray, L. (2026). Arts-rich translanguaging in community spaces: Vietnamese Australian parents đi chơi with collaborative bookmaking. The Language Learning Journal, 54(2), 203–223. Tripp, T., Potash, J. S., & Brancheau, D. (2019). Safe Place collage protocol: Art making for managing traumatic stress. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 20(5), 511–525.
There is Healing in Teaching Art There is Healing in Teaching Art Create emotional safety before vulnerability. Students should never feel pressured to share personal experiences. Trust comes before storytelling Give students multiple ways to communicate. Drawing, collage, sculpture, symbols, color, and visual metaphor can communicate experiences that may be difficult to explain with words alone. Focus on the process, not the product. Healing happens through creating, reflecting, revising, and making meaning, not by producing a perfect artwork.Ginwright, S. (2018, March 28). The future of healing: Shifting from trauma-informed care to healing-centered engagement. Medium. Kim, R.M. & Venet, A.S. (2025). Unsnarling PBIS and trauma-informed education. Urban Education, 60(3), 700-728. (PDF) Healing is not something I create for students. My role is to create the conditions where healing becomes possible. Art cannot erase difficult experiences, but it can provide a space where students feel seen, safe, connected, and able to express themselves in ways that words alone cannot. Instead of asking students to relive painful experiences, I can offer invitations that allow them to communicate through symbols, metaphors, memories, and personal meaning.
The biggest shift in my thinking is that healing should be a priority in my teaching. It is something woven into every choice I make as an educator. It is in the environment I create, the relationships I build, the choices I offer, and the ways I invite students to express themselves. If students leave my classroom feeling safer to be themselves than when they entered, then learning has already begun. Center student choice. Students should decide what stories they tell, how they tell them, and whether those stories remain private or become shared. Build connection before correction. Relationships, belonging, and community are just as important as artistic skill. Students are more willing to take creative risks when they know they are accepted. Help students transform experiences into meaning. Art offers students a way to reshape difficult memories into symbols of strength, hope, identity, and possibility rather than asking them to relive painful moments.Muhammad, G. (2023). Unearthing joy: A guide to culturally and historically responsive teaching and learning. Scholastic Professional. (PDF) Taylor, J. C., Hanley, W., Deger, G. & Hunter, W.C. (2022). Promoting anti-racism practices and the cycle of critical consciousness within Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports frameworks. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 55(5), 314–322. (PDF)create with care create with care